The city council may soon vote on whether to pass an ordinance that could pave the way for electronic bingo in Piedmont. Council members were given a demonstration of the electronic machines during the work session prior to last week's council meeting.

"I've had this subject brought up to me four or five times with (the council)," said Mayor Brian Young. "Finally I said I just want to have this brought before the council and I want to have our attorney and their attorney (present), and I told (the council) to ask any questions they want to ask."

Mark Echols, owner of Echols Metal in Ohatchee, and Rick Graham from Southern Electronics, are two of the potential investors looking to move the electronic bingo machines into Piedmont.

The current operator of the bingo hall in Piedmont is Piedmont Industrial Holdings. Young said that from what he understands, Piedmont Industrial Holdings will be participating in the venture. The group could not be reached for comment.

Steve Poucher, a salesman with the Sacramento, Calif., based electronic bingo machine company Capitol Bingo., and Graham walked the council through the process of playing the game. One computer monitor displayed graphics of rolling tumblers while another showed a bingo card. A small printer next to the monitors spit out slips of paper with each game's outcome, which Graham said also helps the machine meet the standards set by Calhoun County.

Graham said the new machines are three-touch systems, which require players to press a button or touch the screen three times. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley has said in the past that the lack of player interaction with the games, the old single-touch way of playing, made the games in essence slot-machines and were as such illegal in the state of Alabama.

In a November ruling, the Alabama Supreme Court interpreted electronic bingo legislation from another county in a way that created six criteria the court deems a machine must meet in order to be considered legal. The third criterion states that a player must mark his or her electronic card by pressing a button. This "double-daub" or "triple-touch" feature, the court ruled, must be present or the game isn't legal.

"We think that this machine meets the constitutional requirements as now written," said Anniston attorney Doug Ghee, who is representing Echols.

The court's ruling doesn't mean such machines would be legal in Piedmont just yet.

"Every county operates under different laws in the state of Alabama," said Piedmont City Attorney Ron Allen. "(The Supreme Court) interpreted a law in another county that's different from our own, so it has no real applicability to our situation, other than general broad terms and dictum that may or may not apply."

In order for the machines to be considered legal in Piedmont, the courts would have to rule on it. And according to Ghee, the courts may look more favorably if the city ordinance has a looser definition of what bingo is. This is what is being asked of the council.

Echols and his legal advisors are asking the council to pass an ordinance which would allow the use of these new electronic bingo machines in Piedmont, and then allow them to file a declaratory judgment "where we ask the court of Calhoun County 'Look at this and tell us if you think this machine is legal under the constitutional amendment, under the legislature for Calhoun County."' said Ghee.

Young said that the ordinance would limit the number of places such bingo machines could operate and set a machine minimum. Young also said the proceeds from the machines would be split by the school system and the city.

But Young stressed that the new ordinance, if passed, wouldn't mean bingo machines would start arriving soon after. "The ordinance, if passed, would be followed by a moratorium stopping machines from being used in the city until a court decision was rendered on their legality," said Young. Any legal costs associated with moving the case through the court system would, according to Young, be the responsibility of the bingo operator.

"If the machines were deemed legal the city council would then have to vote to lift the moratorium for the machines to enter the city," said Young. "This process would help the city, bingo operator, and the county understand exactly where we stand without committing any illegal acts unknowingly."

"Our enabling legislation is different from these other counties," said city attorney Allen. "In these other counties, where they're playing electronic bingo, they have passed enabling legislation that is very broad with regard to describing what bingo is and how it's played.

"I've read a ton of them. I've also read ours innumerable times, and based on what I've read and seen our enabling legislation is much more stringent than these other counties. We're operating under different laws.

"Based on my reading of the enabling legislation it's my opinion that electronic bingo, in this form or any other form, is illegal. Now of course as they say you can file a declaratory judgment. They want us to pass this ordinance and have it challenged in court. Under the current law that Calhoun County is operating under I don't think we can draft a city ordinance that's going to be legal to allow electronic bingo in this county."

When asked how long it could take for the city to get a ruling from the courts on the matter, Allen said, "The nearest you could get a trial in a declaratory judgment action is nine months to a year."

"I have every reason to suspect that it's not going to be successful. And when its appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court, and I've been to the Alabama Supreme Court numerous times, and you're not going to get a decision out of them for at least a year, and maybe longer.

"The question then is, if we want to play electronic bingo, how can we do it most effectively and ethically legal? My answer to that is to change the enabling legislation. And I agree with my colleague Doug here that that may not be politically feasible. But that's how these other counties are doing it is because there legislative delegation stepped up to the plate and said 'We're going to describer bingo and declare bingo to be this, and that's the way it is." said Allen.

Councilman Ed Hanson said he'd have to wait until he reads the final draft of the ordinance to make a determination as to how he would vote.

"The last person I talked to was John Hannah," said Hanson. Hannah, the pro football Hall of Famer and former University of Alabama football star, is another potential investor in the project. "He said that those machines would not be put in that building until it was legal." said Hanson.

Hannah was on hand at the council meeting last week. Speaking on the council passing a new ordinance, Hannah said, "So it's like your condoning it in a way, and that helps us to get it through the court system. And if the court system says no, there's nothing going to happen, there's no machines going to go in here."

Councilman Eddie Baldwin also said he needs to wait before making a decision.

"What I'm waiting on is the city ordinance. The way it's going to be written and make sure everything is legal," said Baldwin. "If it meets all the criteria of the state and county and the bingo commission, whatever, I haven't got any choice but to support it."

Baldwin has been through this before.

"When Mrs. Stewart was elected in 1992, really we didn't know what we were doing. Charlie Fagan, he and his dad was interested in it, and they wanted us to change some of the things or add things to the present ordinance so it would meet their specifications. And so that's what we did," said Baldwin.

"When it got out, the churches were upset. When it came up, I didn't have any choice but to support it. Now I was the only one to support it, the rest of them voted against it that was on the council at that time. I just caught the devil."