Case 7:10-cv-02067-SLB Document 12-4 Filed 08/16/10 Page 1 of 4 FILED

2010 Aug-16 AM 09:49

U.S. DISTRICT COURT
N.D. OF ALABAMA

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
WESTERN DIVISION

WILLIAM JOHNSON, ANNIE PEARL *

LEFTWICH, BOBBI MORGAN, DONALD *
MEANS, ERNEST EDMONDS, FAIRY *
GORDON, IRIS SERMON, JOHNNY BUTLER, *
MERJEAN LITTLE, MOSES JONES, VASSIE *
BROWN, WILLIE MAE REEVES, BEVERLY *
GORDON, JOHNNY B. MORROW, FANNIE *
ISHMAN, LESLIE CHEATEM, MARGIE *
JAMES, BOBBY SINGLETON, A. J. *
MCCAMBELL, JOHNNY FORD, LOUIS *
MAXWELL, MARY RUTH WOODS, LISA M. *
WARE, CLARA P. GRIMMETT, CHARLES *
CHAMBLISS, JOHNNIE B. HARRISON, G. *
DYANN ROBINSON, SHIRLEY W. CURRY, *
SARAH STRINGER, MILES D. ROBINSON, and *
WILLIE LEE PATTERSON, individually and on *
behalf of others similarly situated, *
*
Plaintiffs, *
* Civil Action No.
v. * 7:10-cv-02067-SLB
*
BOB RILEY, in his individual capacity and in his *
official capacity as Governor of Alabama, and * Three-judge court
JOHN M. TYSON, JR., individually and in his * requested
official capacity as special prosecutor and task *
force commander of the Governor’s Task Force on *
Illegal Gaming, *
*
Defendants. *

EXHIBIT D TO
PLAINTIFFS’ AMENDED MOTION
FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
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Case 7:10-cv-02067-SLB Document 12-4 Filed 08/16/10 Page 2 of 4

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Community jobs lost along with

Greenetrack's electronic bingo
By Jason Morton Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 3:30 a.m.

EUTAW | Cynthia and J.C. Smith are

hoping for one more week.

On Friday, they expect to open the doors

of their Highway 43 Diner for the last
time.

Dusty Compton | Tuscaloosa News

It’s a tough but necessary decision, J.C.
Tables are empty at the Highway 43 Diner in
Smith said. After Greenetrack lost most of Eutaw on Friday. The diner is closing this
its customers when its electronic bingo month because of a drop in customers after
Greenetrack closed last month.
operation was closed, so, too, have the
Smiths lost theirs.

“I didn’t see it coming,” J.C. Smith said of the raid on Greene-track last
month that effectively cut off the financial life blood of this poor Black Belt
county. “And after it happened, I was hoping I’d just get some customers.
But I didn’t get any.”

In fact, Smith can pinpoint the day business collapsed. Standing behind a
hand-made “closing soon” sign hanging on the restaurant counter, he said
the last time a healthy stream of customers came in was July 16, the day
before a Greenetrack-organized rally against Gov. Bob Riley and his Task
Force on Illegal Gambling took place in Montgomery.

“Everybody went (to Montgomery),” Smith said. “Ain’t nobody been back.”

Before the governor’s task force seized more than 850 electronic bingo
machines from the facility during the first week of July, Greenetrack
employed about 400 people and pumped millions of dollars into the local
economy.

While paper bingo returned to Greenetrack on Friday, the elimination of

the electronic bingo machines meant the loss of more than 350 jobs, along
with the spending in the community by those employees and the
thousands of out-of-county visitors drawn to the gambling facility. Also
lost are the contributions from Greenetrack to local charities, nonprofits
and governments, such as the annual $780,000 that went to the Greene
County School System.

In June, before electronic bingo was shut down, 429 people were
unemployed in Greene County, a jobless rate of about 14 percent,
according to the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations.

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Case 7:10-cv-02067-SLB Document 12-4 Filed 08/16/10 Page 3 of 4
Although the department has yet to release statistics for July, adding the
unemployed Greene-track workers to the June total would increase the
number of unemployed, eligible workers in the Black Belt county to about
800, and the county’s unemployment rate to about 25 percent.

Across town, businessman Parminder Pruthi is facing his own financial

problems as a result of the loss of electronic bingo.

In late 2007, Pruthi opened the Track Comfort Inn on Greene County
Road 208, less than a half-mile from Greenetrack’s front gate.

Two years before that, Pruthi opened the Chevron gas station/

Subway restaurant in front of the hotel. His total investment was about
$3.5 million, he said.

As part of that deal, Greenetrack had contracted with Pruthi to have a

number of rooms on stand-by for the bingo parlor’s customers. Pruthi said
the monthly retainer paid by Greene-track totaled more than half his
monthly mortgage payment.

On Thursday, an empty parking lot spoke to the loss of income that Pruthi
believes will mean the eventual loss of his investment.

“Summer travel, it’s gone ...,” Pruthi said. “We’re in bad condition. We
won’t be able to make payments to the bank.

“The bank is giving me a little bit of time, but eventually they’re going to
foreclose. But now, no one wants to take that big of a property back
because it’s not doing anything.”

Next door to Pruthi’s store and hotel is the Citgo, where Penny Dunn has
worked for 15 years.

In that time, she has become acquainted with several Greenetrack

employees, many of whom would stop in on their way to or from work.

“I miss the workers,” she said. “They were all friends.”

The loss of electronic bingo has also meant the loss of business, which she
said is off about 20 percent. Her grandchildren, who had gone to the
private Warrior Academy school on Greenetrack scholarships, are now in
the public school system.

And because the private school’s credits did not fully transfer to the public
system, her grandson — who should be a senior this year — is repeating
his junior year at Greene County High School.

“He’s doing very well with it,” she said. “Better than I am.”

As for the store, she said the owners are installing a kitchen to try to bring
in truckers’ business.

But she still worries about the former Greenetrack workers who she used
to greet with a smile and a conversation.

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Case 7:10-cv-02067-SLB Document 12-4 Filed 08/16/10 Page 4 of 4
“This is one of the poorest counties in the state ...,” she said. “And most of
these people are (like) my family.

“Your job (helps) not only to survive in this economical age, but to feel
good about yourself.”

Former business owner Willis McGee is among the fortunate ones.

For months, he had been considering selling The Bait Shop, the longtime
fixture on Tuscaloosa Street that he bought several years ago.

The loss of Greenetrack’s bingo machines and the potential customers they
brought to town helped him make his decision.

At 53, McGee said he’s seen good and bad times in Eutaw, where he’s lived
all his life. Right now, he said, it’s in desperate need of some help.

“Greene County just hasn’t thrived,” McGee said. “That’s not all because of
the rise and fall of Greenetrack ... but this has hurt the community in the
short-term. Long run, I don’t know what’s going to happen.

“But there’s a lot less money floating around in the community, you can
tell. These poor folks down here, they need something to bring people in
from out of town with money in their pockets.”

Reach Jason Morton at jason.morton@tuscaloosanews.com or

205-722-0200.

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