More Pope County Mess? —Special Called Meeting of Pope Count Quorum Court.—May benefit Gulfside and/or Choctaw? To anyone who might be interested.

December 13, 2021

(Open letter email just sent to the JPs and a number of others who might be interested.)

It seems that there are more strange shenanigans in the Pope County Casino saga. Apparently, anti-casino JPs are considering resolutions of support for other casino operators. A “Special Called Quorum Court Meeting” has been scheduled for 5:45 PM on Thursday. The scheduled speakers are James Knight and Anna Stiritz, both of whom have been staunchly anti-casino. The initiator of this is Justice Lane Scott. Apparently, somehow, enough other JP’s interest was cobbled together to get the 7 members required to agree to a special called meeting.

The casino application process was closed in July 2020. Since a license is in the possession of Legends/CNB, there is no need for resolutions of support for applications for other operators. The only thing I can see is that somehow they may imagine that by providing resolutions of support that they may provide some measure of legitimacy to entities that currently have no standing in litigation currently in progress in Pulaski County.

Mike Goad
rural Pope County

Info and Quick Links

An unofficial repository of material and links related to Pope County.

Cases that have been pending:
  1. 58CV-20-429—Ben Cross et. al. vs ARC; This asks for an injunction to keep Gulfside from building a casino annex. The plaintiff (Cross et. al.) filed a motion for dismissal 11/12/21. Because of recusals, the judge assigned to the case is a retired judge in southeast Arkansas. There should have been no issue to keep this from being dismissed. However, it is still listed as an open case.(Judge Wright)
  2. 60CV-21-1653—Gulfside vs. ARC; filed March 9, 2021. Choctaw was recognized as an intervener on January 3, 2023. This is an administrative appeal claiming that Legends has no casino operating experience. (Judge Fox) On January 12, 2023, Fox found in favor of the plaintiff and reversed the “Arkansas Racing Commission’s decision awarding the Pope County casino license jointly to CNB and to Legends.” “Also, The Pope County casino license issued jointly to Legends and CNB on
    November 12, 2021, is declared a nullity and is void and of no effect.” The ruling has been appealed.
  3. CV-23-50—This is the appeal of the January 12, 2023, 60CV-21-1653 ruling by Judge Fox (above).  It was lodged on February 24, with the appellant’s brief due April 5.  The appellant’s briefs by CNB/Legends and Racing Commission were both filed on February 24.  Appellee briefs were filed at the end of the allowed period by both Gulfside and Choctaw.  The appellant’s reply briefs have been provided by CNB/Legends and Racing Commission before the deadline with days to spare.  This case is pending at the Arkansas Supreme Court.
  4. 60CV-19-9172—CFABPC & Knight vs. ARC; filed December 27th, 2019, DISMISSED December 12, 2022, after review by Hon. Wendell Griffen.
    [This was the case where the licensing process was stopped by a temporary restraining order. It is also the one where the judge triple, double dog dared anyone to show where he had said anything in his orders prohibiting the licensing process for an application submitted under the good cause shown provision. This case had been on hold since July 2020. There should have been no reason for this not to be dismissed much earlier. (Judge Griffen)
    Just before the Honorable Wendell Griffen retired, on December 27, the plaintiffs’ filed a motion for relief for consideration of things not addressed in the dismissal order. On January 26, Griffen’s replacement, the Honorable Latonya Honorable suspended the “effectiveness” of Griffen’s December 12 order.  After more motions and a hearing, she ruled in favor of the defendants’, all aspects of the complaint again DISMISSED.
    The case is BEING APPEALED, with the record to be lodged with the Supreme Court by August 11.
  5. 60CV-21-7742 Goodin V. ARC, filed December 7, 2021, DISMISSED at the request of the plaintiff.
    [The case asked for the judge to declare that it was unconstitutional for the ARC to find Legends was a qualified applicant due to Legends not having casino gaming experience. (Judge Griffen)]

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The blog is a reverse chronological compilation of posts, social media posts, and new ongoing material. Commenting is intentionally turned off.

Pope Count official website
Quorum Court—Justices of the Peace, phone numbers, and email
Association of Arkansas Counties website
Casino Gaming License, November 12, 2021
Amendment 100, Amendment 100.
Casino Gaming Rules of The State of Arkansas – Arkansas Racing Commission, effective the second week of March 2019
Economic Development Agreement between CNB and Pope County.
Arkansas Municipal League website
ReImagine Russellville 2040—September 2020, a narrative report on the Comprehensive Plan for Russellville. The plan serves as an official policy statement of the City of Russellville for directing growth and development within its city limits and planning area.

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Your voter registration information at Arkansas Secretary of State website: address, party association, ballot statuses, and polling place locations – also all of the districts that are applicable for your location.

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Arkansas Department of Transportation

I Drive Arkansas, traffic conditions, traffic cameras, etc.

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Arkansas Codes

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Arkansas Constitution

Article 5 § 1 – Initiative and Referendum–“no local legislation shall be enacted contrary to the Constitution or any general law of the State, and any general law shall have the effect of repealing any local legislation which is in conflict therewith.
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Legends Resort & Casino | Arkansas

Other Miscellaneous Stuff