Posted on 05/21/2005 5:14:16 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Bowling lane owners send shoes to lawmakers
May 21, 2005, 6:54 PM EDT
TRENTON, N.J. -- A bowling alley industry group has sent a single bowling shoe to each member of the state Legislature as a reminder of why they oppose a proposed indoor smoking ban.
The Bowling Proprietors' Association of North Jersey and Southern New Jersey said it sent the shoes to highlight how the special leather-soled shoes slip easily on wet surfacing. The group claims an indoor smoking ban would raise their insurance rates because smokers going outside to smoke on a rainy day would bring water back onto the lanes.
"Our insurance will then go up, and we're forced to pass on that cost to the consumers," Stephen DiDonato, owner of DiDonato Bowling Center in Hammonton, told The Press of Atlantic City for Saturday's editions.
Other bowling alley owners worry it would hurt their business because smoking and drinking is so associated with the activity, a concern echoed by owners of bars, casinos and other places where smoking is commonplace.
If signed into law, the legislation _ known as the New Jersey Smoke-Free Act _ would ban smoking in all indoor public areas and make the state one of at least seven that have comprehensive smoking bans.
The bill's sponsor, state Sen. John Adler, D-Camden, thought a smoking ban would help, rather than hurt, bowling lane owners. It would create a healthier environment for customers, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
What hypocrisy! The Legislators don't want people to smoke to save them from themselves, but gladly balance their state budget with cigarette taxes.
Tres chic!
Great. Now they'll just ban bowling, too!
Oh, and I suppose Central Old Jersey isn't represented by those associations? ;-)
I propose we all organize and send blue marbles to lawmakers.
No, there's no point.
Other than to confuse them.
They won't ban bowling - the legi-bastards will just make it mandatory for Bowling Alleys to provide a covered deck.
excellent
What about those of us who want cancer but who do not smoke? Who speaks for us?
I say, leave it up to the business owner. If he wants to allow smoking, then he should be allowed to do it. Then, if the customers like it, they'll come, and if not, they'll stay away and he'll have to switch to non-smoking, or go out of business.
Mark
Nobody's forcing them to work there.
We don't want your Nanny State.
No, there's no point.
Other than to confuse them.
That's a great idea. It would be great fun to watch they and the press would react.
You know, you're right! After spending 4 years in college, then having to take graduate courses in advanced scoring, and shoe disinfection, there's nothing else I could do with this Phd in Bowling Sciences in any other industry. Pity, I shouldn't have listened to that guidance councellor about going into the bowling industry, and sinking all that time, effort, and money in my bowling sciences education. Because of my degree, I'm forced to work in a bowling alley where people smoke, and I have nowhere else that I can ply my trade! I should have ignored him and gone to medical school to become a doctor!
Mark
Women are also prohibited from going topless outside. When you can do the same with smoking, and actually enforce the law as effectively as the law against topless women, then maybe you can think about banning it inside, where no one's forced to go. Until then, you're arguing this whole point backwards.
You have no right to tell others how they must conduct their ingestion of a legal and non-intoxicating substance. The research on second hand smoke is dubious at best. I am not a smoker and I am not associated with cigarette companies in any way, so this is not an issue driven by "the cancer industry". In my case, it is driven by disgust at Nanny Busybodies and the total disregard they have for freedom.
By the way, that phrase, "the cancer industry", is one a liberal would be proud of.
We don't need your Nanny State. Take it somewhere where it sells.
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