STORM BREWS AS 3 STATE BILLS FILED TO FORBID LOCAL LAWS (smoking ban preemption)

Lexington Herald-Leader ^ | Sat, Dec. 27, 2003 | Laura Yuen

[toddst]

Kentucky Farm Bureau opposes smoking bans because they invade business owners' property rights, spokesman Gary Huddleston said.

Burley growers also might fear that Lexington's smoking ban could signal a "bellwether trend that could spread wider and farther," he added.

Two main points surrounding this issue. However the most important is property rights. This will be a battle royal in the Kentucky legislature.

[Zipporah]

This is one of the most assinine things I've ever heard of. I'm a Kentuckian and considering that Kentucky is a TOBACCO state.. the liberals have lost it. You are right, this is a property rights issue. I hope it is a battle in the legislature, they need to hear from constituents.

[nothingnew]

PUFF!

FMCDH

[sweetliberty]

My grandparents made their living and raised 13 kids on their Kentucky tobacco farm. Used to be in Kentucky and Virginia, there was tobacco everywhere. Now it seems there's just corn. Working in tobacco was how kids made a little money in the summer. Of course now, even if kids were encouraged to earn their own money instead of expecting increasingly larger allowances, it would probably be illegal for them to work around a "tobacco product." If we still lived in a free country, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

[Zipporah]

It's funny.. my youngest son has been telling me we now live in the USSA.. I think he's right.

[lewislynn]

Two main points surrounding this issue. However the most important is property rights.

From your profile:

"Work as a citizen volunteer to assure our Bluegrass horse farms and green spaces are protected and well managed for future generations to enjoy."

It sounds a bit hypocritical to me but aren't "your" horse farms private property?... Protected from who?

When you open a business, you're inviting the public, it IS a public place...No one says "smokers" aren't allowed, only "smoking" in public places. How is that a private property issue?

[RabidBartender]

ping

[Gabz]

PUFF.

Ya gotta love these jokers - all they talk about is how much money the tobacco companies give in campaign contributions and spend on lobbying efforts. Never is there any mention of the money spent by the antis which include multi million dollar grants from Foundations and beaucoup bucks from the pharmaceutical industry.

The pharma cartel are staunch supporters of smoking bans and contribute heavily in pushing for them - I have first hand knowledge of it.

[sweetliberty]

USSA? Yeah, that works. I haven't heard that one before.

[CaptRon]

"We'll be on the side of the gods on this one," said Dr. Andrew Pulito,

But, then again, I'll bet this is what he always thinks of the positions he takes.

[ChefKeith]

A Government BY the PEOPLE, of the PEOPLE and for the PEOPLE!

[Gabz]

How is that a private property issue?

As you yourself say, if you enter a private business it is at the invitation of the owner, and once inside you must abide by his rules or your invitation is rescinded.

But lets turn this around. What would your reaction be if this legislation was to require all businesses permit smoking?

By agreeing that the government can force a private business to prohibit smoking you are also agreeing that the government can do the opposite - such as forcing a business that was voluntarily non-smoking to have smoking in their premises. Now do you understand why it is a private property issue?

[toddst]

From your profile:

"Work as a citizen volunteer to assure our Bluegrass horse farms and green spaces are protected and well managed for future generations to enjoy."

It sounds a bit hypocritical to me but aren't "your" horse farms private property?... Protected from who?

Good question I'm happy to try and answer with the abbreviated version. Horse farms require open space around them if they are to operate. This means housing must not be placed immediately next to them.

Children and their pets are impossible to keep out of the pasture areas if their home is too close to the pastures, which presence creates a risk to all concerned - the kids, pets AND the horses. So we - as citizens - work to keep buffer areas in place surrounding the horse farms.

[toddst]

You are right, this is a property rights issue. I hope it is a battle in the legislature, they need to hear from constituents.

10-4. This will be a battle royal in the legislature. I predict the anti-smoking groups will lose by a tremendous margin and our wacky local councilmembers (and mayor) will see their anti-smoking ordinance vaporize.

[nkycincinnatikid]

Republican INO State Senator John Draud from N.Ky is or will be sponsoring an increase in the state tobacco tax from something like a nickel at present to SIX BITS a pack! (It's for the children of course.) Draud was the Superintendent of the the miniscule Independent Public School system ( one campus grades 1 through 12) in the tiny city/neighborhood in which I reside. At that job he took home a cool $100,000 a year (for the children of course.) Not surprisingly both daily papers up here not only endorse this tax grab , but are actively promoting it.

[templar]

So we - as citizens - work to keep buffer areas in place surrounding the horse farms.

Would those buffered areas be privately or publicly owned? Interesting private/public property rights issues and questions either way, it would seem.

[toddst]

Would those buffered areas be privately or publicly owned? Interesting private/public property rights issues and questions either way, it would seem.

To my knowledge all the buffering areas are privately owned and agricultural. Zoning restrictions are the primary tool used to prevent housing development adjacent to the horse farms.

[templar]

Zoning restrictions are the primary tool used to prevent housing development adjacent to the horse farms.

So the property rights of the buffering areas owners are denied to protect the business interests of the owners of the Horse farms? It always seems like 'property rights' are for those with political pull, not the owners of the properties:just a rallying cry to use, when needed, to get ones own way.

[Madame Dufarge]

Now do you understand why it is a private property issue?

BWAHAHAHAHA!

But Gabz, this would require an ability to insert a modicum of logical thought into the fevered brain imaginings of one of FR's most dedicated and obsessed anti-private property busybodies.

Ain't gonna happen.

[Publius6961]

"We'll be on the side of the gods on this one," said Dr. Andrew Pulito, a pediatric surgeon and

What a presumptuous twit, albeit a highly-educated one.
To force public policy based on neuroses, and chucking overboard any pretense of science... "for the children".

*sigh*

"... the side of the gods..." Damn! Must all controlling tiny minds be so predictably self-centered?