Greene County Democrat

Month: June 2016

  • City of Eutaw receives $519,900 grant from ALDOT to pave Prairie Avenue

     

    Mayor Hattie Edwards of Eutaw announced at the March 29, 2016 meeting of the Eutaw City Council that the State of Alabama Department of Transportation had made a grant to the city of $519,900 for repaving Prairie Avenue from Highway 11 (Boligee Street at the old Eutaw Drug location) to Highway 43.
    This street is a major traffic thoroughfare that passes the U. S. Post Office, Merchants and Farmers Bank, the Greene County Democrat, The James Poole Memorial Library, King Village and Branch Heights. Construction on this project is scheduled to start in May 2016. The city and the county are still looking for funds to pave the streets within the Branch Heights Sub-division, which are in a state of serious disrepair.
    At the March 29 meeting, the Eutaw City Council endorsed the work of SCORE (Sharing Christ Our Redeemer Enterprise) International and Domestic. SCORE is planning to hold a summer festival in Greene County on June 20-23, 2016 primarily to serve children and young people in the county. SCORE is exploring various options to hold the festival including the Eutaw City Park. The Council voted to give the group a letter of support.
    The Council discussed an issue brought by John Campbell a volunteer with the Son Light Ministry Center of Jamison, Alabama that distributes day-old bread from bakeries in Alabama to poor people. The group, which had secured the approval of Police Chief Coleman to pass out bread at the vacant lot next to Solomon Drug Store, was sent away due to complaints from Piggly Wiggly and Solomon Drug.
    Campbell requested the help of the City Council in finding a place for his charitable group to distribute bread. Several locations including the National Guard Armory, Eutaw Activity Center, Greene-Sumter Farmers Market shed, and the area and park behind City Hall. The Council said they would make the National Guard Armory available if the location was close enough to low income people in town.
    Mayor Edwards announced that the City was scheduling meetings with area banks to seek interim financing for the $3.1 million USDA/Rural Development water system improvement loan and grant project. The city is required to finance the project through construction and then USDA comes in when it is built and inspected to the required specifications and approves it for payment, including the interim financing costs.
    At the March 22, 29 and April 12, 2016 meetings, the Eutaw City Council took other actions:
    – approved contract with CNI for $13,745 for billing softwear and training for the water department, this includes an additional $675 per quarter for on-going support;
    – renewed contract with RDS for administering the City’s business licensure procedure;
    – agreed to lift a freeze on hiring for the Street, Water and Police Departments;
    – approved use of $9,000 from the City’s gasoline tax fund for the emergency paving in Branch Heights and the dirt road from Elm Street and Oak Street;
    – supported the ‘Back to School Sales Tax Holiday’ for August 5 to 7 for sales tax abatement on school supplies. The estimated sales tax revenue loss to the city will be $3,500 for agreeing to this holiday.
    – approved official travel for staff members to training conferences and payment of all bills through March 2016.

  • Cockrell wins run-off election for District 2 school board seat

    kkCockrell

    Kashaya “Newt” Cockrell won the District 2 school board seat in a run-off election held Tuesday, April 12, 2016.  Cockrell secured the District 2 school board position with a total of 189 (52%) votes to Madylen Thomas’ 173 (48%) total votes.
    Cockrell and Thomas led the slate of five candidates vying for the open seat in the Primary Election on Tuesday, March 1, 2016. Cockrell will hold this position on the Democrat’s Party slate for the November 1, 2016 General Election. She is currently unopposed in the General Election. After the vote count was reported, Cockrell said “ I want to thank all those who helped in this election and all those who voted for me. I did not win by myself, it was because of a community effort. I ran to help and support the children of Greene County and provide a brighter educational future for all of them.
    Cockrell is a lifelong resident of Greene County with three children, two of whom are enrolled in the Greene County school system. She is employed as finance manager with the Greene County Housing Authority and also works with agency’s youth department.

  • County extends 1 cent sales tax for hospital Greene County Commission rejects Greenetrack’s offer to settle outstanding lease payments

    At the Greene County Commission’s work session held Wednesday, April 6, 2016, Commissioner Allen Turner, Jr. presented a document from Greenetrack CEO Luther Winn offering $600,000 to settle the outstanding lease payments due to the county from Greenetrack.  The offer presented in the Commission’s work session indicated that Greenetrack would pay $250,000 as lease payment for 2013; $150,000 for 2014; $100,000 for 2015; and $100,000 for 2016.
    At the following monthly meeting held Monday, April 11, 2016, the County Commission voted to reject  that offer from Luther Winn and Greenetrack, Inc. The Commission supported a motion directing the Chairperson to inform Winn in writing that the last lease agreement was set at a payment of $250,000 annually and at this time discussions on a new agreement were necessary.
    Greene County and Greenetrack, Inc. own jointly the physical property where Greenetrack operates simulcasting dog and horse racing as well as the electronic bingo operations. Greenetrack and the County Commission had an agreement in which Greenetrack, Inc. would pay a designated amount for use of the county’s portion of the property.  The current 20 year lease agreement was reached by the two parties in 2008 with Greenetrack committing to pay the county $250,000 per year.  Reportedly, this agreement stated that the lease amount could be re-negotiated every 5 years.  If there was no re-negotiation, the current lease payment would continue.  There was no re-negotiated lease agreement between the parties since 2008.
    Based on the 2008 agreement Greenetrack owes the county $1 million dollars in lease fees.
    The County Commission agreed to extend, for an additional 10 years, a one cent sales tax which supports the Greene County Health System.  That sales tax generates approximately $35,000 per month for the hospital system.  The county’s authorization included language which would allow the hospital to pursue other financial assistance against this guaranteed sales tax revenue. County CFO, Paula Bird reported the total funds in banks as of March 16, 2016 as follows:  Citizen Trust Bank $2,398,717.49; Merchants & Farmers Bank $1,636,341.33; CD Bond Fund Investments $566,145.29; Bank of New York $575,610.26. The CFO reported one budget amendment request from Sheriff Jonathan Benison to move $8,000 from the fuel account to the account for repairs to motor vehicles. The Commission approved this request as well as the financial, claims, revenue and expenditures reports presented by Bird.
    Mrs. Joyce Pham and Ms. Katie Powell were appointed to serve on the Housing Authority of Greene County Board of Directors for Districts 5 and 2, respectively. The appointment for District I was tabled.
    The Commission also tabled the J.C. Poole Library Board appointments for Districts 1 and 3.
    In other business the Commission approved the following:
    * Travel requests for employee training: Rhonda French – Payroll Certification Program; Tanesha Mack and Blake McMillian – ACCA Jail Training; Jeremy Rancher – Child Abuse Training; Iris Sermon and Hodges Smith – EMITS; Iris Sermon – Fusion; Commissioners Brown, Cockrell and Williams – Prattville Training.
    * Resolution regarding the Abatement of Taxes and support of the passage of HB 169 and SB 96.
    * Resolution adopting a Title VI Plan for ALDOT grant (Nutrition Program).
    * Resolution approving the 2016 Sales Tax Holiday.
    * Resolution approving the Finley McRae Cemetery.
    * Board of Education’s request to use lawn of the former Miles College building for a parent cookout on April 22, 2016.

     

  • The Panama Papers’ growing impact on Africa

    Panama papers
    While no African official has yet resigned as a result of the Panama Papers, African journalists involved in the investigation say they have given Africans a wake up call and could even lead to government action.
    The twin sister of DRC’s leader Joseph Kabila, the nephew of South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma and business people allegedly linked to Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe are all named in the Panama Papers.  The Mossack Fonseca leak – the biggest data leak ever – have revealed the names and alleged financial affairs of top officials from at least 15 different sub-Saharan African countries or people linked to them have been named.
    While the practice of keeping money abroad is not illegal, the revelations by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ (ICIJ) team of about 400 journalists have made global headlines. African Union chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said the African money kept in foreign banks should be repatriated to the continent.
    At a conference last year, former South African president Thabo Mbeki noted that a report commissioned by the AU had found that Africa was losing $50 billion(43 billion euros) a year through illicit cash flows – money that could go into education, health care or investments on the continent. A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) even puts the amount at $150 billion.
    Several African governments have either remained silent or maintained that the officials were acting within their legal rights when confronted with the disclosure. African journalists who worked on the investigation believe that the Panama Papers will have a strong impact:

  • Black culture isn’t the problem – systemic inequality is

    Boots Riley via Creative Time Reports

    Clinton Crime Bill protestor

    Clinton Crime Bill
    protestor

    The idea that it is Black folks and our supposedly immoral and savage culture that creates our disproportionate rates of poverty and imprisonment is everywhere: cop shows, news media, movies set in Black neighborhoods and high-school social studies classes have all perpetuated this misconception. And some are now using this old, false idea to disparage Black Lives Matter, saying that the real problem facing Black communities isn’t police violence, racist oppression or economic exploitation but “Black-on-Black crime”.  We hear this all over the place, from news columnists to Ray Lewis to Rudy Giuliani – and, most recently, reiterated by Bill Clinton.
    It’s asinine, this argument that modern civil rights movements like Black Lives Matter should stop talking about actual problems in favor of apocryphal ones. During the civil rights movement there was much more homicide in the black community than there is now — black-on-black crime is shrinking. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show that from 1950 to 2013 the percentage of black men who became homicide victims dropped by a third, and for black women the percentage was cut in half.
    Though murder rates were higher in the 1960s, no one in their right mind today would argue that those organizers should have put the march on Selma or the Montgomery bus boycott on the back burner to focus on black-on-black violence back then. We shouldn’t pressure today’s activists to do this either.
    Yet the myth of black-on-black crime has enormous staying power. It’s no surprise that this kind of argument is so common among the likes of conservative media, Donald Trump and the police, but false hysteria about black-on-black crime has also been absorbed by liberals and black community leaders. Even Spike Lee took this stance in his recent film Chi-Raq, showing a Chicago minister telling a huge crowd that the fight against black-on-black violence is “our Selma”.
    We’ve been duped. When black neighborhoods are compared with white neighborhoods of similar income levels, you see similar rates of crime. The fallacy of comparing white neighborhoods with black neighborhoods is in lumping together wealthy and upper-middle-class neighborhoods (categories that not many black folks are in) with middle- and low-income ones. But that’s not how the world works. Poor white people in Memphis aren’t kicking it with rich ones in Bel Air.
    Explaining crime and poverty as a result of black behavioral choice, further, disguises ways that both are caused by capitalism. Recasting systemic inequality as cultural choice suggests that black people aren’t determined enough – that it’s their own fault they remain in poverty. Out of economic deprivation comes violence – not because poor people have bad attitudes or cultural deficiencies, but because without a real economic safety net, the machinations required for survival can involve illegal business. And whereas legal business has the police to physically enforce the laws that govern it, disputes and agreements in illegal businesses are settled and enforced by the practitioners themselves.
    The argument also regurgitates the same old disproven beliefs about crime, saying that stricter gun laws would decrease violence. Calls for gun legislation are actually calls for stricter policing and more police violence in black communities: gun control laws give police more powers to arrest – and we know that these policies will be racist in their implementation. Imagine stop-and-frisk in white neighborhoods: it ain’t gonna happen. The rate of weapons arrests is multiple times higher in the black community, even though blacks are half as likely as whites to own a gun.
    The myth of black crime as cover for racist violence is nothing new. In 1906 Atlanta newspapers created a fake “Negro crime wave” which culminated in the state militia and county police going door to door in a raid of every single black home in order to confiscate guns. People were beaten and murdered along the way. In the following decades, similar media-created “Negro crime waves” in Washington, New York and other cities led to the repression of black communities that follows this kind of story.
    The only thing that will stop murders in black neighborhoods, or in any neighborhoods, is a higher standard of living, not laws that will be enforced through a racist lens. Economic improvement will happen only through a mass radical movement to create a system in which the people democratically control the wealth that we create with our labor.
    The next time you hear someone try to shame black community activists and reinforce the myth of the black criminal, remember that it’s an old story and a fake story. And it’s time for us to move on.

  • Committee urges sweeping reforms at jail where Sandra Bland died

    By: Michael McLaughlin, Reporter, Associated Press

     

    Sandra Bland
    This undated handout photo provided by the Waller County Sheriff’s Office shows Sandra Bland. The Texas Rangers are investigating the circumstances surrounding Bland’s death Monday, July 13, 2015 in a Waller County jail cell in Hempstead, Texas. The Harris County medical examiner has classified her death as suicide by hanging. She had been arrested Friday in Waller County on a charge of assaulting a public servant. (Waller County Sheriff’s Office, via AP)

    Sandra Bland died by hanging in a Texas jail cell after a controversial arrest in which a state trooper threatened to use a Taser on her.
    A committee reviewing the Texas jail where Sandra Bland died last year issued a report Tuesday calling for drastic changes, including the possibility of removing the sheriff’s department from overseeing the facility. The five-member committee, which included attorneys, a former congressman and a former judge, also recommended building a new jail in Waller County, bolstering screening for medical and mental health conditions, and outfitting officers with body cameras.
    Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith and his department came under criticism after Bland, 28, was found hanging in her cell on July 13, 2015, three days after her arrest by a state trooper during a traffic stop. Her death was ruled a suicide, but her family alleges in a wrongful death lawsuit that the sheriff’s office didn’t properly care for Bland, who told jailers she had epilepsy and had previously attempted suicide. HuffPost has found discrepancies in records about her death.
    The report said the current jail should be replaced because it falls short of safety and security standards. It also suggested using emergency medical technicians instead of deputies to screen inmates entering the jail, and having doctors remotely examine inmates and their health records. In addition, jail staff should be trained in anger management, the report said.

  • Bernie Sanders would apologize for slavery if elected President

    Written By NewsOne Staff

    Bernie Sanders

     Bernie Sanders campaigning

    Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders became known for his work during the Civil Rights Movement and was the first candidate to explicitly declare that Black Lives Matter, but would he address slavery if elected president?
    Well, yes. In fact, the Democratic candidate said Wednesday at an event in Philadelphia that he would issue a “necessary and overdue” apology about the horrific system, The Hill reports: “An American president has yet to muster up the courage to formally apologize for the 400 heinous years of rape, death and inhumanity that occurred during the enslavement of black people in this country that still impacts million of slave descendants,” an audience member told Sanders before asking whether he’d apologize for it.
    “Want the short answer?” Sanders asked in response. “Yes.”
    His response isn’t all that surprising. In July, Sanders said the nation should apologize for slavery. He later reiterated his statement, saying, “as a nation we have got to apologize for slavery, and of course the president is the leader of the nation.”

  • The wage gap: terrible for all women, even worse for women of color; Tuesday was ‘Equal Pay Day’

    By: Lydia O’Connor Reporter, The Huffington Post

    Fast Food Protests
    A woman carries a sign for equal pay as she marches with other protestors in support of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour as part of an expanding national movement known as Fight for 15, Wednesday, April 15, 2015, in Miami. The event was part of a national protest day to coincide with the April 15 deadline for filing income taxes. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

    How much does being a woman cost over a lifetime? A lot more if she’s Latina.
    Tuesday was Equal Pay Day — the day that marks how far into the year full-time employed women have to work in order to earn what their male counterparts earned in the year prior. To mark the occasion, the National Women’s Law Center released a report showing how much the wage gap costs women over their lifetime. The findings, released earlier this month, are based on 2014 U.S. Census data showing the difference between women’s and men’s median annual earnings for full-time, year-round employees, multiplied by 40 years. The data comes from a Census study that does not take immigration status into account, meaning it doesn’t make distinctions about whether or not people are undocumented.
    We’re often reminded that women earn 79 cents for every dollar men earn, but what sometimes gets lost is that the gap is much worse for Latinas, black women and other women of color. Here are some of the NWLC’s most jarring takeaways about being a woman of color working in the U.S.:
    Women overall lose out on more than $400,000 over the course of their careers, but most women of color are shorted more than double that.
    Men out-earn women in all 50 states and in Washington D.C. For full-time, year-round employees nationwide, women earn a median annual $39,621 compared to men’s $50,383 — a yearly difference of $10,762. If a woman works for 40 years, then, that adds up to a lifetime shortfall of $430,480 as compared to a man.
    But most women of color can expect to lose out on a lot more. When compared to the earnings of white men, that wage loss figure rises to $883,040 for Native American women, $877,480 for black women and $1,007,080 for Latinas.
    The gap is smaller — though still nowhere near equitable — for Asian-American women, whose lifetime wage difference compared to white men totals $365,440. So, you know, just a third of a million dollars, instead of an actual million dollars.
    In a shocking number of states, white men earn more than twice as much as Latinas.
    There are 12 states, or about a quarter of the country, where Latinas on average earn less than half of what white men make per year. In order from greatest lifetime wage gap to least, these states are New Jersey, California, Maryland, Connecticut, Texas, Massachusetts, Washington, Illinois, Rhode Island, Utah, Georgia and Alabama.
    For black women, the above is true only in Louisiana, and for Native American women it’s only true in Delaware. There are no states where, overall, men earn twice as much per year as women, and no states where white men earn twice as much as Asian-American women.
    Our nation’s capital is setting a horrible example.
    At first glance, Washington, D.C., doesn’t look like one of the most dire environments. With lifetime wage losses for women overall totaling $288,560, it’s the seventh best state for working women.
    But when lifetime wage loss for black women and Latinas is stacked up against the lifetime earnings of white men, D.C. comes in dead last. It’s also the second worst for Asian-American women and eighth worst for Native American women.

  • Career Center inducts 22 students in National Technical Honor Society

    Honor Students

    Newly inducted members of the National Technical Honor Society are shown with Dr. Rhinnie Scott, Principal of the GCHS Career Center,  Mrs. Angela White, Ms. Shenell H. Spears and Ms. Willie Gilmore Co-advisors;  Rev. Gwendolyn Webb, guest speaker; Interim Superintendent  Dr. James H. Carter, Sr.  and School Board President, Mr. Leo Branch.

    Greene County High School Career Center inducted its first scholars into the National Technical Honor Society, Friday March 31, 2016.  The 22 students indicted included Telejah Bevelle, Denzel Davis, Sabrina French, Jameria Hood, Tyra Hutton, N’Khala Richardson, Ashley Taylor, Amber Woods, Delorine Brown, Brittany Deloatch, Raven Gilliam, Leterreia Hutton, Destini Jackson, Lauren Smith, Jasmine Williams, Tukiya Cunningham, Amber French, Sara Hawkins, Ollivara Hutton, Anthony McGhee, Chanique Sterling and Michael Winn.
    The program consisted of the following: Entrance of Inductee; Posting of Colors by the JROTC; Pledge of Allegiance led by Denzel Davis; Welcome given by Tukiya Cunningham; History of NTHS shared by Ollivara Hutton; Selection by the GCHS Choir; Purpose presented by Lauren Smith; the Motto/Colors/Slogan explained by Sara Hawkins and the Introduction of the Guest Speaker presented by Sabrina French.Rev. Gwendolyn Cook-Webb, Pastor of God’s People United for a Better World Church, Birmingham, AL was the guest speaker.  Rev. Webb shared her experiences as a child of the movement in Birmingham in the 1960’s on.
    The lighting of the candles representing the Seven Attributes of NTHC was presented as follows: Knowledge by Amber Woods; Skill by Jasmine Williams; Honesty by Ashley Taylor; Service by Chanique Sterling; Responsibility by Tyra Hutton; Scholarship by Anthony McGhee; Citizenship by N’Khala Richardson; and Leadership by Delorine Brown.
    Pinning of Inductees and Presentation of Certificates were led by Mrs. Angela White, Ms. Willie Gilmore and Ms. Shenell Spears.  Dr. Rhinnie Scott, Principal of the Career Center, Interim Superintendent James H. Carter and School Board President Mr. Leo Branch also assisted.
    Following the students recitation of the NTHS Pledge, closing remarks were presented by Dr. Carter and Dr. Rhinnie Scott.  A reception followed for students, parents and other guests.
    About NTH
    The National Technical Honor Society, founded in 1984, serves approximately 80,000 active members nationwide. Over $225,000 in scholarship is awarded annually to its members.  For over 30 years NTHS has been the acknowledged leader in the recognition of outstanding student achievement in career and technical education.
    NTHS strives to bring well deserved recognition, scholarship opportunities, and career opportunities to students who excel in one of the 108 career and technical educational fields as their profession. Through its scholarships, NTHS encourages students to pursue higher education and training in technical fields and supports members in their lifelong commitment to a skilled trade.

  • Legislative delegation meets with community on proposed changes in Amendment 743 Future of electronic bingo in Greene County uncertain due to Supreme Court ruling

    Artis .jpg

    Persons leading community meeting on bingo, Sunday night at the National Guard Armory; L to R.State Representative Artis J. McCampbell, Spiver W. Gordon, Leo Branch, Chair Greene County School Board, Sarah Duncan, Rev. James Carter, Finest Miles and State Senator Bobby Singleton.

    The past week has been a difficult one for the future of electronic bingo in Greene County. On Thursday, the Alabama Supreme Court upheld lower court decisions seizing electronic bingo machines and cash from Victoryland in 2003. The Court continued to assert that “bingo” was a game played on paper cards and that none of the Constitutional Amendments, including Greene County’s Amendment 743, protected electronic gaming machines as legal in Alabama. On Sunday at the Eutaw National Guard Armory, over 150 local residents came out to hear State Senator Bobby Singleton and State Representative Artis McCampbell explain their bill to change Amendment 743. The four electronic bingo establishments in the county, Sheriff Benison, County Commissioners, School Board members, other public officials and citizens were present to understand and discuss the bill.
    On Tuesday, in the Alabama State Senate, Senator Harri Anne Smith of the Wiregrass area contested Singleton’s bill, which had been passed out of committee, on the floor.  Her action blocked the bill.
    Senator Singleton withheld his bill and contested all other local bills pending in the State Senate, in the same way that Smith contested his bill.

    Impact of Alabama Supreme Court decision

    Attorney General Luther Strange hailed the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision Thursday against VictoryLand as a resounding victory for the rule of law and the definitive word that electronic bingo is illegal in Alabama.
    “The Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling is abundantly clear that electronic bingo is illegal and repeated court challenges to the contrary will not change that fact,” said Attorney General Strange. “I cannot say it any better than the court itself.”
    The Alabama Supreme Court ruling observed: “Today’s decision is the latest, and hopefully the last, chapter in the more than six years’
    worth of attempts to defy the Alabama Constitution’s ban on “lotteries.” It is the latest, and hopefully the last, chapter in the ongoing saga of attempts to defy the clear and repeated holdings of this Court beginning in 2009 that electronic machines like those at
    issue here are not the “bingo” referenced in local bingo amendments.     It is the latest, and hopefully the last, chapter in the failure of some local law-enforcement officials in this State to enforce the anti-gambling laws of this State they are sworn to uphold, thereby
    necessitating the exercise and performance by the attorney general of the authority and duty vested in him by law, as the chief law-enforcement officer of this State, to enforce the criminal laws of this State.
    And finally, it is the latest, and hopefully last, instance in
    which it is necessary to expend public funds to seek appellate review of the meaning of a simple term — “bingo” – which, as reviewed above, has been declared over and over and over again by this Court. There is no longer any room for uncertainty, nor justification for continuing dispute, as to the meaning of that term. And certainly the need for any further expenditure of judicial resources, including the resources of this Court, to examine this issue is at an end. All that is left is for the law of this State to be enforced.”
    Attorney General Strange added, “I consider the work of my office in bringing the issue of electronic gambling to the courts for final judgement to now be complete. It is now up to the Governor, ALEA, and local authorities to ensure that the law is properly enforced.
    “I am proud of the work of the many local law enforcement jurisdictions who have performed their duty to enforce our laws and I am equally proud of my legal team in bringing this case and the question of electronic bingo to a successful conclusion.”
    There is a similar suit pending in Greene County about machines seized in raids on bingo facilities in Greene County. Greene County’s Amendment 743 specifically allows “electronic forms of bingo” while legislation in other parts of the state do not explicitly permit electronic machines, which the Supreme Court, AG Strange and other consider illegal gambling slot machines.
    It is unclear if Attorney General Strange plans to raid bingo again or leave it up to local law enforcement while he pursues his own political career, which may include a run for Governor.

    Sunday’s Community Meeting on Electronic Bingo

    Senator Singleton came to the meeting in Greene County to discuss his local legislative bill, which makes changes in the Greene County Constitutional Amendment 743 on bingo. He said that the bill was developed in consultation with Republican leaders of the Senate,
    in particular Dale Marsh, to clarify the status and legality of electronic bingo. “ We need 21 votes to pass this bill and there are only 6 Democratic Senators, so we need help,” said Singleton.
    The bill would allow gaming on any machine authorized for use in Indian casinos by regulations of the National Indian Gaming Commission. “Since these machines are legal at Indian casinos, they should be legal in Greene County,” said Singleton. He also indicated that several legislators were very protective of the Indians and did want him to use their definition to justify our use of electronic bingo machines that are approved in the Indian casinos.
    The bill requires that gaming be done at only one facility in Greene County, which is licensed for pari-mutuel betting on horses and greyhound dogs. This facility is Greenetrack. If these changes pass, the other three bingo facilities, permitted by the Sheriff, will be closed.
    There was much discussion on the employment and services that would be lost if these other three facilities were forced to close.
    The bill provides for a state and local gross receipts tax on the revenues generated by electronic bingo, which are estimated to be $50 million a year after winnings paid out to participants. The State of Alabama would receive a 4% tax while the local tax would be 8.5% or possibly more. The local tax would go to benefit the County Commission, School Board, Hospital, E 911, fire associations and others.
    There is a second tax on the portion of revenues that go to gaming machine providers. The Sheriff and the Eutaw Police Department would divide these funds.
    Local observers pointed out that these tax provisions would provide Greene County residents with reliable information on the funds flowing through these gaming establishments. At present, the amount of money generated by these facilities is not publically known. “Without transparency on the total amount of funds handled by these gaming entities, there is no way to know how generous they really are in helping agencies and charities in the county,” said Carol Zippert, Greene County School Board member.
    Val Goodson, speaking for the Center for Rural Development, the charity benefiting from Green Charity Bingo said in last year (2015) the facility had $17 million in gross revenues and paid only $402,000 to the charity.
    A five member Greene County Gaming Commission would be named to take over the responsibilities for regulating and administering bingo from the Sheriff, who is designated under the current amendment. Sheriff Jonathan Benison attended the meeting and spoke in strong defense of his work for the past six years in regulating bingo. He echoed the comments of many others that he was not aware of Singleton’s bill and it should have been discussed with Greene County leaders and residents before it was proposed in Montgomery.
    In closing out the meeting Singleton said, “This bingo bill may be our last best hope to save bingo in this county before the Attorney General or someone else comes against us. This is the main reason we made this proposal. We want to help Greene County save and benefit from bingo.”