As a former smoker and bar employee, I think the passing and enforcing of this law is extremely ridiculous! Non-smokers expect smokers to go outside and smoke when it is subzero outside? This is not exactly Florida or California, you know! I have watched as business continues to decline with the smoking ban. Economic times are hard enough without driving out even more business. Yes non-smokers have the right to a smoke-free environment, but smokers also have the right to kill themselves at their own pace. If non-smokers are that concerned about their health, then what are they doing in a BAR in the first place? Go to a family restaurant somewhere that is smoke-free. Even when I smoked, I would never light up in a restaurant around your family. Actually I quit after 14 years when they passed the ban. The bureaucrats expect me to pay the exorbitant fees and taxes on cigarettes and then DICTATE to me when and where I can smoke them? I don't think so! How hypocritical can they be? They need to quit over-legislating and start worrying about things that matter. It's too bad that this is such a difficult addiction to break. If all smokers got together and quit smoking for awhile, they would be tripping all over themselves to reverse the law. It would never work though because people would stockpile their cigarettes, which would not get them where it hurts most - in the wallet. Last time I checked, this was a DEMOCRACY, not a DICTATORSHIP. For the Bible Thumpers who voted in this ridiculous law who don't want to breathe cigarette smoke in a dirty bar, then entertain at home, like smokers are now forced to do! Or better yet, move the the South and y'all can enjoy your smoke-free environment. As someone who relies on tips for her livelihood, this law has been extremely detrimental and financially devastating. Economic times are hard enough as it is, without driving a particular demographic out of the bars.
No-smoking crackdown fires up some bar owners
As a former smoker and bar employee, I think the passing and enforcing of this law is extremely ridiculous! Non-smokers expect smokers to go outside and smoke when it is subzero outside? This is not exactly Florida or California, you know! I have watched as business continues to decline with the smoking ban. Economic times are hard enough without driving out even more business. Yes non-smokers have the right to a smoke-free environment, but smokers also have the right to kill themselves at their own pace. If non-smokers are that concerned about their health, then what are they doing in a BAR in the first place? Go to a family restaurant somewhere that is smoke-free. Even when I smoked, I would never light up in a restaurant around your family. Actually I quit after 14 years when they passed the ban. The bureaucrats expect me to pay the exorbitant fees and taxes on cigarettes and then DICTATE to me when and where I can smoke them? I don't think so! How hypocritical can they be? They need to quit over-legislating and start worrying about things that matter. It's too bad that this is such a difficult addiction to break. If all smokers got together and quit smoking for awhile, they would be tripping all over themselves to reverse the law. It would never work though because people would stockpile their cigarettes, which would not get them where it hurts most - in the wallet. Last time I checked, this was a DEMOCRACY, not a DICTATORSHIP. For the Bible Thumpers who voted in this ridiculous law who don't want to breathe cigarette smoke in a dirty bar, then entertain at home, like smokers are now forced to do! Or better yet, move the the South and y'all can enjoy your smoke-free environment. As someone who relies on tips for her livelihood, this law has been extremely detrimental and financially devastating. Economic times are hard enough as it is, without driving a particular demographic out of the bars.
March 11, 2009 at 11:31 a.m. permalink suggest removal