As opening nears, casino opponents refuse to leave the table.

Byline: Winston Ross The Register-Guard

FLORENCE - Against a backdrop of flashing lights and spinning screens, Bob Hardy and Judy Holm have their eyes trained on a felt table stacked with playing cards and fake poker chips at the Three Rivers Casino.

She's dealing blackjack. He's playing three hands at once.

"Place your bets, sir," Holm says, and Hardy complies, dropping chips on the table.

It's a practice hand, one of thousands that dealers-in-training will play before the casino's grand opening at the end of June. But for the first time since construction began last December, it feels like Vegas inside the 16,000-square-foot tent.

The 268 slot machines and six blackjack tables are in. The valet parking shelter is up. The billboards and advertisements are out. The security cameras are online. The vault is sitting empty, awaiting its first shipment of cash and real chips.

And still, with as much or more fervor as they had before the first shovel struck dirt, casino opponents are fighting the $12 million project. People Against a Casino Town are investigating, questioning and disputing any casino-related government decision they can find.

They simply refuse to cash in their chips - to the admiration or condemnation of the residents of this coastal city. The struggle has lasted the better part of 10 years.

"PACT just aggravates the issue," says Joshua Greene, owner of an Old Town historic photography studio. "I don't think they're out there trying to reach an agreement; they're trying to threaten the casino's livelihood."

That kind of talk doesn't faze PACT President Susie Dewberry of Florence: "People say why don't you guys just give up? I say, 'We believe we're going to win. So why should we give up?' '

In its latest battle, PACT locked horns with the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. The group has accused the agency of subverting the public comment required by state law before considering the casino's application for a liquor license.

After openly demanding a copy of the commission's memorandum of understanding with the casino - a public document - PACT sent out news releases criticizing the state's "unfair deal" on the price that the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians will pay for alcohol.

Restaurants and bars, the group correctly noted, pay 100 percent markup on alcohol purchased from the state. Consumers pay 105 percent. Oregon tribes, because they have sovereignty and are free to buy liquor elsewhere, pay only a 5 percent markup, according to the state.

"That's a deal the state has chosen to cut with the tribes," Dewberry says. "There's no statute, no law that says they have to do it. It goes along with one of our initial concerns, which is an unfair advantage to local businesses."

Furthermore, though the group hasn't formally opposed it, "I don't think they should get a liquor license," Dewberry says, because the danger of drunken drivers on state Highway 126 is too great.

The state hasn't yet decided whether to grant the license.

Lawsuit still waiting to be heard

Dewberry insists PACT's strategy isn't futile or counterproductive. Its central focus, she says, is on its lawsuit, which challenges the constitutionality of casinos in Oregon. The group has had to refile the suit several times because courts have thrown it out after finding procedural flaws.

"Soon, the case will be heard on its merits - which it hasn't yet," Dewberry says. The suit argues that the state's constitution expressly forbids casinos.

Meanwhile, the group is dedicated to reducing the harm a casino is sure to bring to Florence, she says: increases in traffic, drunken driving, poverty and associated crimes - all for a business exempt from paying taxes.

"Everything we've objected to are legitimate causes in and of themselves," Dewberry says. "We will do everything we can, every step of the way to look out for the interests of the people of Florence."

PACT formed in March last year after a group of local casino opponents decided to unify their efforts. They avoid the term "members," fearing it will expose supporters to lawsuits, but the group has hundreds of financial contributors who have raised more than $50,000 for the lawsuit. They communicate largely on the Internet, through a list of an undisclosed number of recipients.

And though there are indications that some people are tiring of PACT's fight - two property owners who once allowed "No Casino" signs on their land have asked for their removal - a hearty crowd still applauds PACT's efforts. Hundreds of people show up for the group's meetings, encouraging its leaders not to give up.

Not conceding defeat

"I suspect the feeling in town is it's there and it's going to be there," says Barbara Di Giorgio of Florence, a casino opponent who has contributed to PACT. "But I just don't like casinos - period. I want nothing to do with them. They take but they don't produce anything."

Which is why she and others say they won't concede defeat until they're sure there are no options left.

"It's upsetting to see the casino building is up and that they're hiring people," Di Giorgio says, "but it may still be put down in the courts."

Ron Mossholder calls that notion "ridiculous." The Florence resident regularly chastises PACT's tactics, which can be boiled down to a simple anti-growth agenda, he says.

"They think this is a sleepy little fishing village," Mossholder says. "They don't want growth. They tried to stop Fred Meyer, and anytime there's something they're going to build here they're against it."

Bob Garcia, the casino's vice president, says he's surprised that PACT hasn't spent more of its time trying to negotiate agreements between the tribes and local entities - as opposed to blocking the casino altogether - but he expects the opposition to fade once people start having fun at the games.

"There was picketing at several casinos in Oregon when they first started," Garcia says. "It dropped off after a couple of weeks."

Winston Ross can be reached at [phone] or [e-mail].

CAPTION(S):

Dealers at the Three Rivers Casino, Judy Holm (left) and Bob Hardy learn the fine points of card games in preparation for the casino's planned opening in late June. The Three Rivers Casino, a $12 million project, should be open later next month. The 16,000-square-foot tent houses 268 slot machines and six blackjack tables.