Posted on 06/03/2005 2:41:36 PM PDT by SheLion
Highland Park enacted Lake County’s first smoking ban Wednesday, a move local health officials say is something they hope all municipalities will soon consider.
It means all indoor public areas, including restaurants, taxis and places of work, in the city are off limits to smokers. The ordinance was approved by the city council in April.
“The second-hand smoke issue is becoming really big,” said Bill Mays, the county health department’s director of community health services. “Highland Park’s leadership in this regard is an important precedent.”
Health department officials say the action is the most sweeping they’ve seen. That’s due, in part, because Highland Park is one of 20 communities in Illinois that can legally enact smoking bans tougher than state standards.
All that is poised to change if Gov. Rod Blagojevich signs off on a plan that would allow individual municipalities to snuff smoking on their own turf. The plan, in the works for more than a decade, was recently approved by the state legislature and awaits approval from the governor.
However, Highland Park’s smoking ban is not without opposition.
Richard Holleb, owner of Norton’s Restaurant on Sheridan Road, said he had 350 customers sign a petition against the ordinance before it was passed. His restaurants turn into bars at night, where he used to permit smoking once the kitchen closed.
“My guess is that I will lose business,” Holleb said.
For local residents like Simon Pestell, who walked through downtown Highland Park Wednesday with a cigarette in hand, the ban foreshadows what’s to come over time in most cities.
“Personally, I think it’s stupid because restaurants have good ventilation systems now,” he said.
At Rosebud restaurant, general manager John Folinazzo said he knows non-smokers will be happy cigarette and cigar fumes won’t be coming from the bar area anymore.
“In the summer, people can come and sit on the patio to smoke, but the winter is a whole other story,” he said
Highland Park officials were not available for comment.
Mays said he hopes other communities follow Highland Park’s example if the governor enables them to do so.
“It’s an important public health principle,” he said.
Pot. Kettle. Black.
maggiefluffs has a great collection of jpg too!
Are you cute? Married??? How old are you?
Did you know that I am very active on the Terrorist threads and the NASCAR threads? Look for me there as well, ok?
Did you check out my About Me page in FRee Republic? I have my picture there.
I LOVE images! They say one picture says a thousand words. I can't get enough.
If you have some that I don't have, I would love for you to send them to me.
Wonder what you have???
NASCAR???
Well, I used to like you, but now, forget it. If you're one of them there NASCAR folks, well then, I've had it. Stop posting now.
You have FReep mail!
What I do find offensive is the mental image burned into my mind from reading posts by the Nerd Posse.
Borderline misogynists, full-blown neurotics - the type that repels normal people.
I picture them spending a lot of time making call to the IRS to turn in their family members and neighbors (they generally don't have any friends, or they'd turn them in, too.)
Rolling rolling rolling.
Smokers are in desperate need of a major makeover. Queer eye for the fag guy.
When I post to someone ABOUT you, I post to you as well. So you will know I am not "talking behind your back."
If you have a problem with that Honey, I won't do it anymore. :(
I only buy from large, well-established web sites. I am already paying sales tax. No biggie.
Please feel free to talk about me behind my back...
Ah.....I know you don't mean that!
Just read it Randall, here is the reply I posted there:
I used to buy my cigs from Dirtcheapcigs.com which is in Kentucky I think until they started posting states they could not ship to. Michigan (my state) being one of them. Last time I visited their site they were going out of business...........Chalk up another legitimate business destroyed by government!
Wonder how many folks on this site who are up in arms against this increased govt. infringement participated in favor of the nico-nazis during our many heated debates about the rights of private property owners allowing smoking in their establishments and also cheering on the govt. for increasing the taxes on our product of choice! LOL!!!!!!!!
As I always predicted, the chicken will eventually come home to roost. While I am digusted and infuriated at this turn of events, I still have to laugh at the folks who used to scorn us.
How does that saying go? When they came for the Jews, I didn't care because I wasn't a Jew............
I also have to laugh at the whiney voice I hear from Paulat as the only argument he/she has to offer is "I don't shop via the internet, so there!"
I have come to the conclusion that individuals such as Smith and Paulat have spent their entire lives living in the comfort of their own little suburbia, never stirring the pot, never getting involved in political dicussions other than on the internet.
They feel safe in their own little secure worlds knowing that they have a safe income, they can pay their taxes and buy pretty much whatever they wish. They have been been raised in in a society free from strife due to the sacrifices of our parents and have fallen hook line and sinker for the lies of the left. Thus their readiness to side with any cause that may be in line with whatever vice they find offensive without once thinking about the long range effects their cause may have on the constitutional rights of all Americans.
Despite any arguments to the contrary they may make on this site, subconsciously they believe that the government is here to make things all right for them and all they have to do is go along with the flow.........
Paulat's latest comment "I don't buy via the internet" pretty much clinched it for me........
...uh...I buy TONS of stuff on the internet...you might want to try actually READING my post....
...AND...you obviously know nothing about me.
I'm pinging this for my FReeper FRiends who know my political, legislative and career/media history...this is priceless!!!!!
Another tidbit of information I post to the "smoke free" elitists such as Smith and Paulat who are willing to throw private property rights out the window in order to satisfy their own personal wants over the rights of everyone else.
I used to hang out in the most unsavory bars in Detroit and Hamtramck, bars that Smith and Paulat wouldn't even think about walking into let alone driving on the streets where they were located. Bars where the factory workers always stopped in after their shifts to pound down some beers, do some shots, shoot pool and smoke.
What do you suppose is going to happen to these neighborhood mom and pop owned bars when these smoking bans go into effect?
It will start off with a busybody stopping in and seeing folks smoking so that busybody will contact the city and the bar will be cited and fined. The next time it happens the fine will be steeper. Finally the owner will have to tell his lifelong patrons that they are welcome but they can't smoke there anymore.
At that point in time the patrons will say screw it. Subject mom and pop now go out of business!
It will happen and is happening all over this damn country where states have chosen to ignore the rights of property owners simply to cater to the elitists in the big city enclaves who wish to insure their own chic, upscale restaurants/bars are smoke free! And what is the response of the elitists such as Smith and Paulat? "What do I care, I don't hang out in those bars........."
Remember, the neighborhood bars that are going to be the worst affected and driven out of business by these damn laws are the same bars that the likes of Smith, Paulat and the rest of the so called conservatives would never, ever in their lifetime think of entering.............
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