We have a similar situation at Greenetrack where the sheriff and district attorney have warned of violence if Greenetrack is raided. The clear implication is that officials may not be willing or able protect the task force and state troopers from local citizens who may get violent.

So, on the one hand you have Governor Bob Riley who believes gambling laws are being broken and that neither the state attorney general nor local officials in the two counties will enforce the law. On the other hand, those officials assert there are no violations and that the governor has no constitutional power to intervene.

It’s a standoff the likes of which we have not seen in Alabama in a very long time. Historian Wayne Flynt told me it is similar to what happened when federal and state agents tried to enforce moonshine laws and when the Confederacy tried to draft soldiers into the army.  In some counties local officials stood with their local citizens against the forces of the state.

What do you think will happen next? How do you think it should be resolved?

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