Posted on 05/21/2006 7:42:17 PM PDT by SheLion
Sure, landlords can do with their own property what they want, so how come private business owners of bars, taverns and restaurants in Maine couldn't do the same thing?
This state talks out of both sides of their mouths!
Ping to Maine FReepers!!
Quite a coalition.
hahaha.. thanks. Good catch!
I am wondering about the barf alert here.
Wasn't your position on this that property owners had the right to set smoking rules the last time there was a controversy? You wanted individual bar & restaurant owners to say "smoking" or "no smoking" so as to provide a choice. Knowing full well that all would say "smoking".
Well, here we have it in housing. The landlord has the right to say yes or no to smoking. What is wrong with that concept?
Or is it that you feel smokers have rights, but those offended by smoke have no rights?
Thanks for the ping!
Often it isn't just a matter of being 'bothered' by secondhand smoke.
I used to be a smoker. Evey fall, I would get seriously ill with chronic sinusitis to the point they were going to operate. (This was after several years of fevers, penicillin, etc.)
They finally did an allergy test to see what I was allergic too - bingo! cigarette smoke.
So I stopped smoking. But I had to give up more than one job because of exposure to smoke and I had to curtail many of the social events and political events - conferences, etc, because, even tho' by then smoking wasn't allowed in the convention halls, it filtered thru' the air vents...and I would end up with a two week bout of sinusitis for attending one meeting.
It's much easier nowadays to avoid secondhand smoke.
those who demonize objectors, thank your lucky stars you aren't allergic to it or aren't constantly exposed to something you are...
I personally like to tell the airlines that I am allergic to peanuts so that they can't serve them on the plane. Sorry for your allergy but, get over it. Or, is it all about you?
I am bothered by people that think their "rights" are more important than mine. I am constantly exposed to these people.
Gather around and I'll tell you a tale. About a town which was receiving more trade and taxes from smokers than it knew. After running them out of the bars, they went elsewhere, and a bunch of bars closed.
"Good riddance," said the citizens,"We don't want bars here anyway."
The cigarette and sales taxes from the bars and the smokers disappeared. But, as we all know, the politicians kept spending like they had before the Temperance forces hit the town. Now the town ran a big defecit so the politicians had to raise taxes: sales taxes, income taxes and property taxes.
Now the citizens are picketing the politicians. People who never smoked in their lives are leaving the town because its property values are dropping due to its high taxes. Jobs are disappearing. Businesses are closing. In the face of rapidly falling collections the politicians have no choice except to raise taxes on the remaining businesses and property owners.
The town: Mesa, Arizona
Beware the law of unintended consequences.
Maine is none too rich, and it collects a bucket of money from smokers.
One is moving out at the end of the month after 3 1/2 years (bought himself a house), so I'll have the chance to check it out.
I figure after 3 1/2 years, I'll probably have to do some basic repairs, but mostly some paint and a lot of soap and water. Average costs to us when a tenant leaves is around $150.
I'll bet the farm it doesn't cost an extra $600.
Oh yeah, and I bet I have the place rented again within two weeks.
So you don't get sinusitus any more?
Or, honestly, are there other things which set it off, like industrial cleaners, waxes, the fumes from new carpet or vinyl?
Check for your own health, not just to answer my question.
It is fashionable to blame all the evils of our society on cigarette smoke (in less than homeopathic quantities), and an easy out for the medical profession.
Quite a coalition.
Yes, and that's 50 people that will lord it over the rest of us in this state!
Don't get me wrong, because I believe that a landowner should be able to make his own rules: no kids, no pets and now no smokers. How about no seniors over the age of 55 because they might not make the year's lease?
And what about the security deposit that most leases require? First and last months rent plus the security deposit for cleaning. They conveniently left this out! And pet owners also have to pay another security deposit for pet's.
And what kills me is: this coalition thinks it's just fine for the landowners to make their own rules, but they won't allow private business owner's in this state to do the same. What's the difference here?
No no, you are trying to start something here. If you read my post #2 before you even came into this thread, you will see my position as I stated it.
If landlords can allow smoking or non without government interception, then why can't the private business owners of restaurants, taverns and bars have the same control over "their" business??
Also, see my post #14.
It bothers me too, that when we leave our homes, there is still a certain "group" that think their rights should trump ours. I will never accept this.
When we are out in the public, we are out among the good, the bad, the ugly AND the smokers. At least that's how it should be until the nazi Maine government and board of health got their teeth into the issue.
You put this so well! Thank you!
Like it or not, the smoking bans are choking our economy. Most of the general non-smoking public do not want to believe this, but we see it more across the United States on a daily basis. Businesses closing, lay-offs, cut-backs. And the vendors that supply the business has to cut back as well.
The trickle down effect.
Maine Rights:
A public yahoo group for anyone who wants to talk about the Maine smoking ban situation.
Maine Smokers Rights
Check it out if you plan on vacationing in Maine and if you are a smoker.
Outside decks for smokers in northern Maine just won't cut it!
Bravo's Mexican Restaurant in Augusta is one outlet that built a patio specially to accommodate smokers.
Taverns brace for smoking ban in different ways.
The following information is from 2002! Imagine how much this has gone up with the added tax increase this past year?!
Maine's excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $1.000
Maine's excise tax collection for the
fiscal year ending June 2002: $95,006,000
Sales tax on tobacco products: 5.00%
Federal excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $0.39
Total federal excise tax collections in fiscal year 2002: $7,512,700,000
Number of six-packs of beer that must be sold in Maine to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 50.8
Number of bottles of wine that must be sold in Maine to produce the same state excise tax revenue generated by one carton of cigarettes: 84.1
Master Settlement Agreement Payments To Date
$182,122,188 has been paid to Maine since the Master Settlement Agreement was signed on November 23, 1998.
I'll bet the farm it doesn't cost an extra $600.
You know how they inflate their numbers metesky, to make themselves look good. And who is going to dispute them? US! That's who! LOL
I want to be a big boil on the butt of the Partnership for a Tobacco Free Maine and old Mary Beth!
Without a doubt! 
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