STANTON : Split Council Votes Against Card Club

At a fiery meeting, the City Council voted 3 to 2 to urge residents to reject Measure A, which would allow card clubs in Stanton.

About 75 angry residents and several former council members packed the chamber, cheering on Councilman Harry Dotson as he introduced the resolution against Measure A.

“As sure as the sun rises and there’s taxes, card clubs will bring crime,” Ron Flores, a 30-year resident, told the council.

Councilmen Joe V. Harris and Sal Sapien voted against Dotson’s resolution. “This resolution is a lowdown appeal to people, that will not have a bearing on the election,” Sapien said. Councilmen Don Martinez and William C. Estrada supported it.

The city will hold a special election June 8 to decide whether to allow card clubs, where patrons could make high-stake bets on poker and other card games.

Dotson’s resolution stated that Measure A may not be in the best interests of the residents of Stanton and that the majority of the council opposed it. It calls for a vote against Measure A.

“The only thing (Measure A) guarantees is a string of casinos lining Beach Boulevard because the measure is not site-specific,” former Councilman David John Shawver told the council.

“I don’t believe in my heart that such a plan will do us anything but harm,” said resident Betty Amelung.

Most residents clapped each time a speaker condemned card clubs. Many wore pins that said “No Card Clubs” and showed a deck of cards with the words traffic , strangers , drugs and crime canceled out by a diagonal red line. The crowd heckled Harris and Sapien when the two councilmen defended themselves.

“Personally I am not endorsing (Measure A) or opposing it,” Sapien said. “If you are opposed to it, fine with me. Vote against it.”

Sapien quoted a study that he said showed that cities with card clubs had no higher rate of crime than those without. Criticizing Dotson, who is leading the campaign against Measure A, Sapien told the residents, “All this rhetoric is targeted to scare people. You are being manipulated.”

Sapien then tried to pass a resolution that would funnel any money raised by card clubs to the Police Department or to lower the city’s recently approved utility tax.

Sapien’s resolution failed when only he and Harris voted for it.

Council members attacked each other with uncommon invective and bitterness. “I feel that (Dotson) is an insult to this City Council,” shouted Harris, as he criticized Dotson for allegedly posting anti-card club signs on utility poles, which is illegal.

John R. White, interim community development manager, said Wednesday that he has seen a “No on Measure A” sign on a utility pole across from City Hall, and in “four or five” other places. He said he sent a violation notice to the Committee for Community Pride and Forward Vision, which is organizing a campaign against Measure A.

Ard Keuilian, who wants to open a card club and whose company is bankrolling the campaign in favor of Measure A, came to the council meeting and sat quietly in the back.

“The people are the ones who are going to decide,” Keuilian said after the 90-minute discussion. An April poll by Keuilian found 28% of residents in favor of a card club, 33% opposed and the rest undecided. “The figure that counts is the figure on June 8,” he said.