The last time voters decided on gambling at The Greenbrier, owners of the luxury resort spent big bucks to sway them to say yes.
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. - The last time voters decided on gambling at The Greenbrier, owners of the luxury resort spent big bucks to sway them to say yes.
Local ministers hired a political consultant to help convince people otherwise.
And months before Election Day, more than 200 people packed the county courthouse to argue about whether to put gambling on the ballot.
On Nov. 7, 2000, Greenbrier County voters defeated the measure 58 percent to 42 percent.
That was then. This is now.
On Tuesday, voters again will decide whether to allow table games for overnight guests at the White Sulfur Springs hotel and resort. And many say the election could go differently this time.
In September, county commissioners held an emergency meeting and voted to place a referendum on the ballot.
They did so at the request of the Council of Labor Unions, whose members hope high rollers would boost year-round business.
Since then, the table game campaign has been brief and much quieter.
And The Greenbrier, which is owned by CSX Corp., won't tell the public where it stands on the issue.
It hasn't been a good year for the hotel, which lost multiple contracts for conventions and meetings due to ongoing labor disputes between management and more than 1,000 union workers.
Large groups have canceled reservations this year, fearing workers would strike. Union workers have gone without a contract since Jan. 31, and the two parties remain locked in conflict.
Economic anxiety permeates the community, where so many livelihoods depend on the hotel. Supporters believe gambling could be the only hope to save jobs.
Opponents stand firm against the referendum, but say they haven't had time to get organized.
It's a jobs issue
Eight years ago, the Rev. Alvie Edwards led the now-defunct West Virginia Families Against Casino Gambling.
This time, the retired Baptist minister hasn't campaigned against the proposal. His heart just wasn't in the fight.
"In 2000, it was our struggle with management," he said. "But now, it's a struggle with the average Joe."
On a chilly afternoon last week, 10 workers stood at the busy intersection on U.S. 219 near Wal-Mart. They waved to traffic and held signs saying "Save Greenbrier County Jobs!! Vote Yes."
One of them, retired spa employee Golden Feury, said he believes the referendum has a better chance this year.
"It's a jobs issue," said Feury, who worked at The Greenbrier for 47 of his 68 years. "The Greenbrier says they need revenue. We're trying to get them some."
Eight years ago, "everybody thought The Greenbrier was untouchable," said Peter Bostic, secretary-treasurer of Unite Here Local 863, which represents 800 food service employees, housekeepers and other service workers at the resort.
But he says The Greenbrier has lost money every year since 2003. People fear the resort could get sold or even close.
Labor negotiations have continued for months.
"We're still very far apart," Bostic said of management.
The unions decided to push for gambling on a day when the management "flatly rejected" a "very fair" health-care proposal, Bostic said.
The Greenbrier's "old money" clientele is dying out, and young rich people want faster-paced entertainment.
"They're not the type who like to sit on the porch and sip mint juleps and watch the sun set," Bostic said at Unite Here's offices in White Sulphur Springs.
Unions endorsed the referendum of 2000, but have more actively campaigned for it this year. They recently sent out a countywide mailing. By Election Day, they'll have bought nine ads in local newspapers.
Because the proposed casino would be closed to the public, "We don't believe this type of gaming ... would create a single new gambler."
But in nearby Lewisburg, the Rev. Mark Flynn is skeptical.
"Who's going to decide to fly to Lewisburg and stay in White Sulphur instead of flying to the Caribbean in February?" said Flynn, the Greenbrier District Superintendent for the United Methodist Church. "It's crazy."
About a decade ago, Flynn spoke out at the Statehouse against a 1999 law that ultimately allowed a local referendum vote. He calls that law "a trap" because he says it makes it easier to vote for gambling rather than against it.
Official Methodist teaching stands against gambling, he said. He contends gambling causes crime, bankruptcies and divorces. And it could also hurt local business if tourists spend all their money in a casino.
"I also think that it brings moral climate change when you ask people to make their living by taking advantage of other people's weaknesses," he said.
Flynn admits casino opponents aren't very organized. They were caught by surprise.
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. - The last time voters decided on gambling at The Greenbrier, owners of the luxury resort spent big bucks to sway them to say yes.
Local ministers hired a political consultant to help convince people otherwise.
And months before Election Day, more than 200 people packed the county courthouse to argue about whether to put gambling on the ballot.
On Nov. 7, 2000, Greenbrier County voters defeated the measure 58 percent to 42 percent.
That was then. This is now.
On Tuesday, voters again will decide whether to allow table games for overnight guests at the White Sulfur Springs hotel and resort. And many say the election could go differently this time.
In September, county commissioners held an emergency meeting and voted to place a referendum on the ballot.
They did so at the request of the Council of Labor Unions, whose members hope high rollers would boost year-round business.
Since then, the table game campaign has been brief and much quieter.
And The Greenbrier, which is owned by CSX Corp., won't tell the public where it stands on the issue.
It hasn't been a good year for the hotel, which lost multiple contracts for conventions and meetings due to ongoing labor disputes between management and more than 1,000 union workers.
Large groups have canceled reservations this year, fearing workers would strike. Union workers have gone without a contract since Jan. 31, and the two parties remain locked in conflict.
Economic anxiety permeates the community, where so many livelihoods depend on the hotel. Supporters believe gambling could be the only hope to save jobs.
Opponents stand firm against the referendum, but say they haven't had time to get organized.
It's a jobs issue
Eight years ago, the Rev. Alvie Edwards led the now-defunct West Virginia Families Against Casino Gambling.
This time, the retired Baptist minister hasn't campaigned against the proposal. His heart just wasn't in the fight.
"In 2000, it was our struggle with management," he said. "But now, it's a struggle with the average Joe."
On a chilly afternoon last week, 10 workers stood at the busy intersection on U.S. 219 near Wal-Mart. They waved to traffic and held signs saying "Save Greenbrier County Jobs!! Vote Yes."
One of them, retired spa employee Golden Feury, said he believes the referendum has a better chance this year.
"It's a jobs issue," said Feury, who worked at The Greenbrier for 47 of his 68 years. "The Greenbrier says they need revenue. We're trying to get them some."
Eight years ago, "everybody thought The Greenbrier was untouchable," said Peter Bostic, secretary-treasurer of Unite Here Local 863, which represents 800 food service employees, housekeepers and other service workers at the resort.
But he says The Greenbrier has lost money every year since 2003. People fear the resort could get sold or even close.
Labor negotiations have continued for months.
"We're still very far apart," Bostic said of management.
The unions decided to push for gambling on a day when the management "flatly rejected" a "very fair" health-care proposal, Bostic said.
The Greenbrier's "old money" clientele is dying out, and young rich people want faster-paced entertainment.
"They're not the type who like to sit on the porch and sip mint juleps and watch the sun set," Bostic said at Unite Here's offices in White Sulphur Springs.
Unions endorsed the referendum of 2000, but have more actively campaigned for it this year. They recently sent out a countywide mailing. By Election Day, they'll have bought nine ads in local newspapers.
Because the proposed casino would be closed to the public, "We don't believe this type of gaming ... would create a single new gambler."
But in nearby Lewisburg, the Rev. Mark Flynn is skeptical.
"Who's going to decide to fly to Lewisburg and stay in White Sulphur instead of flying to the Caribbean in February?" said Flynn, the Greenbrier District Superintendent for the United Methodist Church. "It's crazy."
About a decade ago, Flynn spoke out at the Statehouse against a 1999 law that ultimately allowed a local referendum vote. He calls that law "a trap" because he says it makes it easier to vote for gambling rather than against it.
Official Methodist teaching stands against gambling, he said. He contends gambling causes crime, bankruptcies and divorces. And it could also hurt local business if tourists spend all their money in a casino.
"I also think that it brings moral climate change when you ask people to make their living by taking advantage of other people's weaknesses," he said.
Flynn admits casino opponents aren't very organized. They were caught by surprise.
Area ministers and some others concerned about the casino have met two or three times, but they haven't elected officers or started a fund. Flynn keeps red "No Casino" signs in his car trunk if someone he's visiting wants one, but no one has organized distribution of signs, he said.
Proponents of gambling have the support of several local officials.
Down the street from the Unite Here offices, the Old White Motor Sales car dealership displays a "Vote Yes" sign.
"The uncertainty without having that contract in place I think has affected a lot of people," said dealership owner Chris Hanna, a City Council member.
He differentiates between table games video lottery parlors: "If you've got wealthy people here from out of the area, playing as entertainment, it is a little different."
County Commissioner Brad Tuckwiller also supports the referendum.
"Those would be nonlocal dollars being wagered at the tables," Tuckwiller said.
People's feelings on gambling have changed since 2000, when the proposed casino would have been the first in West Virginia, Tuckwiller said.
Flynn rejects arguments about the gamblers being nonlocal.
"Anybody who has an addiction can't afford to gamble, even if he's a multimillionaire," he said.
No comment
Meanwhile, The Greenbrier hasn't made a peep.
"We are not making any comment," spokeswoman Lynn Swann said.
When asked why, Swann replied: "We simply are not making any comment .... We have no comment to offer."
Officials with the county's Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitors Bureau have decided to stay out of the debate.
"I think the major issue with the board is that we don't know where management stands," said Kara Dense, director of the CVB.
The CVB's funding from hotel-motel tax revenue has declined 40 percent over the past year, in part due to lost business at The Greenbrier, she said. County commissioners even authorized a subsidy of up to $200,000 for the 2008-09 fiscal year to help the CVB deal with that funding loss.
Add high gas prices over the summer, and "a perfect storm" hit the local economy, she said. (She noted that occupancy in Lewisburg hotels has remained steady.)
Dense said the CVB would support whatever voters - and ultimately, The Greenbrier - decide.
"What we want to see happen is a contract in place," Dense said.
Opponents in
'an odd position'
The last Greenbrier gambling debate was largely a religious one, Edwards said.
"Really who beat them last time was not us. It was the conservative, religious right in Greenbrier County," he said, explaining that he does not consider himself part of the "the religious right."
Now, resort workers are "afraid, they're hurting."
"My heart bleeds for these people," Edwards said. "I know a bunch of them. And these are not rich people."
Flynn said he wouldn't feel right if he didn't speak out against gambling. But he too empathizes with employees.
"It was easier to be in conflict with a corporation and a bunch of fat cats," he said.
Often, people from both sides of the political spectrum oppose gambling, he said.
"Some of my more liberal friends are used to being on the side of the union, and find themselves in an odd position," he said.
Last time, the debate caused bitter divisions in Greenbrier County churches, businesses and neighborhoods, Flynn said.
"So far, it hasn't looked as nasty this time," he said. "But I think no matter how this turns out, some wounds will have been reopened."
Uncertainty could linger after Election Day.
"One thing is obvious," Flynn said. "The Greenbrier isn't making any promises."
If the referendum passes, no one even knows whether the Greenbrier will create a casino. It won't mean a mandate for hotel management, Tuckwiller said.
"It'd be a corporate decision on their part to do it or not," he said.
Reach Alison Knezevich at alis...@wvgazette.com or 348-1240.
Post a comment