I'm getting spoiled on this. ;-)
Well, enjoy it while you can. Should you return to the states, I hope your state hasn't been over run by the nanny do-gooders.
I love your About Me page! Very nice photos!
(This map needs to be updated).
Posted on 01/27/2006 4:35:37 AM PST by SheLion
If Ohio voters are given the chance to vote on a proposed statewide smoking ban, let's hope our fellow citizens take the time to educate themselves on the big picture.
The proposed ban, unlike the local ordinance, prohibits smoking in all public buildings. It allows exemptions for private clubs, but not bars, bingo halls and bowling centers, as Toledo's ban does.
Smoking is not illegal. Unhealthy and expensive, but not illegal. If an American business owner wants to operate an establishment that allows smokers the freedom to smoke, why should their decision be overridden by people who aren't patronizing those places anyway?
In our Jan. 18 cover story, "Where there's smoke," several local bar and restaurant owners expressed their frustration with the proposed ban. Many of them described the impact of the local restrictions as "extreme" and detrimental to their business.
We also spoke with Stu Kerr, a former health commissioner in Findlay and the Northwest Ohio campaign coordinator for SmokeFree Ohio, the leading proponent of the ban. Kerr dismissed the bar and restaurant owners' concerns: "They'll bring up property rights argument. They'll bring up economic arguments ... it's bullshit."
Any group that dismisses economic arguments and property rights must be held in suspicion; if Kerr can discount these bedrocks of business so easily, he's trampling on precious entrepreneurial principles.
Sharon Kuhnle, owner of Twin Oaks Bowling Center on West Sylvania Avenue, said it best: "We live in a free society, and we're discussing a legal product. This needs to be left up to the business owner. Let the business owner run his or her business as they know it should be."
There's no argument from us that first- and secondhand smoke is deadly. Our solution is not to ban smoking from every corner of the city; our solution is to avoid places where smoking pollutes the air. That's a personal decision. That's how the free market works.
Let business owners decide this issue, not reactionary zealots.
Oh, it'll be taken away from me when I get home.
In the meantime, they know not to mess with it here. If you're being shot at and you have to listen to explosions going off around town or even occasionally have to dive in a bunker while working, they know you need to be able to light up when you feel the need. ;-)
Every once in a blue moon, a Smoking Nazi will say "You know that's bad for you!"
I always reply, "So is living HERE."
As a smoker, neither do I.
In the not too distant past (when adults were still in charge of the public marketplace) before the Smoking Nazis gained full sway and "health"hysteria wasn't pervasive, there was actual established etiquette regarding smoking.
Not blowing smoke in peoples' faces in general was one of the rules, and not smoking while someone else was eating was another one.
I'm getting spoiled on this. ;-)
Well, enjoy it while you can. Should you return to the states, I hope your state hasn't been over run by the nanny do-gooders.
I love your About Me page! Very nice photos!
(This map needs to be updated).
This country is getting to the point that it is scared of its own shadow!If these morons think all these unproved claims are going to make us live any longer,they are dead wrong.I laugh everyday at these fools throwing away money and what could be productive or enjoyable time by chasing diets,exercise equipment and anything else giving false hope to their living longer.These people are a threat to the freedoms of the rest of us.UTOPIAN IDIOTS!!
In response to this "secondhand smoke is deadly" proclamation I'll quote Kerr, "bullshit."
I know it. Like they say "If they anti's tell a lie often enough................."
one needs a separate section because the guy at the table next to you just finished his meal and is having his after dinner cig. and although he does not blow it directly in my face, it gets there and is not welcome, at least during my meal.
ventilated/ filtered areas to separate smokers from non smokers in Restaurants...or I wont eat there
...but not for Bars....I take it as a given that I will have smoke in my face if I go into a bar.
The sad part of this (and many are unaware of this) is that smokers are paying for all the abuse, control, restrictions and bans just by paying the taxes on cigarettes.
Yes, that's right. SMOKERS ARE PAYING THROUGH CIGARETTE TAXES FOR ALL THE BANS AND RESTRICTIONS.
Not Big Tobacco and NOT the government. The Smokers!
Yes, my hometown of Houston has slipped one in while I've been away.
You can't smoke in restaurants there - unless you are seated in the bar. (I can actually live with this, but it's annoying.) But the standard "smoking sections" are gone. A couple of whiny city coucilmen got that one across.
You can still smoke in bars, though.
"*whine* But I may want to eat there one day! *whine*"
What city or state?
We've chatted about this before. Madistan, WI has a smoking ban in effect now within its city limits. The anti-smoking freaks are working on banning smoking in the entire state. Most cities already have a ban on smoking in public places. I think Appleton, WI is smoke-free, too.
Businesses are hurting. And 'The People' never had a say in the matter; city councils decided FOR The People. I don't smoke, but I'm totally pro-business and personal & property rights. And this stinks.
Back before the smoking ban here in the Peoples Republic of NY, the local restaurants and diner put in no smoking sections with scrubbers. this worked wonderfully to keep smoke out of these areas. the polititcians though would have none of it and now it is banned in bars and restaurants statewide. I believe they use non smoking workers as the reason.
Thank you so much for your voting stance. The business owners around you will be truly grateful.
Well, yes. If a restaurant or bar can no longer accommodate smokers, the smokers will not go. I know a lot of us in Free Republic refuse to spend our money on a night out if the business isn't allowed to accommodate us.
Maine went totally smoke free in 2003. I haven't been out for a meal since. I tipped good too. I do take-out or order in or visit friends and we bbq.
Also, if smokers in a smoke free state live close to a border of a smoker friendly state, the smoker will take his money "over there."
When voters jump on the bandwagon thinking their "ban smoking vote" will just impact people who smoke, they are dead wrong. The forced smoking bans are devastating private businesses. Businesses are closing across the US, and the lay-offs and loss of revenue. Some people still don't get it.
Also, it's the trickle down affect. If a business loses revenue, then the vendors that supply the business will be cut back as well.
This needs to be left up to the business owner and his patrons. NOT nanny government.
Shhhhhhhh!!!
They might ban cars next!!!
FOX NEWS is going to suck up to Kookiefornia in a bit. About their oh so special findings about ETS!
Lies Lies and more Lies.
Fox News might be fair and balanced, but it sure isn't when it comes to smokers.
Do they even realize that 25-30% of their fan base are SMOKERS???!!!
Baghdad, Iraq.
No stinkin' smoking laws here.
I applaud your common sense, sir. (If you are a woman - forgive me! ;-)
How long would it take for a person to pass out and/or die if they breathed directly the exhaust from the tail pipe of an automobile? Pretty quickly I would think.
Well, we use this:
You go sit in a car in an enclosed garage and keep the car running for one hour.
I will sit in a car in a closed garage with 12 other smokers puffing away for one hour.
Can you guess who will walk out of the garage after one hour?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.