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.
You're right, so why are you mocking us who still are fighting for whats left? Stop your sarcasm and join the fight........
Thank you, Gabz
Thank you as well! 
Bull. As I heard someone say recently, having a smoking section in a restaurant makes as much sense as having a peeing section in a pool.
While I agree wholeheartedly with your argument and those of SheLion and Gabz (I love them), logical facts supporting logical arguments no longer apply in this environment where so called "Conservatives" have devolved to the "ME" mentality inherent in the socialist democrat party to the point they willingly turn a blind eye to private property rights and tyrannical taxation simply to satisfy their own personal biases.......
As I stated to a jerk in an above post, his day is almost here and all I am going to do is sit back and laugh at his lament!
Sometimes I'm just in the mood to slap down those that torque me off - tonight is one of those times :)
Which is why I will probably being on my way to my pillow shortly :)
You don't hang out with very pleasant people, do you?
If you don't like going to an establishment that permits smoking you have 3 choices, find one that prohibits it, open your own, or stay home.
A a member of FReeRepublic I can not understand you looking at this issue in any other way.
I responded to a post by someone who called the governments ban a taking and they asserted that it was the restaurateurs right to make such a decision. I noted the degree to which the government had already usurped the owners decision making rights to a considerable degree. I thought the point would have been obvious.
You have said a mouthful there, my FRiend.
It actually pains me to see the number of so-called "conservatives," many of whom are long time FReepers, who are more than happy to call for more government "intervention" when it comes to their pet peeves - whether it be smoking or Walmart.
There was a thread the other day about NJ legislators wanting to put a tax on elective cosmetic surgery - I find it very difficult to be outraged about it. Many of the ones screaming against it are the same ones that have no problem with an increased tobacco tax or smoking ban. If I lived in NJ I would be fighting it, but since I don't live there...............well, such is life.
And I asked you a specific question which you chose not to answer.
There are many rules/regulations/laws a small business must adhere to - but I've got a problem with them being changed AFTER the business has already established it's clientele. That is EXACTLY what smoking bans do.
ping
Last pool I ever almost entered was a few years back in Honduras. Saw a little kid standing on the side whizzing into it. So, I just stayed on the deck and enjoyed the sun.....
Moral of story: Doesn't really matter how much one accomodates the worry-warts, you'll never make them happy no matter how much you try to accomodate them and they'll still piss on you.......
" having a smoking section in a restaurant makes as much sense as having a peeing section in a pool."
I can explain it to you(again) but I cannot understand it for you. It, the smoking ban, relates to the other regulations because it is a government imposed limitation on the property owner's use of his property. Many such regulations are imposed on businesses all the time by an over-reaching government and they are often established so as to affect an existing clientele. I hope this is now clear to you. I would have thought the point was obvious to but apparently not so for everyone.
But, my FRiend, you are putting logic into the equation here - don't you realize you are not allowed to do that? Only FEEEEEEEEEEEEEELINGS are permitted in this discussion.
And, of course, bogus science.
Truth and facts never seem to be a priority with the nannyists, do they?
I have as much right to an opinion as you, even if you don't like my opinions.
There is a difference between the things you listed and a smoking ban - the smoking ban is a limitation on the clientele the owner is permitted to cater to - and it matters not whether he has a liquor license ornot.
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