Short phone conversation with Ronnie Gilley

March 07, 2008

Lance Griffin

I spoke with Ronnie Gilley by phone tonight. He was in Nashville, and said he remains committed to making Country Crossing a reality despite recent voices of opposition in parts of the church and business community.

Here are a few tidbits from the conversation:
—He said he was in Nashville to sign another artist commitment to Country Crossing, but did not elaborate.

—He said representatives were in Dothan Friday to continue working on the land purchase. He said a deal is closer, but nothing has been signed as of yet.

—He said recent comparisons between electronic bingo at Country Crossing and casino gambling are unfair. Trying to say Country Crossing would make Houston County like Biloxi was far from the truth, he said
.—He said he felt comfortable in his Christianity concerning the project, and indicated he felt his faith was being questioned because of the electronic bingo.

—He also said HB577, the electronic bingo bill introduced in the Alabama Legislature, would pave the way for a “massive expansion” of electronic bingo if passed. The bill would allow electronic bingo centers at dog tracks in Mobile and Birmingham, and appears to outlaw it in other places except those that already exist in Macon and Greene Counties. However, Gilley said the bill would allow for electronic bingo via the Internet anywhere in Alabama, as long as the computer terminal connected with a computer server at one of the bingo centers in either Mobile or Birmingham.

Bingo a hot topic in community

WRBL Staff

Moving on ....

If you sit down and think about it—- if you close your eyes and try to imagine restaurants, hotels, a bingo center and a huge arena, popping up in the middle of a peanut field, well, it’s mind-boggling. It does call to mind what thoughts went through people’s heads when Disneyworld or Branson, Missouri were first proposed. I’m sure there had to be much skepticism. But you kinda have to ask yourself, well, why not? Destinations have been CREATED just like that. And in some unlikely places. Like Mississippi.

I am thinking, of course, of Tunica. As a native Mississippian, few folks I know ever conceived of riverboat gambling really changing anything, especially in the impoverished Delta. I’m sure a lot of us locals wondered if anybody would come. Would this crazy idea go over? Legally, would the state allow it to happen?

If I am recalling correctly, it seems the original legislation over there required that any casino be on a body of water (Mississippi River or Gulf Coast) because there was language that it had to be floated. Anyway, it was up to each individual county (located on bodies of water) to vote riverboat gambling in or not. The two counties to the north of my home county of Bolivar—Coahoma and Tunica—did call for a vote and it was approved by the voters. The neighboring county to the south, Washington, also voted yes. It should be noted all these counties of which I speak are heavy minority and have high poverty rates and unemployment. Bolivar Countians never took a vote.

The advantage Tunica had over somewhere like Greenville (Washington County) or Lula (Coahoma County), has always been its close proximity to a huge market—greater Memphis.

When the very first casino opened in the Delta, it was called Splash, and was about an hour south of Memphis. I went with a group from Shelby, Miss., and there was a 3-hour wait to get in. We were all ushered into a “holding room” that was also packed. One of the members of our party, a doctor, slipped someone a $50 bill and we were taken right on in.

“Make way for Dr. Ming and his party,“ I remember the big security guy saying. Boy, did we feel important. Hey, I was younger then.

Anyway, when we walked in, saw the crowds, heard the slots, watched the coins fall and the $100 bills disappear at blackjack tables, we were truly aghast. People coming to Tunica, Mississippi? You’ve got to be kidding me.

The only thing Tunica was known for was some of the best cotton yields in the state, and having a visit from Jessie Jackson a few years prior to casinos, when 20/20 came to town to do a segment on poverty. On one side, there is extreme poverty. On the other side, there was prosperity.

Anyway, this was not meant to be a conversation on gambling, but rather a demonstration of how something was created from nothing. Good or bad—something besides cotton grew from that rich, Delta soil. And, it’s big. Really big.

Should the Houston county Commission revisit this issue?

March 06, 2008

Lance Griffin

Lawsuits?

March 05, 2008

Lance Griffin

There are a lot of rumors circulating that lawsuits will be filed to challenge the new bingo regulations passed by the Houston County Commission. After speaking to some area attorneys, it appears this will happen. But no one is sure when. It appears anyone in Houston County could file a suit challenging the legality of the new “Class C” regulations that allow electronic bingo 24 hours a day, seven days a week (except Sunday mornings) at large-scale developments (i.e. Country Crossing). However, one attorney I talked to said “taxpayer” lawsuits rarely go far in court.

Some said that people or groups interested in filing suit may sit back and wait until the Houston County Commission helps create a “Capital Improvement Cooperative District” for the purpose of economic development, or until the county issues the permit for electronic bingo. That would create more legal options, the attorneys said.

By the way, here is the law for Capital Improvement Cooperative Districts:

Click here for the Code of Alabama

Then click “Title 11”
Then click “Title 3”

Chapter 99B 1-18 deals with Capital Improvement Cooperative Districts.

Tennessee keeping its eye on Country Crossing

Lance Griffin

An article in Business TN Magazine talks substantially about the Country Crossing development, in the context of it and the semi-related BamaJam taking country music dollars away from the state.

Interesting read.

To read the story, click here