I gotta tell you, this Hegarty is something else. He will find the way, every time, to make the rebate "issue" sound as dark and nefarious as possible. The violations Bala was convicted of (she's looking at 3-4 years, from what I hear) have nothing to do with racing's interests, let alone organized crime. They are issues between her and the state of North Dakota concerning licensing (they were supposed to be attached to a charity of some kind), fees (they were supposed to pay a percentage on handle they may not have declared), and possibly taxes.

But Hegarty is on a crusade-- a word I pulled from the DRF letter to get them to give me more space. In this one newspaper town, this is an extreme abuse of his position, and it could have a very bad effect on an industry that has just begun to grapple with takeouts that have been way too high for decades. Industry "leaders" shrink in horror before a scandal-- even when there it's all in the mind of one reporter.



TGJB