What is your reasoned opinion about whether Nassau OTB, a public benefit corporation, may close on Roman Catholic Easter Sunday and Palm Sunday in preference to Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday and Palm Sunday?
What is your reasoned opinion about the merits (legal or otherwise), if any, of NY PML Sec 109?
I also present the following arguments for your consideration:
1. The rights of Nassau County Bettors secured by NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3 are violated by NY PML Sec 109
2. NY PML Sec 109 is vague, indefinite and/or overly broad in that the terms Easter Sunday and Palm Sunday do not define one and only one Sunday respectively in all years. The Gregorian and Julian Calendars do not define the same holy days in all years.
3. When a bettor walks into Nassau OTB, to bet a race being run without the State of New York, NY PML Sec 109 does not apply as the race is without the State of NY and the bet is within the State of New York.
You can play the slot machines and buy NY State Lottery tickets to be drawn every day of the year.
Employees of Nassau OTB, a public benefit corporation, of any or no religious persuasion are free to take vacation any day of the year that they wish.
I wish to work on Easter Sundays and Palm Sunday and be off on Christmas and Christmas Eve, even though I am not a Christian.
Christmas is the only religious holiday recognized by the US for US employees. I am of the opinion that the US is a "Christian Nation" since its inception.
Sincerely yours,
Background material and references are set forth below for your convenience.
HI-
Thanks for
the help. The item’s below. I’d be happy to mail you a copy,
if you give me a mailing address.
Claude
Solnik
(631)
913-4244
Long
Island
Business News
2150
Smithtown Ave.
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348
Home > 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.
OPEN ON 1ST PALM SUNDAY, OTB RAKES IN $2M - NY ...
www.nydailynews.com/.../open-1st-palm-sunday-otb-rakes-2m-...
Apr 14, 2003 - New York City Off-Track Betting made history yesterday, taking bets on Palm Sunday. ... New York State, race tracks have been allowed to operate every Sunday except for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. ... BY Jerry Bossert ...
Daily News
OTB FACES HAND SLAP OVER PALM - NY Daily News
www.nydailynews.com/.../otb-faces-hand-slap-palm-article-1.66...
Apr 16, 2003 - OTB FACES HAND SLAP OVER PALM. BY Jerry Bossert ... Aqueduct was also closed on Palm Sunday, but OTB thrived on action from around ...
Daily News
Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law
§ 109. Supplementary regulatory powers of the commission. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, the commission through its rules and regulations or in allotting dates for racing, simulcasting or in licensing race meetings at which pari-mutuel betting is permitted shall be authorized to: 1. permit racing at which pari-mutuel betting is conducted on any or all dates from the first day of January through the thirty-first day of December, inclusive of Sundays but exclusive of December twenty-fifth, Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday; and 2. fix minimum and maximum charges for admission at any race meeting. § 3. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in this state to all humankind; and no person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness on account of his or her opinions on matters of religious belief; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of this state.
Crist: New York restrictions defy belief | Daily Racing Form
www.drf.com › Columnists › Steven Crist
Nov 25, 2011 - DRF Login Loading. ... It's only 126 days until Palm Sunday and seven more until Easter, more than enough time for New York to repeal its ...
Daily Racing Form
Hovdey: On Palm Sunday, Rousing Sermon a good hunch ...
www.drf.com › Columnists › Jay Hovdey
Mar 30, 2012 - There is no horse racing allowed in New York this Sunday, which is Palm Sunday in the Christian world, because of laws dating back to 1695.
Daily Racing Form
Off Track Betting to push for Palm Sunday opening
www.saratogian.com/.../off-track-betting-to-push-for-pal...
Jan 23, 2009 - SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Off Track Betting officials say the plan to push for legislation that would allow them to stay open on Palm Sunday.
The Saratogian
Patriarch Bartholomew I, right, blesses Pope Francis during an
Ecumenical Prayer in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in Istanbul.
Reuters
On the final day of a visit to a country that has taken in more than 1.5 million refugees, the pope met with 100 Christian children and teens who fled Iraq and have taken refuge in Turkey.
Pope Francis has spoken often of the plight of the region’s refugees and sent a personal envoy to northern Iraq this summer with money from the pontiff’s own charitable fund to assist relief efforts. “The degrading conditions in which so many refugees are forced to live are intolerable,” he told the young refugees Sunday.
The pope had pressed his advisers to find a way for him to visit a refugee camp during his visit but said it wasn’t possible. On the flight back to Rome, he said he would still like to visit Iraq but won’t do so at the moment because “it would create serious problems for the authorities in terms of security.”
On the second of a three-day trip
to Turkey, Pope Francis joined Grand Mufti Rahmi Yaran in a tour and
prayer inside Istanbul’s historic Blue Mosque. Photo: AP.
Speaking to journalists during his return flight, the pope said Muslim leaders should issue a global condemnation of violence by Islamist extremists. But, he added, “no one can say that all followers of Islam are terrorists, any more than you can say that all Christians are fundamentalists.”
Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim country, has long served as a bridge between East and West but is under pressure to contain the conflagration on its borders and cope with huge flows of refugees. The pope expressed “deep gratitude” for Turkey’s efforts and called on the international community to help Ankara.
The pope also celebrated a liturgy Sunday together with Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople for the feast of St. Andrew, the patron saint of the Eastern Orthodox church. Patriarch Bartholomew is the spiritual head of the 300-million-member Orthodox Church. Earlier in the day, the pope also met with the Grand Rabbi of Turkey.
The pope and the patriarch are pushing hard to create stronger ties between the Eastern churches and Rome—which split nearly 1,000 years ago—in the belief that they can press their common concerns more effectively when united, particularly on the defense of Christian minorities.
“It seems that the value of human life has been lost” in areas of the Middle East, the pope and Patriarch Bartholomew said in a joint declaration. Orthodox Christians make up a large portion of the Christians in many countries in the Middle East.
When extremists kill Christians, they don’t ask which church they belong to, the pope said on the flight. “The blood that is shed is mixed,” he added.
The pope invited Orthodox leaders to an important meeting of Catholic bishops in Rome in October to discuss problems facing the family. The two sides are holding talks to overcome differences in liturgy and tradition, such as dates for holy days, although full reunion of the two branches of Christianity is unlikely soon. The pope assured Orthodox leaders Sunday that closer ties don't “signify submission of one to the other,” addressing a fear of some Eastern leaders wary of dominance by the Vatican.
The pope’s trip saw him reaffirm his belief in interreligious dialogue, despite rising tensions over the treatment of Christian minorities in many Muslim-majority countries. The symbolic highlight of the trip came Saturday, when the pope visited Istanbul’s 17th-century Sultan Ahmet Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque. He faced Mecca and prayed shoulder-to-shoulder with a senior Muslim cleric.
“I came as a pilgrim,” the pope said afterward. “I prayed above all for peace.”
Pope Francis, left, kisses Patriarch Bartholomew I after they
signed a joint statement at St. George church, Istanbul, on Sunday.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
“We see increasing prejudice and intolerance against Muslims living in Western countries as well as in Muslim countries,” Mr. Erdogan said at the meeting with the pope. On Sunday, the pope decried the “barbaric and senseless attack” against a mosque in Nigeria that killed scores on Friday.
The trip to a country with only 53,000 Catholics deprived the pope of the large masses and contact with crowds that visibly energize him. He next travels in January to the Philippines, which has one of the world’s biggest Catholic communities, and Sri Lanka.
Write to Deborah Ball at deborah.ball@wsj.com
