Posted on 06/03/2004 8:31:40 AM PDT by SheLion
AUGUSTA - Six months into a ban on smoking at Maine bars, the president of the Maine Restaurant Association says business at some establishments is down by 30 percent, especially at bars near the New Hampshire border.
"Business is off big time," Dick Grotton said. "The law continues to be a source of extreme irritation."
Jibryne "Gubby" Karter, owner of Waterville's Bob-In, said he paid nearly $10,000 for a heated outdoor patio after a very slow January.
"Without the smoke deck, I'm sure business would be off 20 percent," he said.
But supporters of the smoking ban, which outlawed all smoking in Maine bars and restaurants, say it is beneficial for bar and restaurant employees, and that many Mainers are now enjoying nightlife they once shunned.
"We've had many, many more positive remarks about the law than negative," said Dora Mills, director of the Maine Bureau of Health. "People are enjoying going to places that are now smoke-free."
Moriah Giguere, manager of Spirits in Waterville, said nearly every bar has lost customers since the ban. But she said the law has been good for bartenders, herself included. She feels healthier now and no longer has a sore throat at night's end.
Dr. Susan Swartz, medical director at the state's Center for Tobacco Independence, said that taverns will save on cleaning costs and have healthier and more productive employees. She also said that bar owners should be able to tap into a new group of customers.
"Overall, the law is the best thing for the people of Maine," she said. "Overall, the state will not lose revenue and these businesses will survive."
But some bar owners fear their businesses may not recover.
"I don't believe the health community ever grasped the financial impact of this," Grotton said. "The law brought forth great pain
The tyranny of the majority. In California they're banning smoking on the beaches. The claim is to keep them cleaner, perhaps they should just ban people altogether, it would make the enviro-wackos very happy.
BWAAAAA HAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAa
Employees outside with their customers doesn't strike me as improving productivity.........
Ban people. Your right. Turn the beaches back over to the sand crabs............
Not for those who are now unemployed.
That's it, in a nutshell. Unless you can enshrine it in the Bill of Rights, or get more than half the population to take it up, smoking will continue to take a beating.
Ah common, I bet deep down you really want to quit.
As if the American Taliban care one hoot about the business effects.
BAN ALCOHOL SALES IN BARS. It's a health hazard!
You're arguing that since some laws are necessary, any given law (in this case, the smoking ban) is necessary. This seems unlikely.
Then we have one of three choices.
A) Outlaw tobacco. Not smoking bans, not confiscatory taxes, OUTLAW it, for the good of the smoker as well as the nonsmoker.
Do we, as a country, really want to go there? It was tried with alcohol with limited (read little) success.
B) PROVE that ETS, second hand smoke, is more than an irritant. Of the studies I have seen, approximately 80% say there is little, if any, epedemialogical evidence that ETS causes any permanent damage to anyone that doesn't have a preexisting medical condition.
IOW, it has nothing to do with the welfare of the community as a whole. Leave it up to the business owner to decide.
C) Continue to have the sheeple listen to the health nannies as they use junk science, cherry picked studies, and outright lies to advance their agenda of control.
Ever seen a DemoncRAT advance personal responsibility? Not very often, huh?
The antismoking campaigns are not about health they are about control of personal property rights, peoples lives, and the fact that some people think tobacco smoke smells bad.
Closed businesses, umemployed workers, lower tax revenue for the state and municipalities benefit the community as a whole in what way????
No one is advocating anarchy, but in some cases some laws are unneccessary, overburdensome, nothing short of social engineering.
Or like we did when I waited tables in NYC when they tried the first smoking ban, we would sneek a smoke in the bathroom. Sure did not make anyone more productive.
While I lived in California, I was amazed to see how many employees would slip off into the bathroom for a smoke no matter how "illegal" it was.
That's another point have made.
The non-smoker at the bar is not going to bet served promptly if the smoking bartender is outside with all the smokers.........You know the bartenders who's HEALTH the bans are designed to "protect."
Yea? Don't you think just a teensy bit that after 225 years of lawmakers doing their thing they have gone a little, shall we say OVERBOARD?
The same holds true for state capitals. How about a couple of sessions of lawrepealers to balance things out?
In looking at the stuff coming out of the California legislature perhaps a nice medium sized NUKE would help!LOL!
Welcome to Free Republic.
Oh for heaven's sake,Joe. You are a crazed,maniacal ADDICT!!!! Who cares what you say!!!
(Sorry,I couldn't resist it---the smoking threads are really over the top today)
Mears
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