Ivanhoe gets bingo gaming on Nov. ballot

By Chris Edwards
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IVANHOE – At its regular meeting last Thursday, the Ivanhoe City Council, Ivanhoe Mayor Skip Blackstone brought up a charity bingo event, which had been conducted by Friends of Ivanhoe, and missed by the community.

Blackstone said the bingo had to be put on the ballot for the citywide general election on Nov. 5, to be voted on by the community, to be legal.

“It’s like Catholic church bingo,” Blackstone said. “We’d just allow them to conduct the bingo games within the city limits.”

According to statute, bingo is one of the few forms of legal gambling in the state of Texas. State law only allows for certain organizations to conduct bingo games. The proceeds from the games can only be used for charitable purposes.

Bingo games are only allowed in areas of the state that have held local elections approving their use. Local elections can be countywide or within a justice court precinct.

The agenda item to put the bingo measure on the ballot passed unanimously.

Mayor’s Report

In Ivanhoe mayor Skip Blackstone’s regular report, he said he has been trying to make everyone in the community aware that the Tyler County Commissioners’ Court and County Judge Milton Powers have signed a contract with a debris collection company, which will be collecting debris from Hurricane Beryl in the coming weeks.

“If you have trees, branches or rubbish, get it all to the side of the road,” he said.

Regarding infrastructure projects and repairs around the city, several roads are as completed as they’re going to be, he said, including Galahad Loop, Lake Camelot Circle and Ivanhoe Drive, east and west.

On dam projects, Blackstone said the city has submitted drawings for the dam at Ivanhoe Lake to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for the first round of questioning, which was kicked back with additional questions and re-submitted.

All of the plans for Camelot Dam were sent to TCEQ for approval, which will likely take about six months, Blackstone said. 

Of the two lakes with dam projects to be rebuilt, Lake Ivanhoe will likely be the one with construction beginning first, Blackstone said. The drawings for that project have been with TCEQ for the longest time, and also, the city wanted to start on the northwest side of town, moving to the east side, thus minimizing the heavy equipment running on new roads.