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The Craps Table was busy all night as Rustlers and Hustlers of the Old West were on hand at the Santa Clara Valley Hospice/Home Support Group’s 3rd Annual Western Casino Night, but the big winner was the River Valley Club that benefited from the event.

Hospice River Valley Club the big winner at Western Casino Night

June 26, 2009
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly Santa Paula TimesRustlers and Hustlers of the Old West were on hand at the Santa Clara Valley Hospice/Home Support Group’s 3rd Annual Western Casino Night, but the big winner was the River Valley Club that benefited from the event. Held at the Glen Tavern Inn, with dinner by the Ironhorse Restaurant, Saturday’s Western Casino Night filled the historic hotel with gaming tables and dealers much like in the old days when the gambling action was secretively conducted on the third floor.“The Glen Tavern Inn is so very nice and the dinner was delicious,” and the combination, said Hospice Board Member Jane Marcus, “is a great backdrop for our Casino Night.”Barbara Vogel, also a SCVH/HSG board director, was successful in getting passersby to try their luck and win a prize by spinning the Wheel of Fortune. “It’s only $5 for three spins, one whole raffle ticket, a bargain,” she noted, considering the odds of the game where almost each stop had a prize.Cathy Barringer, former longtime Hospice board president, seemed to be everywhere. “It’s going good, very good and everyone is having a wonderful time,” including, said Barringer, the dealers.Greg Boyd, John Chamberlain, Don Johnson and Police Chief Steve MacKinnon were among those volunteers who manned the Blackjack tables, but it was Texas Hold’em Poker where Lora Wingo, also a Hospice board director, cleaned up, her initial $50 play money grubstake ballooning by evening’s end. “Look at all those tickets,” more than one a gambler said in wonder as Wingo wove her way through the crowd with chains of hundreds of tickets, winnings used for the wide variety of prizes in the raffle drawings.
All Cowboy Joes and Calamity Janes had a bronco-busting time at the 3rd Annual Western Casino Night, and a trio of couples, Marikay and Bill Linder, Vivian and Chuck Mullet, Nancy and Gary Nasalroad, like most in attendance, saw the party as an opportunity to dress the part.Aside from the money raised for the River Valley Club, which serves seniors with special needs, Barringer said she was also grateful for the cool weather. “It was 103 degrees at last year’s Casino Night,” but then again, she noted, “Everything we did last year it was 103 degrees!”“It’s so wonderful that you all came out in support of Hospice and the River Valley Club,” Board President Elias Valdes told the crowd. “And it’s great we all had such a good time doing so!”