Eddie,
Re: Greenbriar gaming, this is from the Charleston (WV) Gazette:
wvgazette.com
Casino referendum losing in early vote count
Wednesday November 8, 2000
By Tara Tuckwiller
Staff Writer
LEWISBURG - Anti-gambling activists greeted each new precinct report Tuesday night with whoops of glee: With half of Greenbrier County's precincts reporting by midnight, voters were rejecting The Greenbrier resort's proposed casino by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.
Pre-election polls found Greenbrier countians split on the referendum, which would permit The Greenbrier to run a Las Vegas-style casino for guests in the historic hotel's former congressional fallout shelter. But as the votes rolled in, the activists stopped being surprised when they carried a precinct.
With 18 of 36 precincts reporting, the count stood at 1,924 votes for the casino and 3,040 against. The casino hadn't carried a single precinct, although The Greenbrier's strongholds - White Sulphur Springs and Lewisburg - had not yet reported.
"We felt it would be close," said Paula McLaughlin of West Virginia Families Against Casino Gambling. "Of course, we've got to face this again in two years."
The Greenbrier's president, Ted Kleisner, said that's exactly what the hotel would do if defeated.
"The first day of our next campaign starts tomorrow, in that case," Kleisner said. "In 104 weeks, it's back on the ballot."
Kleisner had gathered all of the casino's supporters in the hotel's golf club for an election-night party. As anti-gamblers manned their late-night posts under the courthouse's fluorescent lights, The Greenbrier's guests had wine and remoulade shrimp served to them by liveried waiters.
Kleisner said he expected the county's huge voter turnout to help The Greenbrier. Of course, that was before the first votes were counted.
"The "no's" on this issue were somewhat absolute," Kleisner said. "There's no passion on the side of change, necessarily."
Kleisner expected a court fight from anti-gamblers if the casino passed. Lara Nunley of the anti-casino coalition said the group might challenge the state casino legislation on constitutional grounds, anyway.
"I think we should get 'em while they're down," Nunley said.
"We're taking a stand for the entire state. That's a lot of the social reason. The Greenbrier is not admitting that there are any problems with gambling."
An early ballot-counting snafu had casino opponents actually jumping up and down, hardly believing the huge margin they'd captured. It turned out to be too good to be true, however, after counters realized they'd been reporting cumulative vote totals as precinct totals. |
