Smoking bans stink
I am an ex-smoker. I quit smoking probably 15 years ago. I can tell you all the different times I tried to quit, what worked and what failed and how I finally succeeded. I prefer being a non-smoker. I know it is healthier for me...HOWEVER I would never, as a non-smoker, presume to dictate my choice of partaking in a LEGAL SUBSTANCE on a someone else nor would I ever demand that they stop smoking on their property. Which is why I vehemently oppose smoking bans. Having said all of that, I really wish that someone here in Minnesota had the intestinal fortitude to do what these Pittsburgh restaurant owners have done.
"Among the lunch crowd at Mitchell's Bar & Restaurant, Downtown, loyal patrons know they can have a smoke with their beer or burger without anyone flashing them a nasty look.
It was no different yesterday at 2:30 p.m. as 15 regulars lingered at a reserved table, celebrating the holidays, teasing friends, sipping cocktails and puffing on cigars.
James G. Mitchell would like his family's 100-year-old restaurant to stay that way. So, together with his lifelong friend, John Petrolias, owner of the Smithfield Cafe at 639 Smithfield St., Mr. Mitchell sued Allegheny County and Chief Executive Dan Onorato this week, requesting an injunction to halt an ordinance that bans smoking in restaurants, taverns and social clubs with 10 or more employees. It is set to take effect Jan. 2."
I agree with ALA Bob that smoking is not healthy for the smoker. I suspect he is correct that second hand smoke CAN have an adverse effect on people, but I don't think it is as much of a given as he will tell you (both my mother and my father in law grew up in households where their parents smoked heavily and neither on of them has asthma or lung cancer). However, I am a firm believer in the markets. If there is that much of a demand for non-smoking restaurants, then the restaurant owners will convert them. If other restaurant owners decide that their patrons want to allow smoking or if they owner wants to spend tons of money on state of the art air filtration systems so that smokers and non-smokers alike can be accomodated, then by all means they should be allowed to make that decision. The state should not tell a property owners what legal activities that the property owner can and can not allow on their property.
Governor Pawlenty - if you really, really, REALLY want a smoking ban then do it right! MAKE SMOKING ILLEGAL IN THE STATE OF MINNESOTA! Make the sale of cigarettes, cigars and all tobacco products illegal. Take all of the money that you get in cigarette taxes and "fees" and throw it away too because as soon as you make tobacco illegal in Minnesota, you are forgoing all that money. And that is the government's dirty little secret. The Governor and the Legislators and even ALA Bob know that if smoking is made illegal all of their money dries up. Let's face it - it is easier for a meth addict to give up their drug of choice than it is for any government entity to give up their money!
"Among the lunch crowd at Mitchell's Bar & Restaurant, Downtown, loyal patrons know they can have a smoke with their beer or burger without anyone flashing them a nasty look.
It was no different yesterday at 2:30 p.m. as 15 regulars lingered at a reserved table, celebrating the holidays, teasing friends, sipping cocktails and puffing on cigars.
James G. Mitchell would like his family's 100-year-old restaurant to stay that way. So, together with his lifelong friend, John Petrolias, owner of the Smithfield Cafe at 639 Smithfield St., Mr. Mitchell sued Allegheny County and Chief Executive Dan Onorato this week, requesting an injunction to halt an ordinance that bans smoking in restaurants, taverns and social clubs with 10 or more employees. It is set to take effect Jan. 2."
I agree with ALA Bob that smoking is not healthy for the smoker. I suspect he is correct that second hand smoke CAN have an adverse effect on people, but I don't think it is as much of a given as he will tell you (both my mother and my father in law grew up in households where their parents smoked heavily and neither on of them has asthma or lung cancer). However, I am a firm believer in the markets. If there is that much of a demand for non-smoking restaurants, then the restaurant owners will convert them. If other restaurant owners decide that their patrons want to allow smoking or if they owner wants to spend tons of money on state of the art air filtration systems so that smokers and non-smokers alike can be accomodated, then by all means they should be allowed to make that decision. The state should not tell a property owners what legal activities that the property owner can and can not allow on their property.
Governor Pawlenty - if you really, really, REALLY want a smoking ban then do it right! MAKE SMOKING ILLEGAL IN THE STATE OF MINNESOTA! Make the sale of cigarettes, cigars and all tobacco products illegal. Take all of the money that you get in cigarette taxes and "fees" and throw it away too because as soon as you make tobacco illegal in Minnesota, you are forgoing all that money. And that is the government's dirty little secret. The Governor and the Legislators and even ALA Bob know that if smoking is made illegal all of their money dries up. Let's face it - it is easier for a meth addict to give up their drug of choice than it is for any government entity to give up their money!
posted by The Lady Logician at
3:00 PM
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