Gulfside filed a lawsuit on the Racing Commission’s decision to deny their appeal of the rejection of their application for a casino license in Pope County and asked the circuit court for an injunction barring the commission from awarding a casino license until the legal challenge has been resolved.

“Gulfside is the only Pope County applicant that timely complied with every requirement of Amendment 100,” Casey Castleberry, Gulfside’s attorney said in a statement. “We are disappointed by the Racing Commission’s decision, but believe we have a strong case to appeal its denial during the judicial process. When we receive the license, we look forward to building our first-class resort and fulfilling our commitment to be a strong partner to the River Valley.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 15, 2019

(Note: as of 3-15-2020, no injunction was ever issued in the Gulfside case. MpG)

From Casino.org

The Mississippi-based company filed its lawsuit swiftly in the Pulaski County Circuit Court after the commission denied its appeal to reconsider its application on Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday, the Racing Commission officially reopened the bidding process, giving applicants 90 days to resubmit proposals. Although if it’s true that county officials have already made up their minds, it’s unclear how many bidders will plow further time and resources into trying to obtain backing that is unlikely to materialize.

Meanwhile, Gulfside is seeking an injunction from the courts that would prohibit the commission from approving any license before its case has been resolved.

Material is from Facebook posts on August 17, 2019

Selected comments:

• The lawsuit argues the commission does not have the authority to define the minimum qualifications for a license, and their rejection of the Gulfside application was unconstitutional.
  From Amendment 100: “The Arkansas Racing Commission shall adopt rules necessary to carry out the purposes of this Amendment and perform its duties under this Amendment.”
• And the US is taking our 1st and second amendments away what makes you think they even care about pope county
• So far as the AR Racing Commission rules, “they” don’t need to care about Pope County to write and implement rules within the bounds of the Amendment.

Gulfside not only filed a lawsuit on the Racing Commission’s decision to deny their appeal of the rejection of their application for a casino license in Pope County.

They also asked the circuit court for an injunction barring the commission from awarding a casino license until the legal challenge has been resolved.

I haven’t seen anything yet saying their requested injunction had been issued. (I’ll keep watching for it.)

Under the Economic Development Agreement between Cherokee Nation Businesses LLC and Pope County:

• There is a target to have 3% of positions filled by individuals who have one or more disabilities.
• There will a full-time employee certified as an addiction counselor or a contract with Pope County non-profit to provide addiction counseling services.
• $13/hr minimum wage, except for employees who receive gratuities as part of their regular compensation.

What Caleb McMahon, director of economic development said about the new Pine Bluff casino resort also applies to Legends Resort & Casino, Arkansas.

Quoted in a THV11, January 28, 2019, article, the Jefferson County director of economic development said he couldn’t be happier.

He said the new casino is the equivalent of 1,000 new jobs falling from the sky. That’ll be enough to put the casino among the county’s top five employers — a list that includes Jefferson Regional Medical Center, Tyson Foods and the state Department of Correction.

The casino would be a shot in the arm to a county that’s seen population declines and economic stagnation.

Material is from a Facebook post on August 16, 2019

Selected Comments:

• There is no crime because of oaklawn.. the crime you have is because of the idiot’s that lives in your town just like everywhere else.
• Just my opinion but a casino can’t bring anymore crime to Pope County than we already have 😏 I mean just look at all the drugs that are here, we’ve had murders here, child porn, rape, etc……
  All the people who are against the casino need to just step back and look at all the crimes committed in our county as it is. Once again, just my thoughts on the subject 🙂
• More people equals more crime. Everything has a price even growth. The police force and emergency responders will have to grow right along with it.
• On the bright side, we’ll have a new Jail to accommodate those new members to Pope county crime community!!!!
• He says he’s neutral about the casino, he is certainly positive about other aspects of the resort and the ripple effect that the project should have on other economic development.
• I don’t believe we could say the cop was anti casino. The cop was laughing at the idea is what Mike meant when he used the word scoffed. I wasn’t sure myself I looked it up 😉
• The casino will bring lots of money to pope county make it grow just a lil bit
• There is also going to be dedicated office space in the casino property buildings for a dedicated local law enforcement substation.

At the August 13th Quorum Court meeting, the simple YES CASINO signs were actually a HUGE visual PLUS, especially combined with the PCM shirts.

Mark Mobley, after seeing the NO CASINO signs being handed out to those against the casino, went back to his office and had the YES CASINO signs printed and passed out just before the meeting.

What a GREAT visual for the MAJORITY in Pope County.

Material is from a Facebook post on August 16, 2019

Casey Castleberry, attorney for Gulfside Casino Partnership, released the following statement about the Arkansas Racing Commission meeting on August 15:

Gulfside is the only Pope County applicant that timely complied with every requirement of Amendment 100. We are disappointed by the Racing Commission’s decision, but believe we have a strong case to appeal its denial during the judicial process. When we receive the license, we look forward to building our first-class resort and fulfilling our commitment to be a strong partner to the River Valley.

This is without taking into consideration the Racing Commission rules and the law that was passed that require documents be from currently sitting officials.

It just doesn’t make sense to be able to submit an application with a support letter that is over four months old from an official that has been out of office for over four months.

Material is from a Facebook post on August 15, 2019

Comment:
David Henderson: I agree. It say’s THE not A. Not being an expert I still took the time to reread the Amendment. It looks to me that the RC and the Legislature did their jobs as instructed by the Amendment and it should stand the test.

This is a compilation of material from and leading up to the August 13, 2019, Quorum Court meeting where a resolution of support was passed for a casino to be owned and operated by Cherokee Nation Businesses, LLC/Legends Resort and Casino, LLC.

Cheap Seats

“It” = Resolution of Support for Cherokee Nation Businesses.

August 13, 2019, Quorum Court Meeting

• Caleb Moore statements
  • video by River Valley Now
  • transcript
• Attorney Clay McCall’s statements
  • video by me (The video image is pretty boring and you can’t really see McCall speaking, so I stole some images out of our PCM Facebook photo library for the video track)
  • transcript
• Judge Ben Cross’s statements—transcript
• Reading and Vote for Resolution of Support for CNB—video by River Valley Now.
• Full Pope County Quorum Court Meeting (The actual meeting doesn’t start until 1 hour and 40 minutes in.—video by River Valley Now.
• Economic Development Agreement, between Pope County and Cherokee Nation Businesses LLC, August 13, 2019
• Resolution of Support by Pope County Quorum Court for Cherokee Nation Businesses LLC/Legends Resort and Casino LLC, August 13, 2019

Other Material

• Arkansas News, Tuesday, August 13, 2019—Arkansas Times, Max Brantley video (the first minute of video is conjecture about the quorum court meeting.)
• Pope Co. Quorum Court votes to show support for Cherokee Nation Businesses, LLC in casino license application, Fox 16 article
• Lawsuit—Citizens for a Better Pope County and James Knight vs. Ben Cross et al, August 13, 1:53 PM filing