Kerry and Tom Hewson moved here four months ago from suburban Detroit after deciding that Oxford County would be a wholesome place to raise their two children. They wouldn’t have come here if they had known they could be living near a casino, Kerry Hewson said.

She said casinos promote a culture of “fast living” and “cheap thrills” and would undermine the work ethic and traditional family values for which rural Maine is known.

“Casinos don’t belong here,” she said. “They belong someplace else.”