Posted on 07/31/2006 5:15:29 AM PDT by SheLion
The issue is no longer just about smoking.
Passing a state law outlawing smoking in most public places was, by this comparison, the easiest thing to do.
The law was not required to address the inevitable hardships such a bill was destined to inflict.
There was clapping and backslapping on the floor of the state Senate the afternoon it passed there. But none of that really matters now, when the issue is one of how it impacts people's lives.
They are men and women who once ran tiny, yet prosperous, packed-to- the-kegs establishments, who now tend mostly empty bars. The looks on their faces would be no different had their roofs actually fallen in.
They call me. What am I supposed to do, I ask? Write about it, they respond.
What has happened is a statewide tragedy, sponsored by the government. And where are all of the people, they all want to know, that the government promised would flock to their now-smoke-free bars?
The loudest of them, of course, has been Jim VonFeldt, owner of the venerable Billy's Inn at 44th Avenue and Lowell Boulevard.
In the weeks between the governor's signing of the bill and July 1, when the law went into effect, he rallied a relatively small band of tavern owners to challenge the law in court.
A judge denied their sought-after injunction. The litigation itself remains pending in the courts.
Jim VonFeldt has just returned to Billy's from his banker when he calls me, yet again.
He has owned the place for 21 years; his wife's family owned it for nearly 20 years before that. His two grown children are his only employees.
And now, he wants to talk.
It is just after 1 p.m. when I walk into the joint. The only sound emanates from a television in the corner, droning a detective show. Only bearded, vacant-eyed Jay, who has occupied the same far-corner barstool for decades, inhabits the place.
Jim VonFeldt walks up from the back, carrying a large stack of documents. He begins reading from them.
Total business is off 35.14 percent since July 1, he begins. Liquor sales, jukebox, cigarette, vending and Lotto scratch-off machine receipts have declined in 23 short days by at least half.
"That video golf game used to average $75 to $100 a week. The last two weeks, the vendor and I split the 6 bucks that were in it," Jim VonFeldt says.
"Where are all these people the government told me would make my life better? My most loyal customers come, but maybe they have a drink. Most have just stopped coming altogether."
As leader of the Coalition for Equal Rights, the tavern owners' group, he gets calls every day, he says. Three come in as we chat, including one from the lawyer representing the group.
"This is simply crippling," he moans into the phone to the lawyer. Hanging up, he beseeches me to look at the blue folder in front of him. It is filled with his complete financial records, the same ones he has just handed his banker at Chase to leverage his house to the hilt in order to pay his bills. I decline.
So he hands me his state workers compensation bill.
"I don't have the money. All of my cash flow has been depleted," Jim VonFeldt said. "And if I don't have workers comp, I can be fined up to $17,000. I don't know what I am going to do."
To emphasize his point, he walks me to the automatic teller machine I had used a month before.
A large "out of order" sign now lies across the keyboard.
"I don't have enough $20 bills to put in it," he says.
He reads from a stack of notes taken during myriad recent conversations with Coalition members, of patrons saying they are going outside for a smoke but never come back, of fights the bartenders inside can no longer break up, of thieves cleaning out cash registers when bartenders themselves sneak out for a drag or two.
Many owners, Jim VonFeldt says, are doing what he did two days ago: writing Bill Owens and begging for an exemption to the law.
"The ban has decimated my business," his letter to the governor begins. "I am one or two weeks away from bankruptcy.
"If I lose this, so goes my whole family. Please grant this exemption for my family."
The last sentence he has typed in large bold letters.
While he waits to hear back from the governor, he fumes.
"We've got young men now fighting all over the world for what they tell us is for democracy and freedom," Jim VonFeldt, 60, said.
"Yet our own government is taking away my freedom to operate my business right here at home. It's just not right."
He sighs.
"At a time when I should be planning for retirement and the good things in life, the only thing I'm planning is how to survive. If I fail - and this worries me the most - I fail my children.
"I don't know what I am going to do."
The should sue for unlawful confiscation of propery. Oooops, the Kelo decision took that option out of play. The banners are no better than than the government using ED to transfer property ownership to other private entities.
It's sickening.
Now, to get mentally prepared for the FR support of this action.
He could have new customers if he turns it into a titty bar.
Heh, yeah.
I kindly reminded the, "Fire extinguisher," dolt that Colorado has concealed carry.
Times change, and I realize that. So, I have adapted, and will eat carry-out at home, when there are no longer restaurants I can enjoy.
Something else will catch the health nazis' ire in a couple of years, and some other unfortunate group will then be the pariahs.
That's what the professional anti-smokers did by using the media and print to turn the non-smokers against us.
And they are being paid by the tax dollars smokers pay on cigarettes, which really burns me up. We are paying for all of this personal abuse, bans and restrictions by paying taxes on our cigarettes. They say they want smoke free, but it would put their sorry azzes out of business in a big hurry.
So you KNOW they are talking out of both sides of their dirty mouths.
heheheheheee....
Talk about payback's a b....
I'd love to see that too. It's time to clean house!
But once a state goes smoke free, I can't understand how it will be reversed. I doubt if the state health department would allow it to be reversed. That's what scares me.
And remember that I traced the origins of the colorado smoking ban to democrats. Liberal democrats are the ones who seem to be more for these things.
Yeah. I know. You're REALLY shocked by that. LOL!
And that is the way it should be. Unfortunately more people would rather the government do their work for them than to take the time to speak with the owners.
That's the same argument used AGAINST WalMart. I have first hand knowlege of how the chain restaurants strong armed the mom & pop places in regard to the smoking ban in Delaware.
90% of COPD is caused by smoking. If you want to be in denial and continue to smoke that's your choice, but don't misinform others and keep your smoke to yourself.
Listen, he is not the only business going under due to a smoking ban. You must not be following the news across the United States since the anti's are trying to take over every state in the Union!
THE REAL FACTS OF THE SMOKING BANS IMPACT ON BUSINESS'S
The Facts
We have to get the facts about SHS out there. We have to get the sources exposed. We have to show where this will lead. We have to keep fighting.
The Colorado ban is a violation of the constitution's equal protection clause. If I get called to jury duty to hear a case of someone fighting a fine for smoking in a bar, I'll do my best to use this. It probably won't happen, but one can hope.
I've been itching for a chance to fire up some jury nullification on someone.
And that is why the lawmakers want to make each state smoke free. The level playing field, they call it.
Before New Jersey was forced into a smoking ban, they yelled across the river to the New Yorkers "Hurry to our side!" All the New Yorkers who smoked were able to take their money to New Jersey. But that didn't last long either.
The anti's took over New Jersey as well.
THere was a time there was no such thing as a cigarette, and truth be told it wasn't all that long ago. Taverns existed long before the cigarette and will exist long after this ban.
Banning smoking in a tavern does not end the tavern business... its foolish to make such statements. In fact Tobacco didn't even exist in europe, and wasn't brought there until Columbus.
The Cigar really didn't gain popularity until the 1800s and the cigarette itself didn't exist until the 1800s etc etc... Taverns existed long before tobacco, and will continue to exist long after this ban. Its patently ignorant to say taverns are defined by smoking.
I noticed that, too. That must be why my cards are so popular amongst the smoking employees at my local WalMart.
Yea, that marquees really going to attract business.... patronize your potential customer base is always a good way to attract business... NOT.
ADAPT OR DIE.
My favorite place to eat almost closed their doors after the first smoking ban in Maine in 2000.
The owner then invested in a very expensive liquor license to once again allow smoking and business started to boom again.
They then remodeled. The place is beautiful. 4 big ceiling air purifiers. Full menu. A beautiful glass enclosed non-smoking section. Sign on the entrance door "This is a smoking establishment. No one under 18 admitted without guardian."
It is a Sports Bar with the full computer golf game across the back wall; bunch of big TV's. Just beautiful.
But that still wasn't good enough for the state. A full no smoking ban went into effect a year ago January. I went once after the ban, was so miserable that I couldn't sit there like old times and enjoy the evening that I haven't put myself through that again.
And do you think the state will reimburse this business owner for spending his own money to be able to accommodate everyone? You can bet they will not.
To all you smokers who can still go into town or the city and go into a restaurant and/or bar or tavern.....order your meal and beverage and smoke, you better treasure every day that you can.
Maine went totally smoke free in 2003. That was my recreation: going out for meals a few times a month. It was wonderful. I didn't know how wonderful it was until we smokers in Maine lost that right.
So, take it from me! Enjoy the places that can continue to accommodate you and the ones who still have smoking sections!
;-)
I can imagine so.
I can't believe the number of people that scream about how WalMart destroys small businesses, yet blame the small businesses that get hurt by smoking bans pushed for by the major chains. Hypocrites.......especially when you consider the number of new small businesses that spring up around WalMarts.
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