Opposition to a new truck stop casino

Friday, April 21, 2000 | 10:06 a.m.

About 35 residents from the Lakeview and Martin Luther King Jr. communities turned out Thursday to protest the change.

The demonstration, held next door to an Otto's gas station on Shreveport, reiterated the point made at earlier public meetings - that video poker was not welcome.

Two weeks ago, the Metropolitan Shreveport Zoning Board of Appeals upheld the a zoning change that would permit gambling and onsite consumption of alcohol.

City Council member Hilry Huckaby called the proposed mini-casino "an economic exploitation of these communities."

"I have listened to the people ... that have expressed personally to me they don't want a truck stop," said Huckaby, who acknowledged he supports riverboat gambling since it is away from residential communities.

He urged those in opposition to attend Tuesday's city council meeting, where an appeal of those two-week-old decisions is slated to be heard.

"There is also a moral issue," said council member Joe Shyne. "If you are a Christian, if you are truly your brother's keeper, you do not want (the truck stop) to destroy the moral fiber of both these communities."

Lakeview resident James Days said he is concerned about the increased traffic a truck stop could bring.

"I guess it's difficult for people to be against economic progress," Days said. "But with the truck stop, it's going to create a problem."

Loralee Otto, president of Petrol Marketing, said she was shocked by the opposition since the station has been in operation for 10 years and all expansion would be toward nearby Interstate220 and away from concerned residents. She has filed a request with the council to defer the issue for a couple of weeks.

Otto said 78.8 percent of the voters in that district approved keeping video poker in a 1996 gambling referendum.

"You can't say the majority of the people are against it," Otto said.