Texas, San Antonio to be Anti Smoking Battlegrounds

WOAI.COM ^ | 12/17/02 | n/a

[Mark]

Texas, San Antonio to be Anti Smoking Battlegrounds

LAST UPDATE: 12/17/2002 12:26:17 PM

(SAN ANTONIO) -- An unlikely coalition of health and community action groups says it is poised to make Texas the 'most unfriendly state in the nation for big tobacco' in the coming year. The groups, which include health organizations like the American Cancer Society and community associations like the PTA, along with a core of experienced public interest lobbyists from Austin's political community, are pushing initiatives on the state and local level with the goal of outlawing smoking in all workplaces and public buildings in the state.

"Buying a pack of cigarettes does not entitle you to take away the clean air from the 85% of Texans who do not smoke," the group's spokeswoman Suzanne Lozano, a San Antonio nurse, told supporters today.

Among the initiatives include proposals before the Texas Legislature to raise the cigarette tax a dollar a pack, and to outlaw what's called 'pre-emption,' a tactic used by tobacco lobbyists to pass luke warm smoking limitations statewide and then forbid cities from passing stronger measures.

Julie Winckler of TRUST for a Smoke Free Texas says that's a prime tactic of the tobacco lobby.

"We feel it's easier to pass anti smoking measures on a local level," Winckler said. "We feel people are more passionate there."

The anti tobacco forces today released a Scripps Howard poll showing 74% of residents of San Antonio support a tough measure being proposed here, which would ban all smoking in all public places, and even place restrictions on smoking outdoors. San Antonio would join Boston among major cities with the country's toughest smoking control laws, and the San Antonio measure is seen as a model for proposals the groups hope to approve statewide.

San Antonio is seen as a key battleground for anti smoking laws because of it's huge tourism base. Bars, restaurants, hotels, and other businesses that cater to tourists generally resist restricting the behavior of their clients.

"Second hand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States," San Antonio Emergency Medical Services director Dr. Don Gordon said. "It is responsible for 56,000 innocent deaths per year."

Dr. John Nava of the Bexar County Metropolitan Health District compared smoking cigarettes with carrying a loaded gun in public.

"You have no right to place the lives of others in danger," he said. Nava said the prime beneficiaries of tough anti smoking laws will be waitresses, bartenders, and other service industry workers.

"Working in the service industry does not force you to give up breathing clean air," he said.

Lozano said the measures would leave citizens with the right to smoke "in their homes and in their cars and nowhere else," adding that businesses would not only be required to ban smoking inside, but the current practice of allowing smokers to lurk around entrances smoking would also be outlawed.

"There would be an area within so many feet of a public building where smoking out also not be allowed," she said. "It's not fair that people have to hold their breath and run a gauntlet of smoke in order to get into a building."

The groups are also pushing for 'comprehensive' tobacco prevention measures in schools, citing statistics released yesterday which show smoking among high school students hitting its lowest level in more than a quarter century.

"Now that we have proven solutions to reduce tobacco use, Texas' leaders have more of an obligation to implement them in our state than ever before," said Carter Headrick of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.

[Elric@Melnibone]

Smoking in ALL public places was banned in El Paso last year.

I don't know if they were the first in Texas but they were just following Las Cruces (NM)'s lead.

Of course, El Paso isn't really Texas; it's a colony of Mexico.

It and Austin are also the last bastions of Liberal Democrats in the state.

[Mark]

You use employees like libs use the children in their arguments for their tax increases.

Suppose I own the bar with no employees? The superior elite power grabbers still want to tell me how to run my business. But that's ok for the V ery R ightious W illing C onspirators.

[VRWC_minion]

I take it by your response you have no basis for why Mary must put with smoke and Martha doesn't. That is why this attack on smokers will work. There apparently is no defense.

[Mark]

Ok Right now the nonsmoking clerk we will call Martha works for Sears has a right to work in a nonsmoking environment. Her sister Mary on the other hand is a trained waitress who works for Smokey Bar and Grill, one of two restaurants in town who both allow smoking. Why does Martha have a government protected right to work in a nonsmoking environment while poor Mary isn't allowed the same priviledge ?

You really don't see the evil you support do you? WHY does Martha have a government protected right? Sears has every right to prohibit smoking, but you don't see the government imposition if they tell Sears they have to prohibit smoking. Then you seem to be upset because the restaurant is not forced by government to prohibit smoking. AGAIN, the owner of a business should not be forced to prohibit smoking in their own establishment.

Let's get it simple. One bar allows smoking. Across the street is another bar that prohibits smoking. Customers actually have the freedom(hope that word doesn't scare you) to go to either bar. No Rob Reiner, Maxine Waters, Ted Kennedy, or any other of your friends telling the owners how to run their business. No government controls. That's almost like the America I grew up in.

[Mark]

That is why this attack on smokers will work.

ATTACK on smokers? Your words and yet you don't see your left leaning ways. You may not have seen my previous posts, but I quit smoking. I had similar email debate with Wayne Lapierre of NRA over Charlton Heston's support of prop 10 in CA years ago. He said that support had nothing to do with NRA and when I asked if the NRA would protest a tax proposal on guns, he admitted that they would fight that. Prop 10 just barely passed and within a few weeks, Chicago passed taxes on guns. Shortly after that, Heston said he wished he had not supported prop 10 with "Meathead" Reiner because he saw where it was leading. Now, I would say that if a proposition were proposed to make tobacco illegal, Rob Reiner and all of these liberals would oppose it. How about you?

[VRWC_minion]

Given that the workplace smoke bans are now universal you still have given no reason for the application to be different for Mary than it is for Martha.

I'm still undecided about this aspect of it and am really looking for a rational explanation. So far, you have failed to stay on the subject and your responses are variations of shanging the subject to one you feel you can "win". Sorry, I'm not intersted in playing that game. I just want a rational explanatio for why the laws should be administered differently so that one person has to endure smoke while the other doesn't.

[golder]

So far the only arguments i have heard from smokers is 1) Tough, no one made them take the job (sounds mighty white of them) or 2) They will make more money on tips.

So far I haven't heard a convincing argument.

With 78% non-smoking Americans, would that not translate to 75% non-smoking restaurants? My God, can't we have 25% smoking restaurants?

Let me help you out here. You non-smoking fanatics are choked with the fear of being locked out of the best eating establishments. If that is not the case, the reasons could only be some sort of personal vendetta or out and out discrimination against 25% of the population. Which is it?

[Great Dane]

Here we go again!!!! This is why I always vacation in Europe !

Me too, but the US and Canada is pressuring Europe to follow suit......... guess it's the level playing field argument again.

[wizzler]

See, this is precisely what's meant by the slippery slope.

This whole issue is built on PRIVATE property having been deemed "public" a few decades ago. Sure, at the time, it seemed like it was in the name of a just cause (civil rights). But this is exactly what happens once you cede any amount of freedom for the sake of "equality": more and more freedom gets taken away.

[Texbob]

Those are Clinton like poll numbers, just as big a lie as Clinton.

[maxwell]

Smoking in ALL public places was banned in El Paso last year. I don't know if they were the first in Texas but they were just following Las Cruces (NM)'s lead. Of course, El Paso isn't really Texas; it's a colony of Mexico. It and Austin are also the last bastions of Liberal Democrats in the state.

Well does Austin permit smoking anymore? I have a big-a$$ conference there in March, and I will for damn sure be lighting up at every opportunity... It clears the mind, ya know...

[Just another Joe]

"Second hand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States," San Antonio Emergency Medical Services director Dr. Don Gordon said. "It is responsible for 56,000 innocent deaths per year."

They keep telling the same lies and the numbers keep getting bigger and bigger.
If it came down to scientific proof they wouldn't be able to use one study that hasn't been debunked or disproven.

[johnb838]

Indefinitely... You can bet that gun control and a state income tax are two things that will not be coming out of the current Texas legislative session.

[Xenalyte]

Texas, San Antonio to be Anti Smoking Battlegrounds

I'm especially interested in the part of San Antonio that's not in Texas.

[Xenalyte]

"Buying a pack of cigarettes does not entitle you to take away the clean air from the 85% of Texans who do not smoke," the group's spokeswoman Suzanne Lozano, a San Antonio nurse, told supporters today.

There is NO WAY that only 15% of Texans smoke. Someone isn't being quite truthful.

[Xenalyte]

No wonder Texas is so full of porkers. Four of the eight "most overweight" cities in the USA are in Texas.

"And that has what, exactly, to do with smoking?" asked the superbly toned Houstonian.

[johnb838]

I do not pay any taxes on the cigarettes I smoke. They will probably close the loophole I use eventually but until then they can go screw.

[johnb838]

Tobacco smoking is illegal in Austin. Marijuana smoking is encouraged.

[johnb838]

But if they keep saying it the perception becomes that it's true. Just like CO2 "pollution" and "global warming".

[johnb838]

You have to clear customs to go to San Antonio.