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SCOPE president backs Orleans Legislature

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 October 2013 at 12:00 am

“I stand behind these people. I urge everyone to support them on Election Day.”
– “Tinker” Young, president of Orleans County SCOPE

ALBION – The president of a pro-gun group, the Orleans County chapter of SCOPE, stood up at today’s County Legislature meeting and urged the public to support the incumbent legislators.

Emerson “Tinker” Young said the current Legislature distinguished itself around the state by renouncing the state’s SAFE Act, which was passed by the State Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo in January. The Orleans Legislature formally opposed the act and then later called for state legislators and the governor to rescind it.

The 10 towns and four villages in Orleans then followed the county’s lead, making Orleans the only county in the state where every town, village and county elected board opposed the SAFE Act.

“They were already in action standing up for that flag and our Constitution,” Young said. “I stand behind these people. I urge everyone to support them on Election Day.”

Young spoke after Paul Fulcomer, president of the Joint Veterans Council, voiced his displeasure with fund-raising literature by a pro-nursing home group. The door knocker included an image of the American flag. The hole for the door knocker went through the flag.

Fulcomer said proper flag etiquette stipulates the flag shouldn’t be used for advertising.

“You can do any advertising you want but don’t use my flag for it,” said Fulcomer, a Vietnam War veteran.

Young, who’s also a Vietnam vet, said he was “rightly disgusted” by the ad that used the flag.

Dee Smith, a member of the Concerned Citizens of Orleans County, thanked the two speakers for their service as veterans.

“I’m all for the Constitution and doing the right things,” she said.

Smith has been a frequent observer at Legislature meetings since February, when the group voted to form a local development corporation that was charged with selling the 120-bed county nursing home. Smith and the Concerned Citizens don’t want the nursing home to be privatized.

“I’m for keeping the nursing home,” she told the Legislature. “I will continue to push for keeping it and I will buck you about it until the day I die.”