THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 16, 1995 TAG: 9501160053
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE AND ALEC KLEIN, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
A look at what the local General Assembly delegation has been up to lately:
Virginia Beach lawmakers are teaming up to keep off-track betting parlors out of the resort city until horse racing starts at a proposed track in New Kent County.
``It was never contemplated that we would be a state of betting parlors,'' said Democratic Del. Glenn R. Croshaw, who spent the first three days of the General Assembly session rounding up co-sponsors for an off-track moratorium.
Is the proposal to idle off-track parlors an attempt by Virginia Beach lawmakers to sabotage financing for the New Kent track and possibly revive a plan by Churchill Downs to open a track in Virginia Beach?
Croshaw denied any ulterior motive.
``I've not even talked to anyone from Churchill Downs,'' he said. ``I don't even know what their position is.''
But Croshaw acknowledged that his bill was crafted to start the clock ticking on developers who were awarded a license last fall to open a track in New Kent that will be called Colonial Downs.
``This says to them, `You better stop dilly-dallying and get to it,' '' he said.
A Richmond attorney hired to lobby for Colonial Downs said he would probably fight efforts to restrict off-track parlors, which would generate an important stream of revenue while the New Kent site is being developed.
``You can't run a track at a profit by itself,'' said L. Charles Long Jr.
All along, Colonial Downs has been planning to open off-track betting before the track is up and running. In addition to Virginia Beach, potential sites include Chesapeake, Hampton, Mecklenberg County and Richmond.
Long added that idling off-track parlors would not prove ``fatal'' to financing for the $40 million project, which is being funded by private investors and bonds.
``It's somewhere between an inconvenience and an annoyance,'' he said.
Members of the House of Delegates rose to their feet Wednesday in a salute to Del. Robert S. Bloxom, an Eastern Shore Republican who is bouncing back from open-heart surgery.
Bloxom, his voice still raspy from the procedure, told colleagues that he was feeling fine and that his physician had assured him that he would regain the vigor of an ``18-year-old.''
``Don't believe that,'' offered House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr., speaking from his own dealings with cardiologists.
Bloxom, a lanky 57-year-old, conceded that he would have to sit out this year's Republican-Democrat basketball game.
``So I look forward to next year, when I'll be able to keep up with the 30-year-olds,'' he said.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995 by CNB