K’hook ready to regulate short-term rentals

By DAVID LEE

HUDSON–In the realms of community service in Columbia County Gary Flaherty has made a reputation for himself, for his work on behalf of veterans and their families. Now after more than a decade as the Columbia County Director of Veterans Services, Mr. Flaherty is retiring June 30. His replacement has yet to be named.

Mr. Flaherty’s primary reason for retirement from the post is the fact that he is moving to Oneonta. He recently got married, and his new wife, Marietta has a house there which they will be sharing.

Since 2013, when he accepted the role of the director of Veterans Services, an agency of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, he can be counted on to attend, most often in Army dress uniform, every parade, presentation or program in which former members of the United States Armed Services are participants.

But the job entails so much more than that. The director assists veterans with often complicated paperwork necessary to receive benefits, assisting with the bureaucracy of the VA Hospital. The agency also helps the families of veterans as well as spouses of deceased vets. It is indicative that the woman he is now married to is the grandmother of a widow that Mr. Flaherty had been advising after her veteran husband committed suicide.

Columbia County Board of Supervisors Chairman Matt Murrell said of Mr. Flaherty that he did a tremendous job. “We will miss him,” he said.

County Clerk Holly Tanner counts him as a friend. It was upon her nomination that the Columbia County Young Republicans presented Mr. Flaherty with their annual Lincoln Award. She said that working with him has been very rewarding. “He’s been an asset to the veterans of the county, available 24-7, he goes above and beyond, and he is just a nice guy. I will miss him.”

Among his accomplishments Mr. Flaherty worked to establish the agency’s new office at 389 Fairview Avenue which also houses the Dwyer Community Room and the veterans food bank. He also acquired a comfortable transportation van which picks up riders from around the county and brings them to the Stratton VA hospital in Albany and back.

But before all of these accomplishments, Mr. Flaherty first recounts that he talked three veterans out of suicide, “and they are all doing well.” It is the work he does quietly, one-on-one on behalf of his veterans — and he always refers to them as “my veterans”– of which he is most proud. Every Sunday morning he makes calls to see how his veterans are doing.

As a U.S. Army combat veteran of the Vietnam War himself he is well aware of the kinds of challenges faced by veterans when they return to civilian life.

Mr. Flaherty does not talk much about his time “in country” except to say that he was what was colloquially referred to as a “tunnel rat” in Vietnam. The job was to clear enemy tunnels, a dangerous task that fell to soldiers of smaller stature.

Ironically, or perhaps appropriately, his highest award in Vietnam is the Soldier’s Medal for Heroism which recognizes acts of heroism in a non-combat situation usually involving fellow soldiers or civilians. Mr. Flaherty remembers, “I had a soldier that was new in country and he was out on patrol, came back, got drunk and set up a machine gun and was going to fire into the tents in our tent city. I called the MPs and they came and got behind the sand bags with all their lights flashing. I told them to shut down their lights because this guy was really out of it.”

“The MP said, ‘You distract his attention and I am going to shoot him,’ and, I said, ‘No you’re not.’ I charged him and took the gun away from him and as a result they gave me the soldier’s medal for heroism.”

Returning to the United States, Mr. Flaherty’s first assignment was a recruiting office in Plattsburgh where he and fellow recruiters for the Air Force and Marines did a 100 mile walk around the perimeter of Clinton County to raise money for a monument to those killed in the war. Mr. Flaherty did the last 57 miles on crutches due to an old knee injury. “The doctors told me not to go back out but I said I was going to finish, so I did the last 57 miles on crutches.”

While at a recruiting post in Kingston, Mr. Flaherty recounts an incident during an anti-war demonstration, in which somebody threw a hand grenade through the window of the draft board across the street. Mr. Flaherty said he heard someone scream and he ran into the office and retrieved the grenade. “The spoon hadn’t dropped so it didn’t go off, so I went in recovered it and brought it out— General Westmoreland gave me a citation for that— they thought that was amazing.”

Among his other honors, in 2021, his office was selected for a visit from the U.S. Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs Denis McDonough who enjoyed his visit enough that he asked Mr. Flaherty if he might like to work for his office in Washington, D.C. Though flattered, Mr. Flaherty politely declined, saying that his work was here in Columbia County with his veterans. “I’ve already done two tours in D.C,” said Mr. Flaherty, referring to the intervals he worked as support staff there in the 1980s shortly before he retired from the Army, “but he stays in touch, and he sent me a nice congratulation letter on my retirement.”

In 2023, Mr. Flaherty received the Abraham Lincoln Award from the Columbia County Young Republicans, an award which he credits with bringing him to the attention of Who’s Who in America, the list to which he was inducted. And through this organization, he received the 2024 International Humanitarian Award.

Not that he isn’t justifiably proud of this recognition, he said, “I was serious; I told them I don’t need any more awards— I’m too old.”

In April this year he also received the 21st Annual G. Lucius Cary Leadership Service Award from Questar III, given “in recognition of outstanding leadership and contributions through volunteer service.”

One of Mr. Flaherty’s veterans, Peter Kaufman, was in the Army during the Vietnam era. He does not speak of his experience except to acknowledge that it would be a gross understatement to say that it left him very troubled.

“Gary helped me in so many ways,” he said. “He’s become like a friend.”

“He is so kind, compassionate and understanding and always had an open door for me. He would call, but not just to talk but to see how I was doing.”

When he takes on a veteran’s case, he does it 100% — no BS. He digs in and gets it done. His compassion is real and genuine. I could go on and on– I look to him as a guide.”

Summarizing, Mr. Kaufman said, “He gave me the opportunity to feel proud of being a veteran.”

Mr. Flaherty, who will turn 80 on June 22, will not be retiring from public life. He has already initiated communication with SUNY Oneonta about a role he might have at the college and he was a guest speaker at the Memorial Day ceremony there. And as many of his veterans attest, the county line is not a barrier to communications with his people here, or anywhere else for that matter.