Friday, Nov. 28, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The Coalition to Repeal Proposal E scheduled news conferences for today in Lansing and Detroit to announce the launch of a statewide petition drive to overturn the 1996 referendum that allowed casinos in Detroit.
Meanwhile, the Community Coalition, an organization supporting millionaire businessman Barden, was deciding whether to join the repeal effort. The coalition has been protesting Mayor Dennis Archer's snub of Barden, whose casino bid was the only one with majority black ownership.
"If we (black Detroiters) don't have a part of it, then we don't want none of it," Ernest Johnson, a Community Coalition spokesman, told The Detroit News in a report today.
All three bidders recommended by Archer for casino licenses - Greektown, Atwater/Circus Circus and MGM Grand - have minority participation ranging up to 18 percent.
Coalition spokesman Jerome Almon of Detroit said the Barden backers were welcome to join the repeal effort.
"We're for whoever is against casino gaming," he said. "A lot of the Barden supporters are going to come over, and we're going to tell 'em, 'This was just the beginning of your betrayal."'
Casino opponents need to collect 247,127 signatures by May 27, 1998 to get the repeal initiative on the statewide ballot that November.
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