Grow Greene County organizers hope that by Thursday morning, every business around the courthouse square will be displaying Grow Greene County’s signature colors and logo in their windows. Pictured is Guy Richardson (left) checking the placement of the sign in the window of his business, Greene County Abstract, while Matt Kingdon of Wild Rose Entertainment helps from below.
Richardson and other members of Grow Greene County, with help from Wild Rose, have put together an event they hope will show the five members of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission that Jefferson residents are enthusiastically behind the proposed casino. The IRGC will be in Jefferson Thursday morning to tour the town, see the proposed site at the northwest corner of the intersection of Highways 4 and 30, and to hold a public hearing to receive comments on the gaming license application.
The public hearing will be held at the Sierra Community Theatre. Persons who want to speak at the hearing must sign up before the start of the hearing at 12:30 pm. Someone will be available to take signups beginning at 10 am, but seating will not begin until noon.
On the courthouse square, Grow Greene County committee members will be near the Abraham Lincoln statue starting at 10 am distributing free Grow Greene County T-shirts to casino supporters while supplies last. A free barbecue lunch will be served for supporters starting at about 10:45 am. The IRGC will finish its tour of the city with a trip to the top of the Mahanay Bell Tower. Grow Greene County committee members hope commissioners will look down to a square full of supporters in green Grow Greene County T-shirts.
At the public hearing, individuals will be limited to three minutes of speaking time. Persons representing organizations will have five minutes, and representatives of the gaming industry will have 10 minutes. Grow Greene County committee members have recruited volunteers to speak, with the goal of having more persons speak in support of the casino than against it. Committee members stress, though, that the IRGC is in charge of the public hearing and will make any determinations about procedure or process. The hearing will not be closed until all those who signed up to speak have been heard.
For more information about Thursday’s events, click on the ad/link on GreeneCountyNewsOnline. Type “Wild Rose” into the search tool at the top right corner of the page on GreeneCountyNewsOnline to bring up archived stories and links to videos about the proposed casino.
