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Jake’s had a bad rap
By
DAVID HULSE
CALLICOON — He’s not a gambling guy,
he’s a water guy, Assemblyman Jacob Gunther argued
to the Villa Roma audience at the April 28 Upper Delaware
Council (UDC) awards banquet.
He’s gotten a lot of bad press, in
which he appears to be concentrating all of his efforts
on gambling, Gunther told the audience in a part of
the county known to be less than unanimous in its
support of casino gaming in Sullivan County.
The Forestburgh Democrat-Conservative
complained that all anyone has to do is “burp” the
word casino and the daily press will report it, and
at the same time it fails to report on other important
on things that he’s done and enjoys more.
Gunther said he’s been a proponent
of a referendum to allow a public voice about gaming
in the county. “I’m concerned that that’s not happened
and that it’s taken a dastardly attack on our country
to jump start [gaming],” he said.
He charged that the Pataki administration
had appropriated a “Gunther initiative” in video lottery
terminals (VLT’s) at horse racing tracks, “but not
until they needed the money.”
“It’s very troubling,”
he said, that there was no reporting on his successfully
putting 20,000 acres of state lands back on the tax
rolls or his co-sponsored bill, which will allow the
National Park Service to build a visitor center on
state lands in Mongaup.
Gunther said his legislative career
has been closely tied to the Upper Delaware and the
UDC from the beginning. He’s also a big proponent
of grants for the area and green tourism, he said.
“I like water. Water is life,” he argued.
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TRR
photo by David Hulse
Some
of those accepting and the awards they received
at Sunday’s Upper Delaware Council annual
banquet included, seated from the left: Laurie
Stuart, Community Service; Arlen Siegel, Outstanding
Community Achievement; Lori McKean, Ann Danuff,
Special Recognition; Helga Rupnick, Outstanding
Community Achievement; and Jeffrey Firmstone,
Partnership.
Standing from the left are Martin
Handler, Outstanding Community Achievement;
Dennis Wilson, Special Recognition; Michael
Chojnicki, Outstanding Community Achievement,
Don Downs, Outstanding Community Achievement;
Jack Niflot, Outstanding Community Achievement;
Peter Osborne, Cultural Achievement; Larry
Richardson, Oaken Gavel; Ted Zurla, Partnership;
Tom Shepstone, Distinguished Service; George
Banta, Volunteer; and Jim Serio, Special Recognition.
(Click for larger image)
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Beyond that, “Eighty-percent of what
I do is wrangling with state agencies, DOT and DMV…,”
he said.
To illustrate he recounted a trip he
and his assistant Sean Hanofee made to Jeffersonville
last Friday morning. A woman had called from her remote
farmhouse home, complaining that she and her small
children were trapped in the house for three days
by wild dogs prowling her yard and that no one had
been able to help her.
The woman broke into tears on the telephone.
“That’s it. If you ever need anything from my office
and you’re a woman, just start crying,” he said.
Without further explanation, he told
his assistant to get “a few big sticks” and they took
a ride to Jeffersonville. They found the house, found
the dogs to be less than ferocious and transported
them to the animal shelter, where he was guaranteed
they would not be put down. “That’s mostly what I
do,” he concluded. “What you read about… think about
it twice,” he said.
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