The long-anticipated opening of Country Crossing on Tuesday was a star-studded event. Randy Owen of the group Alabama was there, as were John Anderson, Lorrie Morgan and, of course, the Possum himself, George Jones.
They’re investors, supporters and megawatt luminaries who believed in the project when it seemed few people thought it would come to fruition. They’ve stood by developer Ronnie Gilley from the start, and they were with him on the dais during opening ceremonies.
One notable who was conspicuously absent was Alabama Gov. Bob Riley. The governor might have graced the Wiregrass with his presence to support an almost $80 million investment in the community, providing jobs for hundreds of area residents.
But there was no governor, and it’s questionable whether he’d have been welcome had he turned up.
Riley has gone to great length in his attempts to derail the project because he stubbornly maintains electronic bingo games like the ones operating at Country Crossing are illegal slot machines.
He sent a task force to shut down electronic bingo operations in White Hall, then mischaracterized a court ruling on specific minutiae of one county’s regulations as a broad precedent declaring electronic bingo machines illegal statewide. He rails against electronic bingo, but curiously never mentions Victoryland, where thousands of electronic bingo machines are operated by Milton McGregor.
Legal wrangling over electronic bingo will surely continue, likely for years. Meanwhile, Houston County officials and Country Crossing management have ensured the facility’s bingo operation complies with state law and a recent state Supreme Court ruling.
The absence of the governor, with state police in tow, goes a long way toward validating that position.
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