JEFFERSON CITY — Mark Twain Casino is slated to open next month in La Grange, a town of 1,100 in northeastern Missouri. And the opening has the local sheriff and prosecutor worried.

Their offices operate on shoestring budgets and will get little, if any, additional money to handle cases resulting from the influx of 625,000 gamblers a year.

"I currently have three deputies to serve Lewis County," said Sheriff David Parrish. "We do not have coverage, certainly, on a 24-hour basis. Sometimes we only have coverage for eight hours" a day.

Casino admission fees and gross receipts taxes are projected to pump $1.8 million a year into local coffers. But under state law, the money goes to the home-dock city — La Grange. Lewis County, which includes La Grange, is entitled to nothing.

La Grange Mayor Harold Ludwig sees no need to share. Lewis County's voters rejected a casino in 1994, the same year La Grange voters approved it. He said many in the area made fun of the tiny town's quest for a casino.

"Now everybody's sticking their hand out, wanting part of it," Ludwig said. "I'm a little sick of it."

Ludwig and La Grange City Attorney Russell Kruse maintain that the sheriff's and prosecutor's offices will have no more work as a result of the casino.

"You won't have a crime increase any more than if you had a Wal-Mart coming in," Kruse said.

Fender-benders and other minor offenses will be treated as municipal ordinance violations by the city police force, which will be increased to 10 officers by the time the casino opens. The city also can handle drunken driving cases as long as they don't involve third offenses, which are felonies.

Because La Grange has no city jail, Kruse expects people arrested on municipal charges to be taken to the Marion County Jail in Palmyra for processing. A four-lane road makes that trip quicker than the 15-mile trek to the Lewis County Jail in Monticello, he said.

Those arrested on more serious state charges would go to the 18-cell Lewis County Jail, Kruse said. He expects that group to be small — perhaps 5 percent of the arrests.

"If you see a felon, probably it's because someone with an outstanding warrant wins a jackpot" and is identified in a routine background check, Kruse said.

That assessment doesn't wash with Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney Jules DeCoster, whose part-time office consists of him and a secretary.

"It's unbelievable to me that somebody could take the position that there aren't going to be any felony offenses or any increased workload," DeCoster said. He wants La Grange to fund a $30,000 increase in his budget.

DeCoster and Parrish asked the Missouri Gaming Commission last week for help in getting La Grange to negotiate. But the commission's staff contended that the state has little control over the city's purse strings.

Steve Johnson, deputy director for enforcement, said the commission's job is to ensure the safety of casino patrons, and that job has been done. One to three state gaming agents, who are Highway Patrol officers, will be on duty at the casino each shift. They will turn arrested suspects over to La Grange police.

Issues such as the strain on the jail and the understaffed prosecuting attorney's office fall outside the commission's jurisdiction, Johnson said. He also noted that the county would receive some revenue from casino property taxes and sales taxes generated by the casino's restaurant and shop.

Sheriff Parrish remains hopeful that the commission will tackle county staffing as part of its duty to assure public safety. The commission must take a final vote on whether to license the casino.

"We have a 500-square-mile area to cover, we have an enormous drug problem here, and we could use four more deputies now," Parrish said. "To have this separate funding source in place and not include us is entirely a public safety issue."



Reporter Virginia Young:
E-mail: vyoung@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 573-635-6178



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