nothing better to do, cops bust a $5 Cribbage game for Veterans

[budblown]

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news...38/detail.html

GARDINER, Maine -- A weekly cribbage tournament at an American Legion post has been shut down after a state inspector said the games were illegal because the post didn't have a license to host games of chance.

Bill Meserve, an 87-year-old World War II veteran, said paying the $5 entry fee on Sundays was an inexpensive way to have fun on a fixed income. He can't understand why anyone would tell a bunch of old veterans they can't play a simple game of cribbage.

"We're just having fun. Where else can you go and spend three hours having fun for five dollars," he said. "You can't go to the movies for five dollars."

A number of inspectors regularly visit establishments to check for unlicensed games such as games of chance, card games or money wheels, said Maine State Police Sgt. William Gomane.

The American Legion needs a license to hold cribbage tournaments because it sells things to players, such as food and alcohol, he said. A license for games of chance costs $15 a week or $60 or month, while a yearly license goes for $700, he said.

The American Legion post in Gardiner was told it could purchase a special license for just $7.50 a year, provided it charged no more than $1 per person and players did not gamble.

"But they want to do it their way," Gomane said.

The licensing fees are too expensive for a nickel-and-dime tournament, said American Legion Cmdr. Bob Mckay. He has contacted state Reps. Stephen Hanley, D-Gardiner, and Earl McCormick, R-West Gardiner, for help.

Hanley said veterans shouldn't have to pay fees to play games at their legion halls. "They've already paid their dues," he said. "These guys earned the privilege to play cribbage."

Don Austin, a disabled Air Force veteran from Gardiner, said the dispute has upset pretty much everybody who plays in the cribbage games.

"Our vets are out fighting for freedom and when those boys come home they can't even come into their own post and play a game of cards and talk to each other," said Austin, 56. "That don't sound right."

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I mean really? $5 cribbage tourney and the cops are busting it. Seriously, there has to be something better for cops to do than to bust a $5 cribbage game?