The smoking ordinance

[Ed62]

A nearby town adopted a smoking ordinance last year. One of the things in the ordinance is that a person must be at least 15 feet away from the entrance of a public building before smoking. A resident went before the board to complain that people were not following that part of the ordinance.

I haven't smoked for about 45 years, but this guy, in my eyes, seems to be a person that looks for anything and everything to complain about. I wonder how he would feel if a cop gave him a ticket for going 2 miles over the speed limit. I know it's the law, but does anyone here actually think he's not a PITA complainer?

Ed

[final_t]

15 feet? It's 100 feet here.
I'm not a smoker, but it bugs me that they outlawed it in bars using the 'think of the children' nonsense.
Wait until they find out that wood dust is a health hazard!

[eezlock]

smoking ordinance

There are too many NO SMOKING ordinances in place already. If a person chooses to smoke, it should be their choice to smoke when and where they want to ( using common sense) . I smoked for over forty years and I hated every one of the "no smoking" places I encountered, some of those places still will not get any more of my money, as far as I'm concerned...they can
fall to pieces and be blown away with the wind before I will go there again
no matter what! Smokers are people too, with votes, rights and voices
and they should be considered too! eezlock

[dkerfoot]

This is a tough call for me. We are just starting to see more action on this issue here. Generally speaking, I think these matters should be up to the business owner. Quite honestly, since the majority of people no longer smoke, I'd consider it smart business decision to run a smoke free place.

BUT - where it gets complicated is with the workers. A non-smoking waitress is I think legitimately being put into a hazardous work situation if the customers are smoking.

I wonder if the people in China who are being forced to stop spitting on the floors feel the same as many Americans do about smoker's rights? I tend to think that social pressure to stop doing something that is both unhealthy and unpleasant for the people around you is probably a good thing.

I love a quote I once heard from a comedian: "Having a non-smoking section in a restaurant is like having a non-peeing section in a swimming pool."

[stormdog74]

There are too many NO SMOKING ordinances in place already. If a person chooses to smoke, it should be their choice to smoke when and where they want to ( using common sense) . I smoked for over forty years and I hated every one of the "no smoking" places I encountered, some of those places still will not get any more of my money, as far as I'm concerned...they can
fall to pieces and be blown away with the wind before I will go there again
no matter what! Smokers are people too, with votes, rights and voices
and they should be considered too! eezlock

Interesting viewpoint - so, you believe that you should be able to smoke anywhere you want regardless of how it affects other people? Should I be able to spit anywhere I want, even if it hits people? Come on, I believe people should be able to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't affect other people. I grew up breathing other people's smoke for years and it is so much better now that I don't have to - a smoker's addiction is not license to foul everyone else's breathing.

[radhak]

Funny that I find myself on the 'wrong' side of the fence on this - I tend to agree with eezlock's feelings, though with some temperance, maybe .

I come from a non-smoking family. Nobody in my relatives smoke - not even distant cousins. Yes, sounds like fiction, but true. And you know what - holds good even among my in-laws . My wife tells me the first thing she used to look for in possible 'interests' before we met, was a 'non smoker'. I dare say it'd be very easy for any youngster to 'rebel' in this family - just ask for permission to go out and smoke !

Anyway - for all that, I feel for the smokers, and think they need some space.

I am aware of the fall-out of smoking, for bystanders and close-circle people, so I cannot claim smoking to be a purely personal decision, but I feel it cannot be hounded out of existence. I was travelling this week, and overheard a store-clerk say that the Dallas-Fort Worth airport is completely smoke-free! He told a customer, 'if you need to smoke, you need to go out of the airport'. I glanced at the customer, a lady in her thirties who looked completely hassled out of her wits for whatever reason, and when she heard this, I swear she looked ready to either tear out her hair, or burst into tears, or both . Felt real sorry for her.

I don't know what's the solution - maybe small smoking rooms similar to rest-rooms, with an entry price ? That may not happen, but we could them some leeway.

And yes, that chap who complained, does seem to be over the top.

[drumpriest]

My view on this may be skewed, as I am horribly allergic to cigarette smoke, and most of my family of the last generation died from lung cancer. I personally don't care at all if someone chooses to smoke, but I do care if they choose for me to smoke. The problem with smoking is that it's impossible to isolate in a public forum, and 2nd hand smoke has been shown in study after study to be carcinogenic. So if fails my only real rule, which is do whatever you want, so long are you are not hurting others without their consent.

I do think the bans are heavy handed though. It would seem to me that if a bar wants to tailor to smokers, that's just fine, I'm aware of it, so I wouldn't go there. Here's a funny anecdote though. Here in Pittsburgh we had a smoking ban for 8 hours before the state decided that we could not decide for ourselves what to do. What is interesting about it is that before the ban, there were literally NO non-smoking bars on the south side here. Because of the ban, a couple went non-smoking, just before the actual ban date, and 1 or 2 remained non-smoking after. So I now have a couple of great bars that I can actually go to for a pint after work. So I thank our 8 hour ban for that opportunity.

Privately owned bars should be able to decide for themselves, either way. I find it interesting though that these bars here would never have considered going non-smoking had there not been a law. They are certainly not hurting for business now either, as all of those people not wanting to smell of stale smoke from having a social life go there.

[rcp612]

The way I see it is, non-smokers have gone out of their way to totally eliminate smoking in places where smoking has been allowed before. Why are they there if they don't like the surroundings?
Smokers cannot go into a non-smoking establishment (owners decision) and force everone to smoke. They just don't go there or obide by the rules set by the owner/company.
I think too many people have too much power to change things that they, personally, don't agree with.
Now, I'm going to the garage for a cigarette. (We don't smoke in the house)

[Hoover]

Here in Washington state smoking must be 25 feet from an entrance door. Also most public places now forbid smoking. The Indian nation casinos allow smoking indoors. Yes they have many smokers frequenting there.

I used to smoke, quit 36 years ago. Now I am an asthmatic and cigarette smoke causes me to cough. If I am near someone smoking, I'll move away. Don't like the smoke, but if someone wants to smoke that's their business.

[RodKirby]

The way I see it is, non-smokers have gone out of their way to totally eliminate smoking in places where smoking has been allowed before. Why are they there if they don't like the surroundings?
Smokers cannot go into a non-smoking establishment (owners decision) and force everone to smoke. They just don't go there or obide by the rules set by the owner/company.
I think too many people have too much power to change things that they, personally, don't agree with.
Now, I'm going to the garage for a cigarette. (We don't smoke in the house)

Agreed!
I DO smoke in the House - so there! (There's only the two of us, and it's always been that way - she has never smoked)

Except of course, when LOML has a meeting here with her Quilting "girls"
Then I'm banished to the Shed - tough, but I can cope

[crokett]

If a person chooses to smoke, it should be their choice to smoke when and where they want to ( using common sense) .

Hmmm... so you don't mind me sitting next to you at a dinner you've paid a lot for and talking loudly on my phone? Or leaning over every few minutes and coughing into your dinner plate? I fully support you smoking wherever you want, if you are dumb enough to start, but that ends when you force me to smoke also.

[radhak]

The way I see it is, ...
Now, I'm going to the garage for a cigarette. (We don't smoke in the house)

Uh uh - that's the whole point : non-smokers would rather not be in a smoke-filled surroundings, but cannot help it. The very nature of this activity is that everybody else is forced to partake in the smoker's addiction. Talk about wider areas like airports, or malls. Then narrow it down to bars : if you can smoke there without forcing me to smoke too (second-hand), then we have no issues.

btw - why do you smoke in the garage and not in the house? I'd have thought you'd have allowed the non-smokers in your house to make a choice - grin-and-bear-it, or else...?

[Alex Franke]

Smokers should respect the ordinance and stay 15 feet away, and people have every right to complain when they don't.

I believe smokers should respect the signs because they're probably there for a reason (because property owners, voters, etc want them there). And, if a non-smoker find himself affected (or sneezing or annoyed) by a nearby smoker, then he/she should go somewhere else. (Vote with your feet.) And if any person (smoker or not) thinks any ordinance (smoking or not) is unjust, then he/she should take appropriate action within the community to have it changed.

That said, I'd be pretty pissed if I got a ticket for going 2 miles over the speed limit and I'd probably go to court and fight it. I'd also be pissed if I got caught smoking 3 inches too close to a public building entrance, and I'd probably go to court to fight that, too. But if I actually was going 2 miles over the speed limit, or 3 inches too close to the entrance, then I guess I deserved the ticket.

[RayintheUK]

In the UK there were many "gloom and doom" predictions that malls, clubs and bars would close down due to lack of business when the smoking ban came in. There is now no public premises (i.e., ones to which the public can have legitimate access) in which smoking is allowed, yet malls, bars and clubs continue to thrive. Quite a few bars now have covered outside areas for smokers and other premises have set outside tables for the purpose.

The knock-on effect is, of course, that we are paying more tax in other areas to make up for the lost revenue from previous smokers, who are quitting in their thousands. We'll never be smoke-free, that's accepted, but as a former smoker (21 months without now), I find the public places much more pleasant to visit.

Ray.

[Knottscott]

The right to swing a fist stops just short of another's nose.....that adage pretty much sums up what this country is about. Whether it's smoking, drinking, blaring rap music, shooting guns, or sawing wood, as long as we don't infringe on the rights of others, we're good. The nature of many activities requires some common sense and consideration though. I can remember the days of suffering through commercial flights, dinner, bank lines, shopping at the mall, and meetings while others smoked. The "awareness" of smokers has improved a bunch in the last 20 years....I personally think smoking laws in general have improved our lives, but I don't support knitpicking to the nth degree unless there's a problem.