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i 1 J i ! 1 i 1 I ; j 1 ! ! ! LENTEN RULE SET ASIDE FOR FAIR GROUNDS TRACK i t .-- NEW ORLEANS, La., Feb. 8 The Louisiana Jockey Club, operating the Fair Grounds, -will be permitted to complete its 1932 schedule of dates, closing the season March 19. This fact was assured Monday following the reading of his special message by Mayor Walmsley to members of the commission council. Dr. Frank R. Gomila, following the message, moved that the Louisiana Jockey Club be permitted to conclude its dates as advertised in spite of the existing city ordinance No. 3864, prohibiting racing during Lent. The motion was carried unanimously. In his statement Mayor Walmsley pointed out that although the Louisiana Jockey Club had not promptly met its moral obligations in the matter of payments on the City Park race track property, and that it still owes something like 0,000, the club has advertised throughout the country that its season would conclude March 19, that thousands of visitors had come to New Orleans for such a program of racing, and therefore he recommended that ordinance 3864 not be enforced for this year. i Meantime, the mayor had introduced an amendment to the ordinance in question, and permit the continuance of racing "only for this year, until March 19." In reply to a letter addressed to Ned Rightor, counsel for the Louisiana Jockey Club, Mayor Walmsley said: "In taking this action, the council is not actuated by any consideration of benevolence towards you, or the organization you represent, because I, and other members of I the council, feel that the failure of the Louisiana Jockey Club to meet its obligations to the city of New Orleans in the payment of the balance of the purchase price for the City Park property does not move the council to an attitude of kindness for the Louisiana Jockey Club as an organization."
