Wednesday, January 10, 2007

A local tavern owner was cited late Sunday evening after detectives with the
Zanesville City Police Department learned he was allowing customers to use a
Tic Tac Fruit game in his establishment. David M. Pierce, 58, of 2180
Licking Road and owner of The Putnam Tavern on Putnam Avenue, was cited
around 11 p.m. when officers entered the tavern and saw a woman playing on
one of the four gaming machines in the bar. Lt. Tony Coury said he had
received word that gambling was going on at the bar, and when he walked in
that evening, he noticed the woman playing. The unidentified woman was not
arrested or cited, Coury said, since she immediately stopped playing the
machine when asked. Pierce appeared before Municipal Court Judge William
Joseph early Monday morning and entered a not guilty plea to one count of
operating a gambling house. He is scheduled to appear in court again on Feb.
16. Pierce could not be reached for comment. The machines have been ordered
out of the county by Muskingum County Sheriff Bob Stephenson and Prosecuting
Attorney Michael Haddox late last year and then Ohio Attorney General, Jim
Petro, said they were illegal last November. That's when Zanesville Police
Chief Eric Lambes and Law Director Scott Hillis ordered them out of the
city. Then on Dec. 18, a Franklin County Court of Common Pleas ruling said
the games do not fall within the statutory exception for skill-based
machines. One local gaming parlor owner, Ed Alexander, has decided to fight
the issue. Alexander was cited and 10 of his machines were confiscated last
December when Alexander reopened his business, Aces High on Maple Avenue.
Alexander has a court hearing this Friday to suppress evidence confiscated
that day. His Ashland attorney, Bob De Santo, who has been defending skill
game owners across Ohio, maintains the law remains unclear and no one should
be arrested or have their business shut down because of it. De Santo has
said the games are skill-based and have been changed to remain legal.