Puffing Along (From the Globe)

[Highwayman]

Originally Posted by Bubba

...If I was a bar owner, the main bar would be my smoking section and I would make a little back room the non-smoking area!

Put the non-smoking section on an outside patio to ensure plenty of fresh air.

Originally Posted by Clueless

If you can't smoke..and can't swear in a bar....you might as well quit drinking

That about sums it up.

[Bubba]

Originally Posted by Highwayman

Put the non-smoking section on an outside patio to ensure plenty of fresh air.

Better yet!!

[Highwayman]

Here’s how one boss handled the non-smoker situation.

"I can't be bothered with trouble-makers,"

[Clueless]

Originally Posted by Army_of_One

See, that's been my point all along. I am personally against smoking in public but I do not want to see a ban because that just opens the door for MORE BANS by people that want to run your life. It's NOT about smoking...it's about rights. It's like a domino theory thing. Once you let them ban smoking then it's cussing then a tax on big macs/fatty foods...gov't control control control.

I agree Army. It's easy to 'fall in line' and support public bans - as long as it's the other guy's rights that you're banning. But, when it's YOUR right that's being banned, we change our mind in a hurry. It's a slippery slope when you start to take away basic rights of free expression. Our leaders need to walk carefully as they approach any ordinances that control public activities.

[Flying Dutchman]

Full discloser------I am a smoker.

That being said.......I personally do not mind not being able to smoke in any building. Everywhere i have worked I had to go outside to smoke and have no problem with it. I worked at the jail when it went smokeless, and it was not easy but I got used to it. I sit in the non-smoking section at any establishment because the smell of cigarette's is nasty and makes my food taste bad. I won't eat in a resteraunt if I am going to be exposed to smoking. I do not smoke in my home even though I have no small children. I have found that I have cut way back on smoking due to all this, and have no quarrels with it. I do not even smoke in my car (ok, I do with the window down, but not if someone else is in the car with me). Smoking is bad and full of toxins. If the same ingrediants found in one cigarette were found in a gallon of milk, it would be banned from being sold due to it being poison.

What I do mind is the government telling me as a business owner what I have to do. It is a smoke screen (pardon the pun) of the commissioners and politicians to hide behind calling it a health issue. If a person were forced to stay in a smoke filled environment for a consatnt and etended point of time then they have a point. No one is being forced to do anything. One comment I have heard is "Have you ever sat next to a chain smoker and tried to eat?" My answer is why are you sitting next to one? Why are you in the smoking section? Why are you even eating there if you are so against it?

I say they are all hypocrites. If they, meaning those who want to jump on the health hazard issue, truly cared about your, or my, health then they would target the cause. Ban cigarettes from being sold or purchased. Funny, I don't see any of them trying to do that. Pass a city ordinance that tobacco can't be bought or sold in the city limits. Want to save my health, ban gas burning engines. There is more toxic and hazordous material spewing from exhaust pipes than any cigarettes. Everytime you sit at a stop light, wait for a train, or basically walk through a parking lot you are inhaling way more toxic fumes than you would by being in a bar for awhile. Ban fried foods. I know of more people who have died of a heart attack due to clogged arteries and high cholesteral than have died due to being exposed to second hand smoke. As a matter of fact, I do not know of anybody who has died or become sick because they were exposed to second hand smoke. I doubt anybody has because it is a guess. Ban alcohol. They did it in the 30's, remember? Why, the whole nation was convinced of it's evilness and hazard to society. Hmmmmmmmmm. If you are serious, commissioners, about our health then prove it. Instead you would rather hide behind the cloak of "caring" instead of coming out and truly saying you personally just dislike smoking. Especially you, Mr. Lee, since you are an ex-smoker and it shows.

Again, if the city bans it and i have to continue to go outside to smoke, so be it. I will go outside and smoke and not complain at all. Just seems funny that forcing 5% of the business' to do what 95% already do is such a major issue. It seems funny that enacting a ban on pit-bulls in the name of safety was a major issue, when it only affected maybe 1% of our population, and was handled immediately. It seems very funny that banning "public nudity", i.e. strippers, was a major issue that had to be handled quickly when we didn't even have a strip club, so it was affecting 0% of the population. But try and handle building a damn SEC that was voted for 10 years ago, and would have affected the whole community, you can't do nothing. Try and handle drivers with no insurance or lisence, and you can't do anything. Mention the gang problem and you all get this deer in the headlights look. But, wow, Boothill can't manage their books and you are super quick to hand them 150k.



Ok, my rant is over. I am now going outside to smoke.

[Jolly Rancher]

Great rant. Smoke one for me.

[Detector]

Well put FD. They're more than happy to receive the revenue, they just don't want to see the smokers.

[Army_of_One]

I read in a paper yesterday that the state of KAnsas was going to consider a smoking ban.....Guess that would take the pressure off of Dodge City Commissioners....hehehe.

[K C Muffin]

I agree with ya'all - I detest smoke and our fave place to eat is a bar down the street that is a no-smoking bar. They have no trouble putting butts in the seat. I say, leave it alone and people will choose with their feet. I don't like smokers or smoking, but it's my choice! Dammit!

[Made in the USA]

DodgeCity.com: Dodge Globe: Local News: Stories

Wouldn't it be a lot more productive if they spent some time on hashing out a ban on CRIME, IDENTITY THEFT, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, NO REQUIREMENTS FOR DRIVERS LICENSES AND CAR INSURANCE, GANGS, RAISING TAXES, and some of the more IMPORTANT ISSUES affecting our area!!??!!