Greek Bettors to not bet at Nassau OTB while Andrew Cuomo is in Church on "Palm Sunday" and "Easter Sunday" because Andrew Cuomo is great, mighty, exalted and constitutionally illiterate and vicious.
See eg NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3. All infidel bettors know that Nassau OTB is their church and that they shall bet anytime on any race that they wish. Is it any wonder that New York State is "functionally" BANKRUPT?
Even an Oakie knows that the Gregorian and Julian Calendars are calendars to be followed by the faithful.
Constitution Experts Denounce Oklahoma Judge’s Sentencing of Youth to Church
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: November 21, 2012
Initially there was little outcry in Muskogee, Okla., last week when a
judge, as a condition of a youth’s probation for a driving-related
manslaughter conviction, sentenced him to attend church regularly for 10
years.
James Gibbard for The New York Times
Judge Mike Norman, in his Muskogee courtroom, seemed
surprised by the scrutiny. “I sentenced him to go to church for 10 years
because I thought I could do that,” he said.
The judge, Mike Norman, 67, had sentenced people to church before, though never for such a serious crime.
But as word of the ruling spread in state and national legal circles,
constitutional experts condemned it as a flagrant violation of the
separation of church and state.
This week, the American Civil Liberties Union said it would file a complaint against Judge Norman with the Oklahoma Council on Judicial Complaints, an agency that investigates judicial misconduct, seeking an official reprimand or other sanctions.
“We see a judge who has shown disregard for the First Amendment of the
Constitution in his rulings,” said Ryan Kiesel, executive director of
the civil liberties union branch in Oklahoma.
The 17-year-old defendant, Tyler Alred, was prosecuted as a youthful
offender, giving the judge more discretion than in an adult case. Mr.
Alred pleaded guilty to manslaughter for an accident last year, when he
ran his car into a tree and a 16-year-old passenger was killed.
Although his alcohol level tested below the legal limit, because he was
under age he was legally considered to be under the influence of
alcohol. Mr. Alred told the court that he was happy to agree to church
attendance and other mandates — including that he finish high school and
train as a welder, and shun alcohol, drugs and tobacco for a year. By
doing so, he is avoiding a 10-year prison sentence and has a chance to
make a fresh start.
But his acquiescence does not change the law, Mr. Kiesel and others
pointed out. “Alternative sentencing is something that should be
encouraged, but there are many options that don’t violate the
Constitution,” Mr. Kiesel said. “A choice of going to prison or to
church — that is precisely the type of coercion that the First Amendment
seeks to prevent.”
Mr. Alred and his family already attend a church, although Judge Norman
said in an interview that he had not known that when he ruled.
The judge said he was surprised at the criticism. “I feel like church is
important,” he said. “I sentenced him to go to church for 10 years
because I thought I could do that.”
He added, “I am satisfied that both the families in this case think
we’ve made the right decision,” and noted that the dead boy’s father had
tearfully hugged Mr. Alred in the courtroom. If Mr. Alred stops
attending church or violates any other terms of his probation, Judge
Norman said, he will send him to prison.
As for the constitutionality of his ruling, Judge Norman said, “I think
it would hold up, but I don’t know one way or another.”
Judge Norman did not specify which religious denomination Mr. Alred must
follow. But he also said: “I think Jesus can help anybody. I know I
need help from him every day.”
Randall T. Coyne, a professor of criminal law at the University of
Oklahoma, agreed that the judge’s church requirement was
unconstitutional. But unless the defendant fights the ruling, he said,
civil liberties advocates have no way to challenge it in court, leaving
the complaint to the judicial review agency as their only option.
Over the years, several judges around the country have mandated church
attendance as part of sentences, sometimes stirring criticism. In the
early 1990s in Louisiana, Judge Thomas P. Quirk ordered hundreds of
defendants in traffic and misdemeanor cases to attend church once a week
for a year. The judge said that he had imposed the condition only on
people who agreed to it, and that it provided a good alternative to
sending defendants to overcrowded jails or imposing fines they could not
afford.
The Judiciary Commission of Louisiana found that Judge Quirk had engaged
in knowing violations of the Constitution and recommended that he be
suspended without pay for 12 months. But the Louisiana Supreme Court
ruled in 1995 that while the judge might have erred, he did not engage
in “judicial misconduct,” and it rescinded the sanctions.
In 2011, the city of Bay Minette, Ala., required first-time misdemeanor
offenders to choose between doing jail time and attending church weekly
for a year. The city dropped the program after the American Civil
Liberties Union called it unconstitutional.
A version of this article appeared in print on November 22, 2012, on page A26 of the New York edition with the headline: Constitution Experts Denounce Oklahoma Judge’s Sentencing of Youth to Church.
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LI Confidential
> Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
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