Alfonza Menefee: Black Belt boon from Bentley

Finally, there is good news for Macon County. Almost three years since VictoryLand's closing, the legal issues are settled: The citizens of Macon County voted in good faith for electronic bingo and VictoryLand delivered on the citizens' confidence in the process.

Now, with Governor Robert Bentley's Executive Order 13 that returns the responsibility of the enforcement of Alabama's gambling laws to the local entities authorized by the amendments that approved electronic bingo in the first place, VictoryLand is moving full speed ahead toward reopening. The governor is to be congratulated for acting to bring jobs back to Alabama's Black Belt, where they are sorely needed.

Some say Governor Bentley is taking a politically courageous stand in issuing his Executive Order. If calling for a halt of the continued bad-faith spending that has surpassed $9 million and the end of a legally futile wild goose chase is courageous, then I concur. The governor has made a decision that is correct legally and correct as a chief executive whose aim is to bring jobs to the citizens of Alabama.

At its height, VictoryLand employed more than 2,000 people. Those 2,000 people worked at good-paying jobs, paid their taxes and contributed to the economies of Macon, Montgomery, Elmore, Bullock, Lee, Russell and Tallapoosa counties, and beyond. Area businesses across the Black Belt were buoyed through providing supplies that allowed VictoryLand to give its customers a quality entertainment experience.

In these rural Black Belt counties, big announcements of massive manufacturing industry projects - or any sizeable influx of economic development - are depressingly rare. Reopening VictoryLand will benefit people across the Black Belt as a job creator, as a major tourist attraction and as a company that has paid more than $300 million in local, county and state taxes. The vastly underfunded Macon County school system has received more than $50 million in taxes from VictoryLand.

With VictoryLand employees coming from at least seven Alabama counties, the economic benefit from those jobs is spread all across central and east Alabama. This trickle-across effect is demonstrated in unexpected areas, too. Insurance benefits paid to VictoryLand employees relieve financial burdens on area hospitals that might have been forced to use tax dollars to provide indigent care. Hospitals such as the Baptist Medical Centers in Montgomery, Community Hospital in Tallassee, East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, Montgomery's Jackson Hospital and Russell Medical Center in Alexander City can provide better care to those who get their insurance from VictoryLand.

Alabama's unemployment rate was recently calculated at 6 percent. That's a great start, but still higher than all of our Southeastern neighbors except for Mississippi's 6.1 percent. However, unemployment in the Black Belt is still almost catastrophically high. Of the 24 counties in Alabama with unemployment rates still over 7 percent, 12 are in the Black Belt. Macon County's jobless rate sits at 7.7 percent. Bullock County's unemployment figure is 8.4 percent. These numbers are alarming and considering the number of unemployed people who have given up hope after losing their well-paying jobs at places like VictoryLand, they are actually even higher. The pent-up demand for good jobs was obvious when VictoryLand opened up its online application process and almost immediately more than 3,000 people applied. Those looking for jobs in these counties near VictoryLand have a great shot to get one.

VictoryLand has always been a success story for central and east Alabama. Quality entertainment, first-class dining experiences and good jobs are people stories that have happy endings. Thank goodness -- and, thanks again, Governor Bentley -- the reopening is fast approaching.

Alfonza Menefee, probate judge of Macon County, Ala., is serving in his 27th year in that office.

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Alfonza Menefee: Black Belt boon from Bentley ."