Several protesters arrested as Alabama state police raid electronic bingo casino

Protesters arrested in Ala bingo casino raid

EUTAW, Ala. — Several protesters who refused to leave the Greenetrack casino in west Alabama were arrested Thursday as state police entered to seize more than 800 electronic bingo machines.

Greene County jail personnel said several protesters were brought in Thursday morning after a night-long standoff. Sheriff George Cook did not immediately return a call for comment.

One of the protesters, Democratic state Sen. Bobby Singleton of Greensboro, told WBRC television he and others were arrested on a charge of obstruction of justice. He said they were orderly but wanted to get out their message that Republican Gov. Bob Riley’s gambling task force is wrongly closing a major employer in the poor, rural county.

Riley and Task Force Commander John Tyson Jr. contend that court rulings in recent months have made clear the electronic bingo machines are illegal slot machines.

Raids and threats of raids by the task force have closed all of the non-Indian electronic bingo casinos in Alabama except Victoryland in Macon County, the state’s largest with more than 6,000 machines. The task force is seeking an Alabama Supreme Court order allowing a raid of Victoryland. The three Creek Indian casinos are under federal control, not state.

The justices on a 7-2 vote cleared the way Wednesday evening for state troopers to re-enter Greenetrack after a seesaw legal dispute between Greene County Circuit Judge Eddie Hardaway and the task force.

WBRC TV reported that troopers returned to the casino around 10 p.m. Wednesday as hundreds of people watched from outside and about two dozen remained inside the building. Around 7 a.m. Thursday, the troopers began arresting the protesters, the station said.

Tyson did not immediately return a call for comment.

Hardaway, siding with casino supporters who say more than 350 Greenetrack jobs are at stake, had issued an order June 4 barring any raid. The Alabama Supreme Court struck that order down Monday night and the task force first entered Greenetrack on Tuesday morning.

But Hardaway issued another order halting the raid — and near midnight Tuesday ordered the task force out of the building.

Tyson said officers complied, bringing back equipment and leaving the casino Wednesday, while asking the Supreme Court to act on an emergency basis to strike down Hardaway’s orders, which Tyson said had repeatedly ignored the justices. The court agreed with Tyson within a few hours of his filing.

“Compliance with an order of this court is not optional,” the justices said.

“Disregarding Supreme Court orders cannot be and must never be optional,” Riley said in a statement. “Our judicial system depends on people following the orders of the state’s highest court.”