By Crystal McGough, Associate Editor
PINSON – The Pinson City Council, at its regular Thursday night meeting on Jan. 5, 2023, heard from Zoning Administrator Chris Sharit regarding citizens’ concerns and complaints over electronic bingo facilities in and around the city.
“I just wanted to clarify a few things,” Sharit said. “We get several complaints and calls every day and every week to city hall and on social media about electronic bingo in the city of Pinson. The city does have an ordinance against electronic bingo. We do not have any electronic bingo facilities operating in the city limits, unless one opened today – and that’s possible because they pop up that quick. We have actually, physically, in the last few months shut down three. … In the city of Pinson, we do not have electronic bingo because it is illegal, and it is against our ordinances. We’ve shut them down and we will continue to shut them down.”
Sharit explained that there are a lot of bingo halls that appear to be in Pinson, but they are not legally within Pinson’s corporate limits and the municipality has no authority in unincorporated areas.
Mayor Cochran and some of the council members specifically called out Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway for not making electronic bingo a priority, and appealed to him for help.
“The only person that can deal with these unincorporated areas outside of our city limit is the sheriff of Jefferson County, Mark Pettway,” Cochran said. “He was recently re-elected. I’ve read comments from Sheriff Pettway that said he’s not dealing with this; he’s gonna focus on violent crime. Well, I know of robberies that have happened at these places – armed robberies. I know of shootings that have occurred in these places, and if that’s not violent crime, please define it for me.
“I have talked to Sheriff Pettway, as have many city leaders around this county. I have talked to Steve Marshall, our attorney general. I can’t for the life of me understand why our sheriff will not enforce these rules and other sheriffs in other counties will. There’s a lot of rumors and innuendos out there, and I’m not getting into any of that, but at the end of the day, it’s a blight on our community.”
Cochran said that he would also like to call upon Alabama’s state legislators to change the classification of electronic bingo from a misdemeanor to a felony.
“(They) can make a law … that will not allow our municipality to change the name of a building, which is stupid; but we can’t deal with this,” he said. “Get your priorities right, deal with the problems in the state of Alabama. It goes all the way from the legislature to the attorney general to the sheriff’s department. Those are the responsible people. We can’t make them do their job, but the citizens can; you can demand they do their job.”
Councilor Glenda Kirkland stated that she wouldn’t mind stepping on some toes to get some answers and action.
“I would love to ask the sheriff if he’s receiving any monies from these bingo parlors, or any of his officers or his brothers or family members,” Kirkland said. “Because you follow the money and you going to find out the problem, where it’s at. And I think it’s time that we follow the money and that we demand to know who’s getting the money on this.”
Councilor John Churchwell said he wholeheartedly agreed with the mayor, adding that “it’s ridiculous to have a situation like that (and) we cannot get any help or not really any attention from the sheriff.”
Councilors Robbie Roberts and Brad Walker both stated that, regardless of anyone’s personal opinions about gambling, they felt these venues appear “tacky” and negatively impact the community as a whole.
“It’s a lot of blight,” Mayor Cochran said. “It’s not a ‘Welcome to Pinson’ when you come down (Highway) 79 and see all these bingo halls.”
In other business, the council approved the following:
- Reappointment of Chris Esquire to the Planning and Zoning Commission
- Resolution 23-01, awarding a contract for municipal cleaning services in the amount of $4,181/month
- Ordinance 2023-01, agreeing to participate in the State Emergency Preparedness holiday Feb. 24-26, and the State Sales Tax holiday on the third weekend of July 2023
- Ordinance 2023-02, authorizing the city to lease real estate located at 7520 Faucett Cutoff Road to a city employee who will serve as an onsite caretaker/overseer of the Pinson Softball Fields
The next regular meeting of the Pinson City Council will be Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023, at Pinson City Hall. A pre-council meeting will be held at 6:15 p.m., followed by the 7 p.m. meeting.
Crystal McGough can be contacted at mcgoughcrystal@gmail.com