Country Crossing moves forward with state court proceedings

Attorneys for Country Crossing have asked a local judge to set a hearing in Houston County Circuit Court in order to determine the legality of the electronic bingo machines used at the development.

The motion was filed late Friday in response to a federal court ruling earlier in the week in which the judge advised that both sides in the Country Crossing case had remedies left at the state court level, and asked the parties to continue “in an orderly and reasoned manner and without the ‘drama’ that appears to have so far attended this matter.”

The federal court ruling denied a motion for a temporary restraining order on the part of the Houston County Economic Development Association (HEDA), which would have prevented any potential raids of Country Crossing by Gov. Bob Riley’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling and John Tyson, the head of the task force.

“The association (HEDA) can file a state court civil action for review of the legality of the machines at issue, and Tyson can file a state-court civil action and obtain the immediate seizure of the machines by way of injunctive relief, if the state courts agree that his contentions are so strong as to entitle him to immediate relief. The court hopes that the parties will pursue such orderly processes or something comparable to them,” stated the ruling, written by U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson.

The motion is attached to a case involving Dale County Circuit Judge P.B. McLauchlin, who issued a temporary restraining order in the middle of the night Jan. 6 to stop an impending pre-dawn raid of Country Crossing. Along with the temporary restraining order motion, attorneys for Country Crossing also filed a motion for declaratory judgement. Although the Alabama Supreme Court vacated McLauchlin’s restraining order, Country Crossing attorneys still believe McLauchlin has jurisdiction to rule on the motion for declaratory judgement.

Tyson, however, has filed a motion to dismiss, claiming the court lacks jurisdiction.

“Under long established Alabama law that has been recently re-affirmed by the Supreme Court, this Court lacks jurisdiction to direct how executive law enforcement officers enforce Alabama criminal laws against illegal gambling,” Tyson states in his motion to dismiss.

In another filing Monday, attorneys for Country Crossing have asked to depose the current and former commanders of the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling. Attorneys are seeking to question John Tyson and David Barber as part of the discovery process in the motion for declaratory judgement. The attorneys are also asking both to supply a number of documents, including any and all correspondence between them and Gov. Bib Riley in relation to task force proceedings, any documentation of trips made to Mississippi casinos, any documentation of a relationship with the Poarch Creek Band of Indians and tax returns from the past five years.