Greene County Democrat

Tag: Sheriff Jonathan “Joe” Benison

  • Sheriff Benison closes Palace Bingo because they violated rules in Constitutional Amendment 743

    The Greene County Democrat received a press release from Sheriff Jonathan “Joe” Benison, that early Wednesday morning, November 15, the Sheriff served an Order of Immediate Closure on the Palace Bingo facility in Knoxville, Alabama.

    The sheriff says the closure was necessitated by Palace Bingo’s flagrant and ongoing violations of Amendment 743 following multiple warnings. Amendment 743 explicitly states that “Prizes given by any non-profit organization for the playing of Bingo games shall not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00) in cash or gifts of equivalent value during any Bingo session.”

    This enforcement action is consistent with the Sheriff’s historic insistence that bingo operators operate within the law. The order directs that Palace Bingo remain closed until further notice and invites TS Police Support League to arrange a meeting to discuss the terms under which Palace Bingo may reopen.

    Section 6 of Constitutional Amendment No. 743, states, “(6) Prizes given by any nonprofit organization for the playing of bingo games shall not exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in cash or gifts of equivalent value during any bingo session.” A bingo session is not defined in the Amendment.

    In an earlier section of the amendment, it states: “The sheriff shall promulgate rules and regulations for the licensing, permitting, and operation of bingo games within the county. The sheriff shall insure compliance with such rules or regulations.”

    The Sheriff says his enforcement actions against the Palace Bingo follows a flurry of legal moves by the Sheriff to ensure the continued lawful operation of bingo in Greene County. The Sheriff dismissed his own lawsuit seeking an injunction to implement new rules for bingo, that involve “Bookend Bingo” and a definition of electronic marking machines. The new rules, which were adopted by the Sheriff without consultation with the bingo operators and charities, would require players to play a standard bingo game before and after an entertainment phase, where they would play bingo on machines similar to the current machines.

    The Sheriff argued that his new rules would require a change in software but would likely run on the current bingo machines. The State of Alabama, in a long running lawsuit claims the bingo machines are ‘illegal slot machines’ doing gambling and not the skill game of bingo, where you must keep up with your numbers and letters, on a paper card.

    The Sheriff says in his press release, that changes in the legal landscape required an adjustment of the Sheriff’s legal strategy. Sheriff Benison remarked upon these recent actions by saying, “Litigation is always fluid. Every decision I make is designed to ensure the continued play of bingo in Greene County.

    “Critics have done what critics do. They criticize. While I am aggressively working to preserve the future of bingo in Greene County, they are throwing stones. Somebody once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result,” said Benison.

    The Democrat reached out to the TS Police Support League and their representatives. who said they had “no comment at this time on the Sheriff’s actions.” They did say that they planned to continue the scheduled the Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway on Saturday, November 18, 2023, at the Palace Parking Lot.

    The Sheriff insisted that his plans and rules for bingo were the surest way to protect and continue bingo and its benefits to people, agencies, and organizations in Greene County.

  • Statewide: Walt Maddox for Governor; Joe Siegelman for AG In Greene County: Sheriff and 4 incumbent commissioners re-elected; Runoff set for Probate Judge and District 5 Commissioner

     

    Sheriff Jonathan Joe Benison (1)

    Shown above L to R: Sheriff Jonathan Benison, Veronica Morton-Jones and Ronald Kent Smith

    In yesterday’s Democratic primary elections, Sheriff Jonathan “Joe” Benison was re-elected to his third four-year term. Benison received 2013 votes (60%) to 681 for Jimmie Benison, 381 for Lorenzo French, and 282 for Beverly Spencer.
    In Greene County, the Republican party did not nominate candidates for local offices, so the Democratic nomination is tantamount to election, although these candidates will be officially confirmed as elected after the November 6, General Election.
    Veronica Morton-Jones was elected Circuit Clerk of Greene County by a vote of 1911 (60%) to 1290 for her opponent Debra D. Blackmon.
    Ronald Kent Smith was re-elected Coroner over Finest Gandy, Jr. by a vote of 1998 to 1186.
    In the race for Greene County Probate Judge, there will be a countywide Runoff Election on July 17, 2018, between the top two finishers, Jeremy Rancher with 1091 votes (32.76%) and Rolonda M. Wedgeworth with 813 votes (24.41%). Four other participants in the race: James Carter with 303, John Kennard with 306. Rashon Smith with 518 and Grace Belton Stanford with 299 votes were eliminated.

    Four of the incumbent County Commissioners were re-elected. In District 1, Lester ‘Bop” Brown defeated Union Mayor James Gaines, Jr. by 415 to 229 votes. In District 2, Tennyson Smith did not draw any opponents and will be re-elected after the November General Election.
    In District 3, Corey Cockrell was chosen over Elzora Fluker by a vote of 609 to 244. In District 4, Allen Turner, Jr. scored 491 votes to defeat John H. Vester with 178 votes.
    In District 5, there will be a runoff on July 17 between Marvin Childs 203 votes and Rashonda Summerville with 135 votes. Three other challengers including incumbent Michael Williams with 101, Marvin K. Walton with 77 and Grace Atkins Lavender with 54 votes.
    In the contest for State Democratic Executive Committee member for District 72 (Female), in Greene County Carrie B. McFadden had 433, Jerildine Melton 329 and Johnnie Mae Scott with 1052. Including results from Greene, Hale, Perry and Marengo counties, there will be a runoff between Carrie B. McFadden with 3378 and Johnnie Mae Scott 2676. Jerildine Melton finished with 2571, just five votes less than needed for second place.
    In the contest for State Democratic Executive Committee for District 72 (Male), in Greene County, Arthur Crawford had 659, James F. May 219 and John Zippert 1222. For the full four county district, there will be a runoff between Arthur Crawford 4216 and James F. May, 2725. John Zippert finished third with 2286 votes.
    In statewide races, Greene County set the trend for Walt Maddox and Joe Siegelman to win the Democratic nomination without a runoff. In Greene County, Maddox received 2779 (86.33%) of the votes. The other candidates: Sue Bell Cobb with 159, Christopher Countryman with 37, James C. Fields with 96, Doug ‘New Blue’ Smith 107 and Anthony White 41 votes, did not break 5% of the votes.
    In the State Attorney General’s race, Joe Siegelman received 2076 votes (71.81%) to 815 votes (28.19) for Chris Christie in Greene County. For Secretary of State, Heather Milan 1359 defeated Lula Albert with 970 votes in Greene County and also won statewide.
    In the Republican Primary in Greene County, there were only 249 votes cast or 6.83 of the total. In the Governor’s race, Kay Ivey led in Greene County with 184 votes (73.9%). She was followed by Tommy Battle with 30 votes, Scott Dawson with 26, Bill Hightower with 8 and Michael McAllister 1.
    More