On December 26th, 2007, the president of the Wolves Social Club in Sanford, Norma Hutchins and the other members of the fraternal groups in town appeared before the town council of Sanford to petition the council to reconsider their application to host video poker games. Town Council chairwoman Anne-Marie Mastraccio commented that there was an election and the composition of the council changed.
The town council voted three against four on December 4th on a decision to passed the clubs application on video poker. Councilors Maura Herlihy, Gordon Paul, Alan Walsh and Kevin Chabot disapproved of the deal. Hutchins said that charitable organizations like Amvets, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and Knights of Columbus rely primarily on profits from video poker, special tournaments, alcoholic beverage sales and other forms of fundraisers to support their programs.
Despite the plea made by the members of the club, Councilor Maura Herlihy, who has consistently opposed the video poker applications, commented that she would like to see actual evidence that the earnings really go the charitable works instead of just being allocated to the operating expenses of the organizations.
Hutchins said that the video poker games are closely watched by the state police and anyone that will misuse the funds will be prosecuted. When the state police of Main crackdown on Video Poker, the Wolves Club was probed along with others.
According to the rules of procedure of the council, the December 4th, 2007 decision to allow the application of the Wolves Club for five video poker machines can be only reconsidered at the next meeting of the council on December 18th, 2007. Aside from that, a motion to reconsider could only come from one of the councilor's that originally disapproved of the plan.
A motion from council vice chairman Joe Hanslip again failed in a four to three vote with councilors Herlihy, Paul and Walsh opposing the deal. The chairwoman explained that the motion must pass unanimously. Herlihy said that it would make sense for the Wolves Club to reapply for license, which will give them permission to operate video poker games on January 1st, 2008 up to December 31st, 2008.
01/16/2008 08:02 PM