6 November 24–30, 2022 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER | Classified | MusiC | dish | Movies | Culture | Night+day | feature | sChutze | uNfair Park | CoNteNts | DA Willis courteously agreed to let LaFleur give him a hug. Not only that, her allegations about how he reacted to her hug are also pa- tently false. While giving him the hug she asked for, she enthusiastically exclaimed: ‘Ahh, you are so wonderful! Thank you so much! And I will see you around.’” Jeff Simon, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, issued a statement to NBC 5 sug- gesting Willis broke county employee rules by recording the exit interview with LaFleur without her knowledge. The attorney also notes that the website is helpful to his clients, and doesn’t clear Willis’ name as the DA might hope. Willis says an investigation has been conducted by an independent attorney hired by the county commissioners, but the results have not been released. “While neither Ms. LaFleur nor her legal counsel has heard the audio,” the statement reads, “the fact that Mr. Willis appears to have tried to secretly set her up in the event she later exposed his behavior is again en- tirely consistent with the conduct alleged against him.” Included in the many images of what the website claims are handwritten cards and let- ters given to Willis are a handful allegedly written by one of the plaintiffs, Vykim Le, a county prosecutor. Most of the images display redacted signatures, except for the ones with Le’s name. The site notes that these notes “prove their allegations are baseless and false.” Simon also disputes this position in his statement. “Efforts by Mr. Willis to character- ize those acknowledgments as proof of his in- nocence are consistent with the allegations that he remains consumed with trying to cover his tracks in the event he’s exposed,” it reads. ▼ LegisLature House of Cards Fight Over LegaL POker in texas gOes tO the LegisLature. by Jacob Vaughn T exas poker rooms could be in trouble this legislative session with the filing of House Bill 732. The bill filed by Rep. Gene Wu, a Hous- ton Democrat, would eliminate a defense against prosecution that many poker rooms in the state have used to avoid charges of il- legal gambling. Texas law has previously provided such a defense as long as three cri- teria were met: the gambling was happening in a private place, everyone had a fair chance of winning and the house didn’t take a cut of the bets. Poker rooms have cropped up all over the state using this part of the law to stay in businesses. Opponents have since claimed that the law was never meant to apply to businesses. The term private place was in- tended to mean a place more like a home, not a spot like Texas Card House in Dallas, gambling opponents argue. Texas Card House was the first legiti- mate poker room to open in Dallas. Players pay a membership fee for a spot at the table and buy concessions throughout the games. That’s how Texas Card House makes its money. It doesn’t take a cut of the pots, ev- eryone has a fair chance of winning and the place is run like a private club. In efforts to shut such businesses down in the city, Dallas attorneys have argued that poker rooms open to the public (even though many operate on a membership ba- sis) shouldn’t be labeled private places, es- pecially considering how many people come through them. A legal battle between Dallas and its poker rooms could end up before the Texas Supreme Court. Wu’s bill changes terms used in the de- fense against prosecution for gambling in Texas. If passed, the term “private place” would be replaced with “private residence.” It reads, “It is a defense to prosecution un- der this section that: (1) the actor engage in gambling in a private residence.” Wu told the Observer in an emailed state- ment that the intent behind his bill is to clar- ify the law. “These legal defenses were written to allow for legal private gaming in the state without authorizing commercial operations,” Wu said. “In recent years these defenses have been used to create private poker clubs that attempt to operate within their language, while creating for-profit gaming enterprises.” He added, “Since it is likely that creating a licensing process to regulate these clubs is not politically achievable in our current Legislature, we believe that clarifying the law in this manner is the only way to elimi- nate the confusion around these clubs. Private residence is defined in the bill as “a dwelling to which the public does not have access, and excludes, among other places, streets, highways, restaurants, tav- erns, nightclubs, schools, hospitals, and the common areas of apartment houses, hotels, motels, office buildings, transportation facil- ities, and shops.” This would wipe out the gray area of the law in which Texas poker rooms have been operating. Ryan Crow, owner of Texas Card House, told the Observer he expected chal- lenges in this legislative session but wasn’t sure what form they would take. Without this gray area, 200 employees at Texas Card House alone stand to lose their jobs. The $2 million in construction and other costs the business spent to get up and running? That will essentially be lost. Then, all the busi- ness and money the poker rooms brought into the state will go elsewhere, he said, likely to Oklahoma or Las Vegas, or to the illegal under- ground games that operate throughout Texas. Crow said he’s working with a number of poker clubs to establish an association to rep- resent Texans who want to play poker and are willing to fight obstacles like Wu’s bill. “We have a couple of bills we plan to sub- mit as well and, of course, we’re going to be talking to representatives about that one [HB 732] and hopefully making sure it doesn’t pass,” Crow said. “That bill would put thousands of people out of a job … and also push tens of thousands of poker players back underground into illegal games. So, hopefully, we can get that message to the legislators and they agree it’s not a good idea to push that bill through.” ▼ Cannabis ain’t notHing Like tHe reaL tHing texas BiLL COuLd OFFer PrOteCtiOns FOr PeOPLe Buying ‘hOt hemP’. by Jacob Vaughn T he state’s legislative session doesn’t kick off until January, but lawmakers have already started filing early bills. One filed by state Rep. Nicole Collier could offer additional protections to people buy- ing consumable hemp products in Texas. Hemp became legal with the passage of the federal 2018 Farm Bill. Then, Texas le- galized it as well with House Bill 1325 the following year. These laws legalized canna- bis with 0.3% delta-9 THC or less. Delta-9, often just referred to as THC, is the chief psychoactive component in cannabis. In other words, it’s what gets users high. From these laws sprung a market of un- regulated consumable hemp products. Since then, Texans have been able to buy products like CBD flower, vapes and oil. Then came consumable hemp products that contained substances like delta-8 THC, which could also get users high — no delta-9 needed. Shutterstock A new bill aims threatens to close poker rooms easier by clarifying the law. Unfair Park from p5 We bring sophistication with a twist to the metaphysical and holistic markets with products, classes and services. 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