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Public smoking foes target the holdouts/MASS
The Boston Globe ^ | May 30, 2002 | Paul E. Kandarian

Posted on 05/30/2002 12:47:19 PM PDT by SheLion

Edited on 04/13/2004 2:07:50 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

On a state map on the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program's Web site, a white splotch covers an ever-shrinking clot of communities south of Boston where smoking in public places is still allowed.

The spot - encompassing 14 towns and the city of Brockton - is circled by communities that have either full or partial bans on smoking in restaurants and bars.


(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Culture/Society; Government; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: antismokers; butts; cigarettes; individualliberty; michaeldobbs; niconazis; prohibitionists; pufflist; smokingbans; tobacco
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To: superdestroyer
It is not an issue of rights.

It's not a question of smokers' rights, it IS a question of property owners rights.
I don't believe that I, as a smoker, can smoke whenever, wherever, for any reason I want.
I do believe that as long as smoking tobacco is legal it should be left to the property owner as whether to allow smoking or not.

21 posted on 05/30/2002 1:46:58 PM PDT by Just another Joe
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To: SoDak
I have a friend who is a control-freak about public-smoking, I've banned him from my house. Who needs friends like that?

Exactly. You DON'T need friends like that. And neither do I. Segregation at it's finest. I thought we were done with segregation, but the nico-nazi's brought it back with the smoking issue.

We have very few friends who do not smoke. The ones who do not smoke and hang out with us could care less about second hand smoke. They, too, see through the lies.

22 posted on 05/30/2002 1:49:20 PM PDT by SheLion
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To: wheezer
I do know that when a NYC place is "in"...people tend not to give a shinola if there is smoking...and 10 times out of 10, there is.

It gives me a crude chuckle when the anti-smokers who post in here hit the bars and disco's on Friday nights, and never say Jack Chit about the smoke. Because they are having FUN!

But then, when the fun night is over, they sniff sniff, and say "oh Gawd, I stink from all that smoooooooke." Well, must come with the hang-overs.

23 posted on 05/30/2002 1:57:32 PM PDT by SheLion
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To: A Ruckus of Dogs
Most people go to drink or eat, the smoking is kind of a secondary thing, being you can do that at home if you can't do it there.

I speak for myself, my family and friends and a lot of my smoking friends in here. We will NOT patronize a place that does not allow smoking. Period.

Why should we pay for that personal abuse? We won't.

24 posted on 05/30/2002 2:02:05 PM PDT by SheLion
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Comment #25 Removed by Moderator

To: wheezer
Smokers want to smoke with their drink...it's that simple. They'll go to a place where they can do exactly that...even if that means home.

Amen! Exactly what I just said. We refuse to spend a dime at a bar or restaurant that doesn't have ashtrays. Sorry, but facts are facts.

26 posted on 05/30/2002 2:04:10 PM PDT by SheLion
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To: superdestroyer
Every non-smoker has to put up with the lousy productivity of the smoker going outside to smoke and letting someone else do the work.

In addition, smokers are absent more often and for longer periods of time, on average, than non-smokers. Would you let employers charge higher health insurance premiums to smokers versus non-smokers.

I'm so tired of this argument I can puke.

When I worked with that 300 lb guy, he was sick ALL the time. Don't tell me smokers are more sickly. I could run circles around that fat guy.

Furthermore, I never missed ONE day in EIGHT years for sick reasons! And if a job is busy enough, there is no reason for a smoker to take a break. Although the law gives a 10 minute break in the morning and a 10 minute break in the afternoon, plus lunch.

I believe if a person takes a lot of smoke breaks, that person isn't busy enough on the job.

Your blowing smoke!

27 posted on 05/30/2002 2:10:55 PM PDT by SheLion
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To: A Ruckus of Dogs
How can it be bad for business if you can't smoke in any bar?

People will stay home and drink or go to private clubs where they can smoke all they want.

Smoking in a bar is between the owners and the customers.

28 posted on 05/30/2002 2:11:07 PM PDT by Ditto
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To: wheezer
Brocton isn't exactly what you would call and 'in' place! It used to be okay but the crime rate is pretty bad now. The high school has some very good athletic teams. BTW it's funny to see somebody by the name wheezer posting on a smoking thread.
29 posted on 05/30/2002 2:16:53 PM PDT by ladyjane
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To: SheLion
But then, when the fun night is over, they sniff sniff, and say "oh Gawd, I stink from all that smoooooooke."

Yup.

I think those who are looking for a smoke free dining experience should be able to enjoy exactly that, especially if they have children and want a certain type of family atmosphere.

But adults who want an adult environment should be able to enjoy that as well. I'm an ex-smoker who prefers a smoke friendly drinking/dining environment.
30 posted on 05/30/2002 2:20:37 PM PDT by wheezer
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To: superdestroyer
But would you be willing to let employers have the right not to hire a smoker.

No. If a person does the job to the employers satisfaction it should not matter whether they smoke or not.

Every non-smoker has to put up with the lousy productivity of the smoker going outside to smoke and letting someone else do the work.

You have now fallen into the trap of generalization. Many many other things can cause lousy productivity.

In addition, smokers are absent more often and for longer periods of time, on average, than non-smokers.

Another piece of anti bull. If a smoker is healthy to begin with and takes care of themselves they miss no more work than a nonsmoker.

Also, ever place I have worked, the smokers create huge "butt" mess in their smokng area.

Every place I've ever worked the people that eat fast food make a mess. I'm not going to demand that they pay extra to clean up that mess. I don't expect to be asked to pay extra when I DON'T make a mess.

Of course, smokers could demand a lower deduction for pensions since they, on average, will not be around as long to collect.

If we don't live as long then why are we being asked to support states budgets with cigarette taxes? We're not going to be around to enjoy whatever programs the state comes up with. Right?

31 posted on 05/30/2002 2:43:57 PM PDT by Just another Joe
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To: superdestroyer
Also, ever place I have worked, the smokers create huge "butt" mess in their smokng area. Would you let employers charge smoking employees in order to pay for the mess?

This is my biggest complaint about my smoking co-workers. What they do on their break is their business, but sheesh, what a disgusting mess they leave by the entranceway. I don't throw my garbage on the company lawn, why must they?

32 posted on 05/30/2002 2:44:45 PM PDT by A Ruckus of Dogs
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To: Just another Joe
If a person does the job to the employers satisfaction it should not matter whether they smoke or not.

If a bar owner should have the right to make his bar a smoking bar, then any other employer should also have the right to allow who he pleases on his property.

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

33 posted on 05/30/2002 2:47:11 PM PDT by A Ruckus of Dogs
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To: A Ruckus of Dogs
I don't throw my garbage on the company lawn, why must they?

Maybe if your company provided outdoor ashtrays, there wouldn't be a mess.

34 posted on 05/30/2002 2:48:17 PM PDT by Madame Dufarge
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To: SheLion
My letter to the Boston Globe:

Re:Public smoking foes target the holdouts/MASS by Paul E. Kandarian, May 30, 2002

It is amazing to me that Mr. Kandarian, who is supposed to be a reporter, uncritically accepts the statistics handed to him by Lindy Muraca.

The numbers quoted, 53,000 deaths a year including 1,000 a year in Massachusetts are from The American Cancer Society which refuses to remove these false statistics from their web site.

The American Cancer Society got those figures from the 1993 EPA study that declared second hand smoke (SHS) to be a class A carcinogen.

The only problem is that in 1998 U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Osteen, of the Middle District of North Carolina, vacated the portions of the EPA study containing those figures as junk science.

As Judge Osteen said,"EPA publicly committed to a conclusion before research has begun; excluded industry by violating the [Radon] Act's procedural requirements; adjusted established procedure and scientific norms to validate the agencies public conclusion, and aggressively used the Act's authority to disseminate findings to establish a de facto regulatory scheme intended to restrict Plaintiff's products and to influence public opinion"

To continue to propagate these "facts" about SHS makes me, a forty year Globe reader, think that Mr.Kandarian and the Globe have ulterior motives. If you do not like smoke and smokers and wish to marginalize them, have the courage and intellectual honesty to say so, but please refrain from continuing to lie to your educated, aware readers.

35 posted on 05/30/2002 2:49:40 PM PDT by metesky
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To: SheLion
I speak for myself, my family and friends and a lot of my smoking friends in here. We will NOT patronize a place that does not allow smoking. Period.

That doesn't leave a lot of places. And once all the bars go non-smoking, you're going to staying home a lot.

36 posted on 05/30/2002 2:49:51 PM PDT by A Ruckus of Dogs
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To: Semper Paratus
Of course it won't stop them.

The way they operate is to keep bringing these things back everytime they lose a vote (As they've done here in Maine on the Northern Forests issue; three times they've lost referendum votes), then when and if, they finally win a vote, that's it, case closed, the people have spoken.

I can't express my distaste for them strongly enough.

37 posted on 05/30/2002 2:56:04 PM PDT by metesky
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To: Madame Dufarge
Maybe if your company provided outdoor ashtrays, there wouldn't be a mess.

They do. The smokers don't care.

And even there was no ashtray, that's still no reason to dump trash on someone else's lawn. Employees don't throw their lunch wrappers on the lawn when there's no trashcan.

38 posted on 05/30/2002 2:58:55 PM PDT by A Ruckus of Dogs
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To: A Ruckus of Dogs
I agree, And that also goes for discriminating against whatever race,creed, gender, height or whatever offends my fancy. My property, my rules.

Hooray for a great statement about the real America! Damn all those southern governments for codifying their predjudices and making it a problem that the Feds could jump into!

No one-eyed, gimpy midgits in my bar. Hit the road, Bub.

39 posted on 05/30/2002 3:11:08 PM PDT by metesky
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To: superdestroyer
Alcohol is bad for you, why not ban alcohol in bars?
40 posted on 05/30/2002 3:15:39 PM PDT by ozone1
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