The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

October 30, 2008

Greenbrier CVB takes no stand on gaming issue

Christian Giggenbach

LEWISBURG — The Greenbrier County Convention and Visitors Bureau board of directors voted Thursday to stay miles away from the controversy surrounding next Tuesday’s hotel casino referendum.

CVB board president Mike Kidd introduced a lukewarm resolution that spoke neither in favor nor against table games at the four-star Greenbrier hotel. Union officials failed to garner the CVB’s support last month despite the CVB’s mission statement which calls for marketing the region as a premier tourist destination.

However, Kidd wanted the board to revisit the issue and offered only one resolution which nearly mirrored last week’s statements released by the Greater Greenbrier Valley Chamber of Commerce.

“I felt the board should have at least supported one of our own board members who also has a seat on the Greenbrier County Commission,” Kidd said of County Commissioner Brad Tuckwiller. Tuckwiller was absent from his board seat on Thursday.

In part the resolution stated: “... the (CVB) supports the decision of the Greenbrier County Commission to schedule a referendum on limited gaming as provided (by law) and will, should limited gaming be approved ... support the management of The Greenbrier to implement or defer limited gaming at its facility.”

Hotel officials have yet to waver from their concrete “no comment” stance since the controversy erupted last month after Greenbrier union members requested that gaming be placed on the ballot. The same referendum was soundly defeated in 2000.

When Kidd opened the floor for discussion, CVB board member Lynn Swann, public relations director for The Greenbrier, did not offer any comments. She later voted for the resolution.

None of the seven members present offered any discussion pertinent to the core issues surrounding the gaming vote, which has been framed by union officials as “saving jobs.”

Six members voted for the resolution and one, Robert Neff, abstained. Neff said the CVB should not be “involved in political issues.” As an individual, Neff said he opposes the gaming referendum because of “personal convictions.”

“But I do not look down upon anyone who may think otherwise,” Neff said.

The Greenbrier’s usual representative, Tryg Brody, resigned from the board last week after leaving employment at The Greenbrier, where he was head of conference sales. Swann did not give a timeline for when the seat would be filled.

At the same time, CVB board members were playing hopscotch with the gaming referendum, union members could be seen lining U.S. 219 in Fairlea holding signs asking for a “Yes” vote for “Jobs.”

Meanwhile, labor talks resumed Thursday, but no new developments were reported to The Register-Herald by either union officials or Greenbrier management.

— E-mail: cgiggenbach@ register-herald.com

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