Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Sweet Home City Council last week adopted an ordinance allowing Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments at commercial establishments.
The council voted 6-1 on June 13 to adopt the ordinance. Voting yes were councilors Bob McIntire, Eric Markell, Jim Gourley, Mayor Craig Fentiman, Scott McKee Jr. and Jim Bean. Councilor Rich Rowley voted no.
The council approved the ordinance in response to a request by Jim Ashcraft, owner of Chewy’s Sports Pub, to allow businesses to host the tournaments. Under the ordinance, businesses may not benefit directly from the tournament, with either entry fees or any percentage of the tournament pot.
Businesses make money from the tournaments through the sale of food and beverages. To run a tournament, business owners will need to obtain a license from the city.
The ordinance sunsets in two years.
“I think people realize poker’s not the seedy game it used to be,” Ashcraft said. “People look at it differently now.”
Ashcraft said he will probably start tournaments toward the end of the summer.
The ordinance takes effect in one month on July 13.
Right now, Ashcraft is getting organized for the events, he said. He has ordered four new poker tables and plans to use another one he has used to host 10-player tournaments at home for the past two years.
With five tables, he can host 50-player tournaments, he said.
The tournaments take a lot of work though, Ashcraft said, and he doesn’t think he’ll host more than one every other week.
“I’m a tournament player myself,” he said. He has been playing in Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments for about five years, in Lebanon, Eugene and Springfield, and eventually started his own at home, which is permitted under state law and city ordinance already.
“I thought, ‘Everybody else is doing it in their bars; why can’t I?'” Ashcraft said, so he went to the City Council for permission.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a bad thing,” Ashcraft said. “I don’t think it’ll hurt Sweet Home.”
But Councilor Rowley and other citizens think it will.
Sweet Home Assembly of God Pastor Craig Lunde warned the council about allowing the tournaments during a final opportunity for public comment.
It may contribute “to the demise of our community in some ways,” Lunde said. “If you look at our city, we’re a big target for a big yellow sign that says, ‘Adult Arcade,’ in the middle of our town some day.”
Concerned that standards are getting softer and softer, he said, “I think a more conservative position by the City Council would be prudent. “This town is precious to me.”
Sweet Home has enough problems, such as meth, without adding more, he said.
Lunde said he has nothing against those who want the tournaments, but he wouldn’t stay silent if one of those big yellow signs were coming to town.
“That’s just around the corner if you allow this thing,” he warned.
Dave Holley told the council about his experience as a councilor 20 years ago.
The council approved pan tournaments then, Holley said, but at the time, people were talking about how it would bring the mafia to town.
“This Texas Hold ‘Em, to me it’s being blown so far out of proportion,” he said. “I just don’t see where this is coming from. It amazes me.”
“What it is, is taking something that is illegal in state law and using an allowance of the state to make it legal here,” Rowley said. He expressed concerns that the ordinance is a “step down a path, an erosive path.
“If we’re going to err, let’s err on the side of the family and the quality of living,” Rowley said. “The provisions in this ordinance are not enforceable. That should be a red flag.”
Like many laws, the ordinance relies on the honesty of those involved, Police Chief Bob Burford said. Police are unlikely to catch violations, if a business owner is taking a cut, for example, without someone reporting it to police.
Violating the ordinance carries a heavy risk though, City Attorney Robert Snyder said. Such a violation would be a class C felony, and a bar owner would jeopardize his or her liquor license as well as facing a criminal charge.
“There’s going to be real consequences,” Snyder said. “If you screw around with this, there’s no guarantee we won’t come down like bricks.”
Ashcraft said that he won’t be the only establishment running the tournament.
He expects the Waterhole and perhaps the VFW to run them as well, perhaps along with others, he said.
“I’m hoping that now that it has passed, that other people don’t abuse it.”