BY KYM LIEBLER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- Never disputing that they sold alcohol and gambled in their clubhouse, members of Waynesville American Legion Post 615 pleaded no contest Thursday to just those charges.
Warren County Court Judge Dallas Powers found the legion -- famous for its charitable gifts to the village of Waynesville and its schools -- guilty of one misdemeanor count each of keeping a place where alcohol is sold, illegal sale of alcohol, keeping a gambling house and operating a game of chance.
Selling alcohol in Waynesville is illegal because the village is "dry."
Judge Powers is expected to impose a fine and sentence the legion June 9.
Nearly $12,000, 212 bottles of liquor, 4,000 beers and seven video poker machines were seized in a March 18 raid at the legion's hall at 174 S. Fourth St. "No doubt about it. From here on out, they will be operating within the bounds of the law,"said William Kaufman, a Lebanon lawyer representing the legion.
After sentencing, legion members intend to circulate petitions for a vote in the November election on allowing alcohol sales in the precinct where the legion is.
It may be an uphill battle. Waynesville voters on May 5 rejected a request to allow beer sales at Holly Hills Golf Course in Waynesville. "It went down. It was kind of shocking," said Bob Kerr, the legion's third vice commander. "But we've already been told we have a lot of support out there."
Carolyn Duvelius, the Warren County assistant prosecutor handling the case, said she thinks the legion has learned a lesson.
"I hope they've lost enough, with the $12,000, with the fines yet to be determined, with the gambling machines and all the alcohol, that this has had an impact," she said. "I think they understood it was illegal, but thought that because they were doing good things with the money, that made it OK, which is not the case."
The bust effectively quashed the legion's charity work, Mr. Kerr said.
