I “justia” don’t see anything Gulfside can ask the Supreme Court to review, especially when 3 of the Justices in a joint opinion took 2 of the others to task over their opinions that Gulfside’s argument was correct.

So, looking at this WE may not see anything today. It looks to me like 18 days is the period that Gulfside had for asking for a rehearing. If that’s the case, they have until the end of the day after which time the decision is final and the Clerk can mail the mandate to Tim Fox’s court for filing and recording.

Update: Yes it was and, yes, the new quorum court passed a resolution to rescind it. However, the application had been submitted and accepted and the application process had been closed in July 2020. Thus the resolution rescinding the resolution was meaningless and moot.

One of the times we clearly overwhelmed the opposition and there were even more of us outside the doors!

Yes Casino!

For Good Cause Shown—Please Accept the Application From Cherokee Nation Businesses.

Dear Chairman Lieblong and Commissioners Lamberth, Rice, East, Post, Hunter, and Landers,

From at least as early as February 2018, the proposal that eventually became Arkansas Constitutional Amendment 100 included a provision where local officials would have a say on any casino applicant awarded a license in Pope and Jefferson Counties.

Local Pope County officials clearly desire that the application submitted by Cherokee Nation Businesses (CNB) be accepted by the Racing Commission under the “for just cause shown” provision of the Arkansas Casino Gaming Rules. This is demonstrated by the resolution of support passed by the Pope County Quorum Court last August, supporting letters later from the Pope County Judge and Dover Mayor, and more recently, letters from Pope County officials and the mayors of several Pope County cities asking that the Racing Commission accept CNB’s application for good cause shown.

The sentiment supporting Cherokee Nation Businesses is widely shared by Pope County residents favoring bringing a casino resort to the county.  Many of us have had the opportunity to get to know CNB and, without exception that I know of, see them as a valued addition to the community.

After you accept CNB’s application for good cause shown, I am certain that you will find it far superior to what Gulfside Casino Partnership has submitted.

Cherokee Nation Businesses is the community partner that Pope County would be blessed to have. They have demonstrated that they want to be here. Before a license is issued and ground broken for the casino, CNB’s Legends Resort and Casino Arkansas has shown they are a good fit.  Without fanfare, before the current pandemic, they were stepping up locally, participating in food drives, the county fair, the state fair, Russelville Fall Festival, and numerous other events and programs.  As well,

• CNB has never walked away from a contract.
• CNB will—and has already done so—buy from local businesses where possible.
• CNB has never laid off an employee.
  • Even with the casinos shuttered because of the COVID-19 pandemic, CNB casino employees continue to receive full pay and benefits.

While this letter is for the purpose of beseeching the Racing Commission to accept CNB’s casino application, it is important to note that Gulfside Casino Partnership does not have support from city officials, county officials, or residents in Pope County.  Consideration of their application without considering the application submitted by CNB would be a violation of the spirit of the local option intent of Amendment 100.

Gulfside’s sole claims for local Pope County support are two letters provided by lame-duck officials in the waning days of their tenure as county judge and Russellville mayor.

The letter from Judge Jim Ed Gibson is tenuous support, at best.  In it, Gibson writes, “If a license is issued for a casino in Pope County Arkansas I give my support for Gulfside Casino Partnership.”

That’s the entire content of the letter.

Judge Gibson, in fact, denied in a 2018 River Valley Now (RVN) interview that he intended for the letter to be the support letter required by Amendment 100.

December 31, 2018

RVN: There has been some debate as to the intent of the letter. Was it intended to be THE letter of support that was asked for?

Gibson: No. The letter I sent was 1 sentence long. And that’s why we put “IF a casino license is granted” in the letter.

RVN: I think that’s why there was some debate about it, because people have said, well he’s saying “if”, so it’s not the letter that’s needed. So, I just wanted to get your perspective on what the intent was. So, it wasn’t necessarily meant as THE letter of support?

Gibson: No, it wasn’t.

RVN: Why go against the ordinance?

Gibson: Well, I’ve been told that the ordinance is not binding. And this is a multi-million dollar investment that’s going to be made in the county & we want to make sure that the right people are in place.

RVN: So, what was the main factor in offering the support with a letter “if” a license is awarded? What made you disregard the ordinance? Did you think it just wasn’t binding?

Gibson: Well, I wanted to be proactive & I’ve been told that this ordinance is not binding.

For Good Cause Shown

Gulfside Casino Partnership’s attorneys maintain that CNB could have obtained support documents from local officials prior to the end of the May 2019 application period. They are wrong.  Local officials who took office at the beginning of the year chose not to supply support documents because of provisions in state and local laws and rules that have been since been ruled unconstitutional in two Arkansas circuit court rulings.

In my view, the following demonstrates a case for good cause shown for acceptance of CNB’s application:

• Because the casino gaming rules and state law required a letter or resolution from current officials, Judge Ben Cross and the Pope County Quorum Court had no motivation to provide support documents for a more favored applicant, since, by a plain reading of those rules and law, the letter from Judge Gibson was invalid.
• Had the casino gaming rules and state law not required a letter or resolution from current officials, Pope County officials would have had more urgency to take the opportunity to provide support documents for a more favored applicant, which probably would have been CNB.
• With the Racing Commission’s constitutional mandate to award a Pope County casino license unfulfilled, there was “good cause shown” when the Commission was presented in August 2019 with a valid resolution of support by the Pope County Quorum Court for Cherokee Nations Businesses. The Commission’s subsequent acceptance of CNB’s application was legal per Rule 2.13.4(b):
  • “Applications for a casino license will be accepted by the Commission for a period of thirty (30) days, beginning on the date established by the Commission and published as a legal notice by the Commission. No application will be accepted after the thirty (30) day period, except for good cause shown.”
• On August 15, Scott Richardson, attorney for Cherokee Nation Businesses (CNB) and Legends Resort & Casino, in a letter that accompanied their August license application, made a good case for accepting that application for good cause shown, writing:
  • In order to comply with Rule 2.13.4(b), and to avoid any confusion in the future, CNB requests that the Racing Commission officially accept CNB’s application “for good cause shown.” We respectfully suggest that good cause is demonstrated by the fact that in the initial thirty-day window no applications were submitted with a letter or resolution of support from the Pope County Judge or Quorum Court holding office at the time of the application as required by Amendment 100, Ark. Code Ann. § 23-117-101, and Arkansas Racing Commission Rule 2.13.5.(b). This application now comes to you with that resolution.

Cherokee Nation Businesses is proving to be a good community partner.  They have demonstrated that they want to be here. Before a license is issued and ground broken for the casino, CNB’s Legends Resort and Casino Arkansas has shown they are a good fit.  Without fan fanfare, they are stepping up, participating in food drives, the county fair, the state fair, Russelville Fall Festival, and numerous other events and programs.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter. The people of Pope County did not ask to be placed in this situation. It is important that we are considered in the resolution of which casino operator gets the license.

Michael Goad
Pope County, Arkansas

Today, March 29, 2020, I’ve sent the open letter below to the Arkansas Racing Commission as an email asking them to accept the application submitted by Cherokee Nation Businesses LLC “for good cause shown,” as allowed in the Casino Gaming Rules of Arkansas.  The Racing Commission has been ordered to consider the application from Gulfside Casino Partnership.  Gulfside was the late 2018 choice of two people in Pope County, the lame-duck county judge, Jim Ed Gibson, and the lame-duck mayor of Russellville, Randy Horton.  Today, the overwhelming choice of Pope County residents favoring a casino would be Cherokee Nation Businesses/Legends.

I sent the open letter email to:

racing@dfa.arkansas.gov,
Nikki Langston <nikki.langston@dfa.arkansas.gov>,
bfreeland@mwlaw.com,
Smokey.Campbell@dfa.arkansas.gov

The “open letter:”

For Good Cause—Please Let Pope County Choose!

Dear Chairman Lieblong and Commissioners Lamberth, Rice, East, Post, Hunter, and Landers,

The fundamental idea for having officials from the county and/or city provide support documents for any applicants for a casino license was to provide some measure of local choice for the people of Pope and Jefferson Counties.

If Gulfside Casino Partnership is awarded the casino license, Pope County will have lost any choice they had in the selection of a casino operator.

I believe it is imperative that the Racing Commission accept FOR GOOD CAUSE the casino application of Cherokee Nation Businesses, LLC/Legends Resort and Casino Arkansas LLC.

Cherokee Nation Businesses (CNB) is the preferred choice of most people in Pope County who are in favor of a casino being built here.  Gulfside Casino Partnership is NOT.

Please consider the following FOR GOOD CAUSE:

• On December 21, 2018, lame-duck Pope County Judge Jim Ed Gibson penned a one-line letter that has been interpreted as being a letter of support for Gulfside Casino Partnership, though he stated otherwise in an interview:
  • In a December 31, 2018 article by River Valley Now, Jim Ed Gibson was asked, “I think that’s why there was some debate about it, because people have said, well he’s saying “if”, so it’s not the letter that’s needed. So, I just wanted to get your perspective on what the intent was. So, it wasn’t necessarily meant as THE letter of support?“Gibson replied, “No, it wasn’t.“
• Because the casino gaming rules and state law required a letter or resolution from current officials, Judge Ben Cross and the Pope County Quorum Court had no motivation to provide support documents for a more favored applicant, since, by a plain reading of those rules and law, the letter from Judge Gibson was invalid.
• Had the casino gaming rules and state law not required a letter or resolution from current officials, the Pope County officials would have had more urgency to take the opportunity to provide support documents for a more favored applicant, which probably would have been CNB.
• With the Racing Commission’s constitutional mandate to award a Pope County casino license unfulfilled, there was “good cause shown” when the Commission was presented in August 2019 with a valid resolution of support by the Pope County Quorum Court for Cherokee Nations Businesses (CNB). The Commission’s subsequent acceptance of CNB’s application was legal per Rule 2.13.4(b):
  • “Applications for a casino license will be accepted by the Commission for a period of thirty (30) days, beginning on the date established by the Commission and published as a legal notice by the Commission. No application will be accepted after the thirty (30) day period, except for good cause shown.”
• On August 15, Scott Richardson, attorney for Cherokee Nation Businesses (CNB) and Legends Resort & Casino, in a letter that accompanied their August license application, made a good case for accepting that application for good cause shown, writing:
  • In order to comply with Rule 2.13.4(b), and to avoid any confusion in the future, CNB requests that the Racing Commission officially accept CNB’s application “for good cause shown.” We respectfully suggest that good cause is demonstrated by the fact that in the initial thirty-day window no applications were submitted with a letter or resolution of support from the Pope County Judge or Quorum Court holding office at the time of the application as required by Amendment 100, Ark. Code Ann. § 23-117-101, and Arkansas Racing Commission Rule 2.13.5.(b). This application now comes to you with that resolution.
• Cherokee Nation Businesses is proving to be a good community partner.  They have demonstrated that they want to be here. Before a license is issued and ground broken for the casino, CNB’s Legends Resort and Casino Arkansas has shown they are a good fit.  Without fan fanfare, they are stepping up, participating in food drives, the county fair, the state fair, Russelville Fall Festival, and numerous other events and programs.
• Though they feel they are “entitled to a  license to operate a casino in Pope County,” Gulfside has done nothing to show that it would add anything to the community. All Gulfside ever demonstrated was that they want a casino. My understanding is that days before Pope County Quorum Court passed the Resolution of Support, Gulfside offered to essentially match the funding dollars offered by CNB for a letter of support and stated that, if they didn’t get the letter of support, they would tie the license up in court for an extended period of time.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.  The people of Pope County did not ask to be placed in this situation.  It is important that we are considered in the resolution of which casino operator gets the license.

Michael Goad
Pope County, Arkansas

I’m taking the liberty to share Judge Cross’s letter to the Racing Commission here in a format that should be readily viewable on any device.

March 25, 2020

Chairman Alex Lieblong
Commissioner Mark Lamberth
Commissioner Butch Rice
Commissioner Denny East
Commissioner Michael Post
Commissioner Bo Hunter
Commissioner Steve Landers
Mr. Smokey Campbell

Arkansas Racing Commission
1515 West 7‘“, Suite 505
Little Rock, AR 72203

RE: Legends Resort and Casino Application

Dear Mr. Chairman and Honorable Commissioners:

I submit this letter as clarification and observation as it relates to the acceptance of the Legends Resort and Casino gaming application. On Tuesday, November 6, 2018, the citizens of Arkansas chose to adopt an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution (”Amendment 100”) which, among other things, called for placement of a casino in Pope County, Arkansas. Some Pope County residents were happy, some were not, nevertheless a constitutional change carries significant precedence and implementation. As a county judge, not only do l have to accept and uphold the entire constitution, I also am charged with the specific fiduciary responsibility to ensure a healthy and secure financial future for my county and its’ communities.

First, let me thank each of you for your service on the Commission and taking the time to consider my request; which is to accept the CNB/Legends application pursuant to ”good cause shown” and let Pope County have some direction over our future. Wherever litigation may continue is really irrelevant when following the explicit language of Amendment 100. In recognition of the recent Pulaski County Circuit Court ruling, and in acceptance of the fact the Gulfside application may ultimately have to be considered by the Commission, I would implore you to expediently accept the CNB/Legends application, so that the Commission may have the benefit of a side-by-side comparison based on the merits of each. When you have that opportunity, I do not believe there is any likelihood that you would reasonably grant Gulfside Casino Partnership a license. In light of the looming economic outlook, please do not hesitate to act and subject our county to any further potential loss of revenue.

Throughout 2019, my interactions with the Commission and counsel have been most pleasant and enjoyable, and in conversations between all parties, I was left with the impression that, if and when, Pope County chose to move forward with the selection of a casino vendor, then we would be afforded such opportunity at that time. Therefore, when the May 2019 casino application period came and went, I was under no perceived rush to act, because I felt assured the Commission would act when the appropriate time came, and I believe that was what was intended by the ”second application period.” Now that the second application period is a mute issue, please reopen the first application period.

From a historical perspective, and just to share the intensity with which Pope County has had to endure the past two years; that same November day in 2018, Pope County voters overwhelmingly passed a citizen’s driven local initiative in an attempt to achieve local control over the fate of such a facility in our county. Then, on December 21, 2018, lame duck county judge Jim Ed Gibson penned a one sentence purported letter of support for Gulfside Casino Partnership, long before this body, (the Commission), was complete with even establishing the casino gaming rules. To further confuse the issue, Mr. Gibson on his last day in office, granted a media interview with the news outlet ”River Valley Now” in which he responded to a direct question as to whether or not his purported letter of support was in fact intended to be ”the” letter of support asked for. His response: ”No, the letter I sent was one sentence long. And that’s why I put ”if a casino license is granted” in the letter”.

Subsequently, Mr. Gibson felt compelled to come back five months later, on May 15, 2019 and complete a sworn affidavit to now assure his letter was intended to be construed as a letter of support. Uniquely enough, in that sworn affidavit he refers to Gulfside’s commitment of $150 million dollars in development costs, and I will supplement that issue later in this document.

When I inherited this issue on January 1, 2019, many wheels were already in motion; including litigation on the county level and the question of validity of the ”Local Option” (Pape County Ordinance 2018- 042), passed the same day as Amendment 100. From a personal perspective, I would like to inform you, I have never taken a ”pro” nor ”anti” casino stance. In fact, I was elected by the May 2018 Republican preferential primary with no November opponent. As the primary occurred before Issue 4, (Amendment 100), was even approved to appear on the ballot, it really had no bearing or influence on the primary election race. All you will ever find in news reports is my commitment to uphold the will of the voters to the extent possible, until litigation takes us otherwise. This same stance has not changed and can be seen in a nine-page op-ed I authored in March 2019 to the citizens of Pope County, which was published over several venues of social and print media at the time. On page 8 of that editorial I state, ”My pledge to you was to uphold the will of the voters of Pape County until such time as the courts may direct me otherwise.” My position has always been to remain neutral, but prepare for what I view as an eventuality. In doing so, I immersed myself into selecting the best possible casino vendor for Pope County.

Little did I know at the time, the direction this issue would ultimately take. The Quorum Court, County Clerk and myself, in consult with various constitutional attorneys, the Arkansas Secretary of State’s Office, and the State Election Commission looked for any available option to honor the spirit of the local ordinance. Finding no lawful mechanism to initiate such action, and coming to the realization the county was going to be sued by either the proponents or opponents of the issue, or both sides for that matter, a consensus of a need to act was considered.

In the interim, I had been meeting with five perspective casino operators, some on virtually a weekly basis. This is all to say, I participated in a continual vetting and interview process from April 2018, (before I was even elected), through August 2019, before coming to a clear selection of a vendor. Amendment 100 provides no vetting, nor criteria for selection of a casino vendor. Lacking any such direction from the law or state government, I took the business model, financial backing, economic development opportunities, and locally established relationships, as the criteria to make a selection. In doing so, it created a spirit of competition between the vendors, and the $150 million dollar commitment agreed to by my predecessor, was ultimately surpassed by at least another $100 million dollars, including a specific economic development agreement which directly benefits the local community and economy by the payment of $38.8 million dollars in up-front cash distributions. Also included in the EDA, is the establishment of a $2 million dollar annual payment to non-profit entities in our county and $100,000 annually to the River Valley Alliance for Economic Development for the life of the casino operation. Additionally, physical structures such as a convention center, concert venue, and many other added amenities not negotiated by my predecessor were added to the agreement. Our choice, Cherokee Nation Business, took the added measure of establishing a professional respectful relationship, and while other vendors chose various marketing approaches, from seeking the public’s support to pressure government officials, to as rash as threatening to sue the county by others, CNB chose to remain professional and respectful. From three decades in law enforcement, trust and confidence have to be earned by someone like me, and I want you to know, I did my homework in selecting CNB.

As fate would have it, that impending litigation became a reality after the Quorum Court sought to approve a resolution of support for CNB in August 2019. Additionally, there were allegations of criminal violations of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, civil allegations of the same, and alleged ethics violations by members of the Quorum Court. All of which, were ultimately shown to be without merit or validity. A circuit judge in a court of law found the local ordinance unconstitutional and all alleged F.O.I.A. violations without merit, dismissing all counts on October 29, 2019. A special prosecutor appointed to review the alleged criminal violations of F.O.I.A., while certainly providing much personal inuendo and personal opinion, likewise found no evidence for a prosecutable offense. The State Ethics Commission conducted their own thorough investigation, finding all alleged ethics violations ”unfounded and without merit.” Hopefully, the picture of these actions being political posturing without valid backing is becoming acutely clear.

Now, after having to expend over $40,000 of taxpayer money to defend a constitutional issue that should have occurred on the state level, I find myself extremely concerned as to the fate of not only $38.8 million dollars in actual economic cash incentives, but the overall Legends development and future business model which is considerably more attractive than the Gulfside proposal. Our selection of CNB/Legends as the appropriate vendor for Pope County is our final option at having a local say in the matter. Essentially, the state of Arkansas placed this upon us, please let us have some say in who we are partnered with for decades. Amendment 100 doesn’t have any stipulations for litigation or alternatives for selections; it simply states the Commission shall issue a license to a qualified applicant. The CNB/Legends application contains a resolution of support by the Pope County Quorum Court, a letter of support from the County Judge pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Commission, two Mayoral letters of support from the cities of Dover and Pottsville, a signed Interlocal Agreement between the County and the city of Dover, and a welcoming resolution from the Russellville City Council. So, to all those who would allege back door dealings, pay off’s, and switching their position, that is simply untrue. Circumstances surrounding this issue have dramatically changed and evolved over the past 18 months, and is evident by the circle of support listed above. Again, thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully,

Ben D. Cross

Pope County Judge

Our local Pope County situation is not unique from the rest of Arkansas, most of the United States or the world.  This is a global emergency.  There are variations, of course.  Most of those are trending in the same direction.  Some will not fare so badly as others. Others with significant at-risk populations may suffer far, far worse.  I shudder to think of the African countries with widespread, endemic AIDs in the population. The mortality rate there will likely be very high.

A down-under perspective from Joanne Nova’s blog.

50 Specialist Doctors send dire warning hospitals will be swamped 3 x capacity

The wave coming is not just a “bit bigger” than hospitals can handle

Western Australian specialists estimate that at present rate, in 45 days Coronavirus cases will fill up their entire state hospital system. Two weeks later Covid patients will also fill all the beds in the extra two copies of their entire state hospital network that haven’t been built yet.

Hospitals will need 20 times as many ventilators as they have.

Perhaps we are overreacting?

Western Australia is an example of what the rest of the West faces. There are 2.5m people here, but only 120 confirmed cases. In a state which took six years to build one hospital all we need to do is triple our hospital capacity in 6 weeks. Laughing…

The Doctors call for the immediate closure of borders. Which was impossible a few days ago, in a state that only has two sealed roads out, but is now happening on Tuesday “at 1:30pm”. (Presumably the new border guards have to drive out from Perth.) Amazing how fast the world changes once other leaders act.

Doctors want schools closed immediately and social distancing halved “at a minimum”. They warn “Social isolation measures are manifestly inadequate”.

”People will forgive the imposed hardships they may suffer but they will not forgive us if we, knowingly, do not act now to stop the demise of thousands of Western Australians.”

From the West Australian (paywalled)

In the United States and northern Italy, the first indicator of widespread transmission was when patients started to arrive at hospital that required intensive care. That has yet to happen in WA hospitals, but if it does, by that point the disease is “out of the bag”, the FSH (Fionna Staley Hospital) meeting heard.

Read more at JoNova blog.

We already have at least one confirmed case of COVID-19 in Pope County.

There are very likely quite a few more people in the county with COVID-19 who are undiagnosed.  As well, it seems reasonable to assume that infected people traveling through the county have made stops here for fuel, food, shopping, and/or lodging. There will be more cases identified in the county.

According to estimates, for every case confirmed, there are at least 10 undiagnosed cases. Other estimates go as high as 50 times more unknown infections than known infections, according to Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital.

At 100 cases, Arkansas has already exceeded the estimate of 44 for March 20th in the table above by more than a factor of 2.  This “spike” in confirmed cases is likely due, in part, to increased testing capabilities working the backlog of COVID-19 tests down.

We don’t yet have any deaths for COVID-19 in Arkansas.  This will likely change.

Importantly, though, by prevention and mitigation of infection, the drastic actions that have been taken and are being taken are saving lives that would have otherwise been lost.  Assuming a mortality rate similar to the infection rate, without action the COVID-19 related deaths in the US could have skyrocketed to over 100,000 in the next month.

The figure below started with 108 deaths in the US that had been documented as of March 18th.

The total US deaths related to COVID-19 over the next month will be somewhere less than the 120,000 suggested by an every-three-days doubling, hopefully significantly less. Social distancing and quarantine measures are breaking social connections and interactions between the infected and the uninfected.

The every-three-days doubling requires that the virus have free access to everyone in the public.  If that access can be interrupted, doubling will occur over some longer period and, eventually, will stop happening.

Reaching the point at which there are no longer significant numbers of new cases may not mean the end of our troubles. It’s likely that there will be successive waves of infection, most of them probably less severe than what we are facing now due to some amount of immunity those who were previously infected will likely have.  There’s also the potential for treatments to be developed or existing treatments determined to be effective in treating the disease as well as the possibility of the development of a vaccine.

If COVID-19 had been left to spread without any actions, healthcare in the US would collapse under the weight of the needs of the sickest of the coronavirus patients.  COVID-19 related US deaths would be in the millions, possibly even over 10 million.