TRR photo by Chris Conroy Jack Tobin, with his mother in the background, is pictured speaking to the crowd who gathered at the Sullivan County Courthouse in Monticello on August 11 to celebrate his release from a Russian jail. (Click for larger image)

Jack is back

MONTICELLO — After being detained for 184 days in Russia, Jack Tobin is home. At a small ceremony on August 11 Tobin cut down the last yellow ribbon in front of the Sullivan County Courthouse. His mother, Alice VanEtten, said, “I’m very proud to live in this town and I’m very, very proud of Jack.”

Congressman Maurice Hinchey, who along with Congressman Ben Gilman worked hard with the VanEtten family to bring Tobin home, said, “This type of thing doesn’t happen accidentally… I think Jack was caught up in a situation of international relations between the United Sates and Russia.”

Tobin said he wasn’t terribly concerned about himself. “The toughest part of this whole thing was knowing that my parents were in the dark as to how I was doing and what was going on. My biggest concern over there was how they were doing.”