If you are Greek Orthodox your Palm Sunday simply does not count in New York.
If you are Greek Orthodox your Easter Sunday simply does not count in New York.
If you are a member of Teamsters Local 707, Kevin McCaffrey President, and Barry Yomtov side kick and your employer Nassau OTB may not be long for this world, the choice of whether to work now or not should be yours. See eg NYC OTB where Barry Yomtov was a Manager and also President of Teamsters Local 858 which represented NYC OTB Managers and Nassau OTB employees. When NYC OTB died, Barry Yomtov simply became the highly paid Business Agent of Teamsters Local 707.
Certainly the Pope does not need the assistance of Andrew Cuomo to tell the faithful when the holy days are.
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
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.
Pope Francis Meets With Benedict
Reuters
Pope Francis, left, embraces Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Saturday.
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy—
Pope Francis
traveled Saturday to this hill town south of Rome to have lunch with
his "brother" and predecessor Benedict XVI, a historic and potentially
problematic melding of the papacies that has never before confronted the
Catholic Church.
The two men dressed in white embraced warmly on the helipad in the
gardens of Castel Gandolfo, where Benedict has been living since he
retired Feb. 28 and became the first pope to resign in 600 years.
And in a series of gestures that ensued, Benedict made clear that he
considered Francis to be pope while Francis made clear he considered his
predecessor to be very much a revered brother and equal.
Traveling from the helipad to the palazzo, Francis sat on the
right-hand side of the car, the traditional place of the pope, while
Benedict sat on the left. When they entered the chapel inside the
palazzo to pray, Benedict tried to direct Francis to the papal kneeler
at the front of the chapel, but Francis refused.
Bergoglio: A Man for the Church
Benedict XVI: Guardian of the Faith
"No, we are brothers, we pray together,"
Francis told Benedict, according to the Vatican spokesman the Rev.
Federico Lombardi. The two used a different kneeler in the pews and
prayed together, side-by-side.
Francis brought a gift to Benedict, an icon of the Madonna, and told him that it is known as the "Madonna of Humility."
"I thought of you," Francis told Benedict. "You gave us so many signs
of humility and gentleness in your pontificate." Benedict replied:
"Grazie, grazie."
Benedict wore the simple white cassock of the papacy, with a quilted
white jacket over it to guard against the chill, but minus the sash and
cape worn by Francis. Walking with a cane, he looked frail compared with
the robust 76-year-old Argentine.
Outside the villa, the main piazza of Castel Gandolfo was packed with
well-wishers bearing photos of both popes and chanting "Francesco!
Francesco!" But the Vatican made clear they probably wouldn't see
anything.
The Vatican played down the remarkable reunion in keeping with
Benedict's desire to remain "hidden from the world" and not interfere
with his successor's papacy. There was no live coverage by Vatican
television, and only a short video and still photos were released after
the fact.
The Vatican spokesman said the two spoke privately for 40-45 minutes,
followed by lunch with the two papal secretaries, but no details were
released.
All of which led to enormous speculation about what these two popes
might have said to one another after making history together: Benedict's
surprise resignation paved the way for the first pope from Latin
America, the first Jesuit, and the first to call himself Francis after
the 13th century friar who devoted himself to the poor, nature and
working for peace.
That the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was second only to
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 conclave that elected Ratzinger
pope has only added to the popular imagination about how these two popes
of such different style, background and priorities might get along.
Despite Benedict's expressed intent to fade away, Francis on
virtually every occasion afforded him has made clear he has no intention
of letting his "venerable predecessor" disappear from memory: Francis
called Benedict right after his election, urged prayers for him in his
first papal Masses, and called the former Joseph Ratzinger to
congratulate him on the feast of St. Joseph on March 19.
The Vatican has similarly made clear that the ex-pope hasn't
completely lost interest in the matters of the church, following on
television Francis' inaugural appearance on the balcony of St. Peter's
Basilica after his election, when he charmed the crowd with a simple
"Brothers and sisters, good evening."
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OTB employee argues against closing doors on Christian holidays
Posted: 03.24.2013 at 9:49 AM
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Read more: Local, State, Business, News, Legal, Off Track Betting, Otb, Closed for Business, Betting, Horse Racing, Gambling, Palm Sunday, Easter
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ALBANY (AP) -- Today is Palm Sunday for most Christian denominations in the U.S.
In New York that means Off-Track Betting parlors are closed.
It's one of three dark days at OTB. The others are Christmas and Easter from the same calendar.
This
has at least one cashier arguing it denies the right to work based on
an old statute and fails to abide by the constitutionally required
separation of church and state.
Jackson Leeds, also an attorney, has been writing to state officials since he took the part-time OTB job in 2003 at Nassau OTB.
Some agree with him, also noting lost business.
State
Sen. Eric Adams, ranking Democrat on the Senate's Racing, Gaming and
Wagering Committee, has introduced a bill to allow pari-mutuel wagering
and horse racing on Palm Sunday.
(Copyright ©2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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