| The following column appeared in The River Reporter on August 13, 1998. |
(With apologies to Alexander Pope)
By Bert S. Feldman
The Recusant Reporter
Thursday, August 13, 1998
Our own NYS legislators, assemblymen and senators both, have adjourned for six months of rest and contemplation following nearly a half-year of arduous labor. True, the budget was passed within a shorter overtime and overdue period than usual, but much legislation remains to be considered for 1999.
Waving their banner, which bears the immortal words of Casey Stengel: "Wait 'til next year!", they have departed in uffish thought to ready themselves for the coming six months in which they plan to clean the Augean stables in Albany. One of the uncompleted tasks they have left behind in the round file is the matter of casino gambling, which, it is claimed, will pave the roads of Sullivan County in gold and fill Everyman's pockets with dollars, yen, francs, and rials.
As we know, according to the Constitution of New York, the matter of amending that document involves passing a bill through two consecutive sessions of the legislature and then putting it up for consideration of the voters — us.
This process, if we imagine the half-a-year Albany lawmakers moving faster than a speeding bullet — Hah! — would mean the law could be changed as early as the year 2000.
But the tom-toms are beating faster on the reservations, and Big Chief Pataki is said to be contemplating a sneaky bypass that would bring big bucks to the Indian bucks at an earlier date. Rumors around the byroads of Sullivan County report head-to-head planning parties with certain local bigwigs.
Since I am uninitiated in the mysteries of the inner temples of lawyers' guilds, perhaps some kind soul would explain to me how the local Amerinds (AMERican INDians, they are not native Americans) can do all this. According to the workings of the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Amerinds can, within certain limitations, do as they jolly well please within the boundaries of their reservations.
Now, there are are several reservations within New York State: that of the Senacas at Akron, the Mohawks at St. Regis, and the Shinnecocks on Long Island, to name a few. On these reservations the Amerinds are controlled by the federal government, and if they wish to establish a casino on their grounds they must obtain permission from the Department of the Interior to do so. Off the reservation they are subject to the laws of the State of New York.
How can upstate Iroquois operate a casino down in Sullivan County where there is no reservation land? If any Amerinds could be given access to us, locally, it would most likely be the Lenni Lenapes, but their reservation is located in northeast Oklahoma.
Contrary to popular thought, there is no such thing as Amerind language, customs, or dress. Making any concession to do things "Amerind style" is akin to sending a German-speaking Polish committee to aid the French. Each Amerind group is a fully developed nation unto itself.
And, honestly now, do you really think that residents of Sullivan County will benefit from this illegal casino? A few, very few, men will prosper mightily, but the good jobs will go to the Mohawks/Oneidas/whatever, prostitution will flourish like the green bay tree, more narcotics will pour over our borders, and compulsive gamblers, another form of addict, will overload the welfare rolls.
There is too much to offer people hereabouts. We are a vacation and second-home paradise within a relatively short distance from the Big Apple, and with computer hook-ups people can live here and work in New York City at the same time.
Get them greedy hands off of Sullivan County. If only a small amount of the energy expounded on securing gambling as an industry to benefit the few was spent on developing what we do have, we all might be on the way to a happier tomorrow.
