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Supervisors await official opinion on casino vote
Thursday, March 29, 2007
By VETO F. ROLEY
PASCAGOULA -- Three days after Attorney General Jim Hood's office issued an opinion granting legal backing to a non-binding Jackson County referendum, members of the Jackson County Board of Supervisors still have not received official notice of the opinion.
"I have not seen it," said Supervisor Robert Norvel.
He supported Jackson County voters being able to make their opinion known on gaming through the referendum.
Supervisor John McKay was not happy that Coast Businesses for Fair Play received a copy of the opinion before the Jackson County Board of Supervisors.
Coast Businesses for Fair Play is bankrolled by Harrison County casinos and is opposed to the proposed Choctaw casino in Jackson County.
"Tim Taranto (spokesman for the group) got the opinion before we did," McKay said. "It should of come to us first. That someone else got the opinion before we did disappointed me."
McKay said he was not surprised by the ruling, which referred Jackson County to a previously issued ruling on the same issue following a request by State Rep. Daniel Guice, R-Ocean Springs. However, he expected more than a one-line ruling from the Attorney General's office.
"I expected it to give a little more detail than it did," he said.
McKay said he expects the Board of Supervisors to take the matter up at its April 2 meeting and set a date later in 2007 for the referendum.
"I'm glad the people of Jackson County get to vote on the issue," McKay said. "It's not a Board of Supervisors decision. It's a decision by the people of Jackson County."
While Supervisor Frank Leach is satisfied with Hood's opinion, he said he did not feel the opinion is the best way to resolve the issue of whether the Board of Supervisors can hold a vote on gaming.
"It's the second best way to do what we need to do," Leach said. "I still think the legislative process is the best way to approach this."
Leach said he has sent four e-mails to Rep. Willie J. Perkins, D, LeFlore, chairman of the House Local and Private Committee, asking why he has not allowed the local-private legislation that would authorize a referendum out of committee and into the House. Leach said that Perkins has yet to provide an answer to his question.
Without the local-private legislation, Leach said the county will rely on Hood's opinion.
"Hopefully, this will allow our citizens to vote," he said.
The Mississippi Band of Choctaws is proposing to build a $375 million casino on 100 acres of land off Highway 57 north of the Ocean Springs city limit and south of Interstate 10.
Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin has said the tribe will not build the casino if county residents do not want the casino.
The last time Jackson County voters considered gaming was in 1990, when county voters voted against gaming in a binding referendum.
Reporter Veto F. Roley can be reached at vroley@themississippipress or (228) 934-1427.
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