Posted on 06/09/2004 6:54:19 AM PDT by yankeedame
Edited on 06/09/2004 7:56:05 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
[Gannett, headline and link only]
Uh, translation. "We have no facts, only our biased opinion thus don't ask us to back up our rants."
Where are the quotes and data from the local bars and restaurants in Lexington. Come on, show me!
Isn't it funny that I have never seen one of y'all 'rights advocates' post how it is infringing on rights and hurting business to ban liquor sales on Sunday. hmmmm. I guess it is all about smoking.
More government THUGS in action?
Oh, one other thing. Look at the date of the article. The ban was not in effect at the time of it's publishing it. This article was a anti-smoking hit piece to sway the public. I should have looked at the date more closer.
1) There is the Internet.
2) One could write a letter to the editor
3) Business could take out an ad
3) Statistics can be entered into the record of city/county council meetings
4) The restaurant associations can document the data.
Where is the data?
Hmmm. Seems I remember someone posting about the lose of business in Lexington and he did not mention that the ban had been in effect for only a few weeks - too little time to determine the impact of the smoking ban.
Neither did he mention that May was the wettest May on record! i guess he was just writng a pro-smoking hit piece?
You would be wasting your time trying to find them.
------------------------------------------------------------
"Brown's experience is anecdotal, but more than 80 scientific studies, most peer-reviewed and published in economic and medical magazines such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, back it up. Those studies, undertaken by academics, individual states, cities and the federal Centers for Disease Control, looked at restaurant or bar sales-tax collections in Texas, Indiana, California, New York and several other states -- and found that smoking bans have no adverse financial effect on restaurants and bars. Sometimes business increases by going smoke-free."
I hereby officially name this phenomenon "Nico-nazi Inclusionary Statistical Results Encompassing Absentia Index" NISREAI
Gee who are you going to believe an antismoking Nazi in California or the local bar owners themselves
Lexington Bar Owners Say Smoking Ban Hurting Business"
Some bar owners in Lexington say the city's smoking ban is hurting their business.
They say alcohol sales are down 30 to 50 percent at some neighborhood pubs since the ban took effect on April 27th.
Supporters of the ban say this is a slow time for Lexington bars, as students at the University of Kentucky go home for summer break.
They say it's too soon to make any sweeping conclusions about the ban's effect on business.
Lexington restaurant owner and Vice Mayor Mike Scanlon has been one of the most vocal supporters of the smoking ban. He says the current slump is just a seasonal curve. He thinks people will adjust to the change.
* * * *
27 NEWSFIRST was in the courtroom Thursday as the attorney began laying the ground work for the business's defense.
It's pretty cut and dry. Several small Lexington bar owners say the city's smoking ban is hurting them financially, forcing some to layoff employees while others cut back on hours.
So, they've decided to let patrons light up and fight the ordinance in court.
Attorney Tucker Richardson is representing a handful of businesses recently cited for breaking Lexington's smoking ban. Those who were in court on this day call the ban unfair. Sharon Land with Caddyshack's Bar and Grill, "Our business has gone down at least 40-percent. I bartend on Sunday's and my customers have dropped off 75-percent."
There have been ten citations issued since the smoking ban went into affect April 27th. Five of them were issued against strip club Solid Platinum, which is leading the campaign to snuff out Lexington's smoking ban.
Attorney Tucker Richardson, "There just comes a time when you say 'jeez, leave us alone'. These guys have got lots of money tied up in their investment. All of a sudden, the city has taken 30-percent of their income. If I came in and said I'm taking 30-percent of your income away, what are you going to do about it?"
Not everyone is in favor of this movement. At least one business owner who came to court just to observe says businesses that allow smoking are hurting him.
Todd Johnson of Todd's Karaoke Bar and Grill, "We've lost customers to businesses that allow the patrons to smoke. They're coming back to us and telling us this."
The man charged with enforcing the new regulation, consumer protection director Steve Harris, says there's not much he can do to stop it other than to cite the businesses.
"The health department did not write the ordinance. The health department did not vote on it. The health department backed it because it's public health."
All the businesses in court today entered not gulty pleas and will be back in court next month.
Since Lexington's smoking ban went into effect, the Fayette County health department has received more than 150 complaints.
The attorney for Jackpot Bingo will be asking for a jury trial in that
yes, that is true. Are you also worrying about the potential profit loss that the neighborhood bars and restaurants that you would never give a second thought to entering may experience? Are you also concerned that maybe, just maybe the clientele in these dive bars which you would never find yourself stepping foot in, dont really give a rip if anyone there smokes or not? And yet now these "dives" have the greater potential of going out of business than the elite places you inhabit simply because this law now enables the fining of any bar/restaurant who happens to break the law of the elite?
What the hell do you care just as long as "The Place" you like is forced by law to accomodate YOU?
The bars mentioned above are the same bars I used to frequent in Hamtramck, MI you wouldn't even drive in their neighborhoods with your windows down let alone drop in but yet you want your clean atmosphere wherever you may wish to drop in.(which ain't ever going to be a Hamtramck bar)
We don't have a smoking ban yet here in Detroit but it ain't because they haven't tried....The Democrat Elites and the RINOS in Wayne county want this ban so that they can have their fresh air in their trendy little bars and restaurants in Greek Town and the upscale Grosse Pointes!
There is no way in hell these elites would ever venture out to the neighborhood hangouts that immediately surround their little utopian paradises! God forbid that should ever happen!
Funny how so many people on a "so called" conservative forum can advocate the government's forced confiscation of an individual's private property rights and in the same breath claim they support a limited government.......
This F'nKerry loser drops into all the anti-smoking info threads dumping his garbage with the sole purpose of stirring up crap!
You know who he is? Remember that little twerp who couldn't play sports because his mom thought he would get hurt, the twerp who was always running to the teacher to report you for something?
Or how about that guy in your community who is always at the board meetings complaining about something that he feels the zoning board in infringing on his rights?
Yep, thats the guy! All he does around these parts is stir up sh*t!
To quote my grandfather: "The only way to cure a butinski with an attitude is via an old fashioned ass whippin!".................
Internet anonymity allows the mouse to roar like a lion.....
It's real simple:
"Absolute and arbitrary power over the lives, liberty and property of freemen exists nowhere in a republic, not even in the largest majority."
- Constitution of the State of Kentucky, Section 2
Are you implying that we agree that there are lots of pantywaist politicians out there that know nothing about, or don't CARE about, private property rights?
You would be right.
It's mainly a small music venue and a few bars in my old college town that I go to and appreciate having a smoke-free environment. I'm not big on going to bars and clubs, and the restaurants I frequent are mostly local diners and "casual eating" chains. I'm no "elite" as you seem to be characterizing me.
Cig smoke triggers my asthma. I didn't like not being able to always go to bars with my friends, but that was life, you know? I *did* say that my feelings on the smoking ban were purely selfish.
Even though I benefit from it, I still think it should be up to the business owner to decide if they want to ban smoking, not the local or state government. Just because I wouldn't go into a smoky bar doesn't mean others shouldn't be able to decide if they want to expose themselves to it. Particularly bars and clubs - patronized by adults who can decide if they want to inhale secondhand smoke or not - should be able to determine if they want to ban it or not.
Nice post and very tolerant.
Not much of that these days.
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.