D.C. Council's Schwartz: Ban Alcohol Along with Smoking in Bars (The Next Logical Step)

Washington Business Journal ^ | 6/21/2005 | Tim Lemke

[Pyro7480]

D.C. Council's Schwartz: Ban alcohol along with smoking in bars

Tim Lemke
Staff Reporter

D.C. Councilwoman Carol Schwartz introduced a bill Tuesday that would ban the sale of alcohol in all bars, restaurants and nightclubs. Suddenly, the debate over a proposed smoking ban in D.C. is getting fun.

In what appears to be a statement against anti-smoking legislation, the councilwoman, D-at large, introduced "the Worker Occupational Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2005, Part II," a response to a public health bill that would ban smoking in bars and restaurants in the District.

"I never thought I could ban drinking just because I didn't like it, but now I know I can," Schwartz says in a lengthy, satirical statement. "The impending smoking ban has empowered me."

It's unclear whether her argument for a drinking ban will change the minds of the nine members of the D.C. Council who support a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. Schwartz has successfully blocked efforts to institute a smoking ban in each of the past three years and recently introduced compromise legislation to encourage smoke-free bars rather than mandate the practice.

The council could vote on the anti-smoking ban before the July recess.

No word yet on when an alcohol ban could come up for a vote. In a release, Schwartz says D.C. Council Chairman Linda Cropp describes the measure as "very thought-provoking."

Schwartz makes clear that a ban on drinking in bars and restaurants does not mean people can't drink at home and outside.

"It had just never occurred to me that I could simply choose to ban a legal choice for consenting adults in a private place where the public does not have to go, and where workers do not have to work, and then get six other people to agree -- and then just do it," Schwartz says.

The councilwoman says she is now looking at other things to ban, including driving and sex, "for they, too, can be dangerous to your health and the health of others."

[philman_36]

"It had just never occurred to me that I could simply choose to ban a legal choice for consenting adults in a private place where the public does not have to go, and where workers do not have to work, and then get six other people to agree -- and then just do it," Schwartz says.
Ultimate irony!

[Pyro7480]

If you think she is being serious, please read the article and thread.

[philman_36]

If you think she is being serious, please read the article and thread.
Don't be ridiculous, I know satire.

[3AngelaD]

Please do some exercises to develop your sense of irony. She's making a point, not seriously proposing policy. She is a long-time opponent of the smoking ban, and anything else that smacks of nanny government. Plus, her idea has real merit: after all, people don't smoke cigarettes to excess, then get in their cars and kill other people while under the influencee of nicotine.

[MamaTexan]

She's showing the absurd lengths the crusading anti-smoking politicians are willing to go.

Exactly!

It's amazing how many FReepers won't 'get it', nowadays.

[GoldCountryRedneck]

"the Worker Occupational Safety and Health Amendment Act ..."

Thank God!!! Someone has finally recognized just how fatally dangerous second-hand booze fumes can be!!!!

( / SARCASMSARCASMSARCASMSARCASM!! )

[hosepipe]

Well, ya got trouble, my friend. Right here, I say trouble right here in River City

Why, sure, I'm a billiard player

Certainly mighty proud to say, I'm always mighty proud to say it I consider the hours I spend with a cue in my hand are golden Help you cultivate horse sense and a cool head and a keen eye Didja ever take an' try an' give an iron clad leave to yourself from a three-rail billiard shot? But just as I say it takes judgement, brains and maturity to score in a balk-line game..

I say that any boob can take and shove a ball in a pocket And I call that sloth, the first big step on the road to the depths of degreda- I say, first- medicinal wine from a teaspoon, then beer from a bottle And the next thing you know your son is playin' for money in a pinchback suit and listenin' to some big out-o'-town jasper Hear him tell about horserace gamblin' Not a wholesome trottin' race, no, but a race where they set down right on the horse Like to see some stuck up jockey boy sittin' on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil, well I should say Now, folks, let me show you what I mean You got one, two, three, four, five, six pockets in a table Pockets that mark the difference between a gentleman and a bum With a capital 'B' and that rhymes with 'P' and that stands for 'pool'..

And all week long, your River City youth'll be fritterin' away say, your young men'll be fritterin' Fritterin' away their noontime, suppertime, choretime, too Hit the ball in the pocket Never mind gettin' dandelions pulled or the screen door patched or the beefsteak pounded Never mind pumpin' any water 'til your parents are caught with a cistern empty on a Saturday night and that's trouble Oh, ya got lots and lots o' trouble I'm thinkin' of the kids in the knickerbockers shirttails, young ones peekin' in the pool hall window after school Ya got trouble, folks, right here in River City with a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'P' and that stands for 'pool'..

Now I know all you folks are the right kind of parents I'm gonna be perfectly frank Would you like to know what kind of conversation goes on while they're loafin' around that hall They'll be tryin' out Bevo, tryin' out Cubebs,tryin' out tailor-mades like cigarette fiends And braggin' all about how they're gonna cover up a tell-tale breath with Sen-Sen Now one fine night they leave the pool hall headin' for the dance at the Armory Libertine men and scarlet women and ragtime Shameless music that'll grab your son, your daughter
into the arms of a jungle animal instinct- massteria! Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground, trouble!..

Oh, we got trouble Right here in River City Right here in River City With a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'P' and that stands for 'pool' That stands for pool We surely got troubleWe surely got trouble Right here in River City
Right here..

Gotta figure out a way to keep the young ones moral after school..

Mothers of River City, heed this warning before it's too late Watch for the tell-tale signs of corruption The minute your son leaves the house does he rebuckle his nickerbockers below the knee? Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger? A dime novel hidden in the corncrib? Is he starting to memorize jokes from Cap'n Billy's Whizbang? Are certain words creeping into his conversation? Words like... swell? And... 'so's your old man'? Well if so, my friends...

Ya got trouble Oh, we got trouble Right here in River City Right here in River City With a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'P' and that stands for 'pool' That stands for pool We've surely got trouble We surely got trouble
Right here in River City Right here..

Remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock and the Golden Rule? Oho, we got trouble We're in terrible, terrible trouble That game with the fifteen numbered balls is the devil's tool Devil's tool Yes, we've got trouble, trouble, trouble Oh, yes, we got trouble here, we got big, big trouble With a 'T'..

With a capital 'T' And that rhymes with 'P' That rhymes with 'P' And that stands for pool That stands for pool..

Remember my friends, listen to me,
because I pass this way but once

[BJClinton]

Mmmm...barbecued Irish babies.

[takenoprisoner]

"What an idiot!"

She's hardly an idiot...she's a genius.

[Seadog Bytes]

RE: Schwartz: Ban Alcohol in Bars

VERY nice. Ridicule is such a great utility -- especially when it is right on the mark, as in this case.

Locally, we now have a smoking ban (outdoors) on the beaches. (...on the BEACHES!) Cigarette butts and baby diapers were deemed to be the two 'most troublesome' items encountered during a recent 'beach-cleanup-drive'. (No, sorry, I have NOT heard of any moves afoot to ban BABIES from those same beaches... Go figure.)

...and yesterday I read that our chief proponent of Nanny-Government, State Senator Debra Ortiz (...she of "soda-pop-tax" fame), NOW has a bill in the state legislature to require (...YES, REQUIRE!...) all health insurance providers to pay for 'smoking-cessation' classes for all insureds in the state.

Of course, she doesn't see a THING wrong with her bill's obvious consequence (should it be enacted) of still-further-incrementally-increasing healthcare premiums (ALREADY deemed WAY too high by MOST citizens), for ALL Californians, whether they WANT such mandated additional 'healthcare-coverage', or not. (Is Anyone Surprised???)
"OPM -- The Liberal Solution to Every Societal Problem. (...Other People's Money)"

You may remember her face...

[cubram]

God bless gentrification!

[Alexander Rubin]

Great article. Go Schwartz go! Man, I could really go for some BBQ baby in a alcohol-less, smoke-free bar like location.

[chs68]

I just called Carol Schwartz' office, and told the young woman who answered the phone call know that I applaud Councilwoman Schwartz' position on tnhis issue.

I said I understood that Schwartz was taking the position that if we ban tobacco in bars and restaurants, we should also ban alcohol. I said it was the sort of argument that needed to be injected into the discussion on banning tobacco in DC bars and restaurants.

The woman thanked me for my call.

You never know who might answer this number: 202-724-8105.

[Modernman]

God bless gentrification!

My wife grew up in DC, but moved away for ten years before we moved here two years ago.

We were driving to RFK stadium for a Nats game, and she had warned me that we'd be driving through some really bad neighborhoods.

Not anymore- pretty much everything in the area had undergone gentrification or was on the way. Amazing what a decade of serious economic growth in this country has done.

[libstripper]

She's really a very smart person, as shown by the rest of the article. She's propolsed the ban on alcohol in bars to show how absolutely silly the proposed smoking ban is.

[baseballmom]

*what a twit!*

**Hardly. She's showing the absurd lengths the crusading anti-smoking politicians are willing to go.**


Thank you dirtboy. Nothing like absurdity to show these people what idiots the gubbmint power mongers are. I like this lady - even with a D next to her name. Of course, they don't elect any other kind in DC.

[cubram]

That neighborhood used to be scary. I'm glad it is improving. I do like gentrification.

[jjmcgo]

"Isn't second hand cigar smoke full of carcinogens as well?"

Well, according to the World Health Organization's seven-year European study, the largest independently financed research project on second-hand smoke, there is no link between second-hand smoke and cancer.
That's the scientific finding. You may be more interested in the propaganda studies produced by the well-financed anti-smoking industry.

[redgolum]

Read on. She's an opponent of the smoking ban and is trying to demonstrate that ban's absurdity by being absurd.

She does realize that this is DC,home of the absurd right? What happens when this alcohol ban passes?

[jjmcgo]

YOU S.O.B. After all these years we find out you're the one who gave Pascual Perez directions?

How obscure is this reference?