STILLWATER >> Christiaan Adrianus has four months to make up his mind who to vote for in this November’s elections.
That’s one of the new privileges The Netherlands native is most excited about as a full-fledged U.S. citizen.
He and 19 other men and women from all corners of the world took the Oath of Allegiance on Saturday during Fourth of July naturalization ceremonies at one of America’s most patriotic sites, Saratoga battlefield, where a new nation’s future hung in the balance during its fight for independence.
“U.S.A.!” Adrianus shouted triumphantly, holding his citizenship certificate overhead. “I’ve been in this country 11 years. My wife and kids are American. We love this country. This is our home. The next logical step was for me to become a citizen.”
The Delmar resident is a manufacturing director for SABIC (Saudi Basic Industries Corp.) at a former General Electric Co. facility in Pittsfield, Mass.
Saturday’s soggy weather couldn’t dampen his spirits.
“This is a really big deal,” he said smiling.
More than 200 people turned out to welcome immigrants from 16 different nations to their adopted homeland. They came for many different reasons, but are united in their basic quest for a better life.
Cristian Nicola, of Saratoga Springs, grew up behind the Iron Curtain in Romania and came to U.S. in 2001. Only weeks later, from his new home in New Jersey, he witnessed an horrific attack on America’s way of life, and freedom, when terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York.
His Romanian wife, Nicoleta, a cardiologist at Saratoga Hospital, became a U.S. citizen last month. Their daughter, Fiona, was born in Houston, so she is an American by birth.
“Her birth certificate was signed by (former Texas Governor) Rick Perry, so if he ever becomes president she’ll have his autograph,” Cristian joked.
David Csesznok, 35, of Ballston Lake, came to the U.S. 10 years ago from Hungary to study agriculture at Ohio State University and is now involved in the thoroughbred industry, treating horses with a salt therapy that strengthens their lungs. From Ohio State he went to work for the prestigious Juddmonte Farm in Lexington, Ky., owned by Prince Khalid bin Abdulla, a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family.
Now Csesznok spends summers in Saratoga and winters in Florida, while splitting time between New York and Kentucky the rest of the year.
Other nations represented were Nepal, Jamaica, Philippines, China, Poland, South Korea, Serbia, India, Pakistan, Dominican Republic, Burma, Mexico and Bangladesh. More than 4,000 people became citizens at 50 naturalization ceremonies around the country from July 1-4.
The program began with a moment of silence to remember the American patriots whose supreme sacrifice during the Battles of Saratoga, 238 years ago, helped make U.S. citizenship possible.
“Without the American victory that was won on this battlefield, the American Revolution might have been lost,” said George Malinoski, a Sons of the American Revolution official.
Keynote speaker Ray Raymond, an author and university professor, explained that the patriot victory at Saratoga is what enabled Benjamin Franklin to convince France to ally with the U.S. in its war against Great Britain, which swayed the Revolution’s outcome.
The ceremony included musket and cannon firings, presentation of colors by Twin Rivers Council Boys Scouts, renditions of the “Star Spangled Banner” and “God Bless America” by singer Danielle McMullen, and a 13-round lemonade toast led by historical park ranger Joe Craig. One salute, accompanied by a round of laughter, called for “perpetual itching without benefit of scratching to all enemies of America.”
