Smoking ban changes = greater confusion
Posted on November 13, 2008 in Around the metro by DM
Radio Iowa reports on some changes to Iowa’s smoking ban that will likely leave people even more confused about whether it’s okay to smoke outside certain buildings. Interesting that the news item quotes an Iowa City bar owner saying he’s learning to deal with it, and a Board of Health member saying he thinks people are “beginning to accept the law,” while one of my favorite bar owners told me last week, “This smoking ban is killing us.”
Don’t get me wrong - I love going out for a drink and not coming home with gross-smelling clothes. BUT - the “issue” of employee health concerns never did wash from the very beginning, with the exclusion of casinos from the law. Also, I really dislike driving past bars and seeing groups of people standing around oustide smoking. This looks horrible for our city and state. I heard that one change some folks wanted was to even make it illegal for bars to have sit-down tables on their outdoor patios - did this change go into effect? There was a proposal to regulate the height of a table so that smokers who went outside would not be allowed to sit when they smoked. And THAT has nothing to do with the “health issues” that the proponents of the original ban seemed so concerned with - it’s instead about making it so uncomfortable for the smokers that they will stay home, which, unfortunately, is what’s happening at my friend’s bar. (You know, that place where he made his livelihood?)
So thanks, Iowa, for putting my own personal “Cheers” out of business - even though there’s been no influx of new non-smoking customers who’ve suddenly flocked to the place, I’m sure you’re satisfied to have taken away one “little guy’s” American Dream.
Flickr photo by SuperFantastic
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2 comments to “Smoking ban changes = greater confusion”
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You must understand that to protect the health of the non smokers within 100 feet of a smoker, the smoker MUST be STANDING to be absolutly certain that the smoke rises high enough so as to not choke the non smokers in the area. Smokers sitting while smoking will put anyone around them in GRAVE DANGER. This is just common sense.
Bob, This comment you’ve just made is total drivel, Every Single word in it, and you know it. Who are you to make such a statement as this, acting as if everything you just claimed was truth carved in stone and based on extensive research.
The worst part is the way you say it, as if You are an authority on the subject and we are all a bunch of 6 year old dummies with No Understanding, No Common Sense , and by God, You’re the one to Teach us All the TRUTH about this Scourge and when you can be absolutely certain that you are safe from it. It’s Common Sense, because You Say So!
What I want to know is, specifically, WHO did all the research and experiments to come up with these claims you make ?
I challenge you to come up with them all, Everyone of them.
And when you do, I will prove on this blog that every single claim that you have made is wrong, Without a Shadow of Doubt.
You or Someone else pulled them out of the Air or somewhere else that I won’t talk about.
So be sure and get back to me soon, because I’m sure when you enlighten us to all of these facts, then we can all feel safe again knowing there is someone with your vast knowledge out there, on our side, only concerned with our health, and to protect us from these Evil Smokers, Not just someone grandstanding like they know it all, as You seem to think you do..