Shawn
sheilaIt’s commonly known (or maybe not so commonly known) that the anti-smoking special interest groups are targeting a wide array of other areas to ban smoking: apartments, condos, parks, cars, and even bar patios.
The City of Minneapolis has recently invoked a 20 year old ordinance to deter bar patrons from walking out to attached patios and lighting up. An owner of Lush Restaurant in Northeast Minneapolis found this out the hard way.
“We have some seating over here that we actually dinner and drinks to and a lot of people like to wander out and have a cigarette and kind of stand…Last Friday, an inspector came out and we ended up with two citations for the patio. I guess I thought it was kind of ridiculous.
According to wcco.com, A public hearing is set for September 23rd to repeal this rediculous rule, but I’d be surprised if this rule disappears anytime soon. Several cities in Minnesota, including Bloomington and Rochester, already have restrictions on smoking on patios. And in the State of Iowa, it is illegal to smoke on the patio of any restaurant.
While I have no doubt that smoking prohibitions will eventually fall by the wayside (using history as a guide), the anti-smoking lunatics are far from finished. And they have billions of dollars available to spread their propoganda and lies.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: minneapolis, patios, Smoking, special interest groups
It seems like you’re pretty passionate about your right to smoke in public around non-smokers.
Personally, I’m not too concerned about patio smoking legislation and choose where to go based on where I can enjoy good food and beer without smoke.
I’m curious to find out why you think the current trend in protecting non-smokers from smokers will reverse itself. Presonally, I see this being something that’s more likely to follow things like seatbelt legislation which have continued to become more strict over time.
No, Ed, what we’re concerned about is our government continually encroaching on our liberties. While people like you love to cry to the government to bully others because you are “offended” by certain smells, people, etc., a growing group of individuals, known as libertarians, believe a large bullying government is a bad thing.
You see, the founders of this country believed that the citizens of this great country had a right to liberty. By depriving private property owners of rights to conduct business as they choose, it is in direct violation of the US Constitution. Sure, some corrupt special interest groups whipped up some phony stats to make it look as though smokers are evil, murdering scumbags, but when a business owners is deprived of his private property rights based upon half-truths and downright lies, it opens the door to depriving all of us of our property rights.
I know it’s a difficult concept for people like you to understand, Ed, but a big powerful government has the power to control its people, just as many other powerful governments have enslaved their people.
If you do even a little research, Ed, you will see that there have been many other anti-smoking crusades throughout history, and they have all failed. The most notable would likely be the Nazi’s anti-smoking crusade.
It’s sad how many people exist out there, that are like Ed. You’re absolutely right, Shawn, in seeing how government is going way too far on infringing the personal rights of individuals.
There isn’t a day that passes, when I wish private business owners still had the legal right to decide their smoking policy, and not have to secretly break the law and smoke indoors. Before the state ban took effect across Illinois, there already were more than enough businesses catering to the non-smoking niche, while businesses catering to smokers also could freely exist. It seems like to me that Minnesota had to have been the same way(enough businesses catering to non-smokers, and some towards smokers, both existed), before their state ban took effect. It also seems to me that slightly more local bans existed in Minnesota, before their state ban took effect. (and as opposed to Illinois, where bans only gained a foothold in the Chicago area and central part of the state)
By the way, the trend of demonizing vices because a vocal minority didn’t like a certain activity, has been going on for centuries. It occurred with alcohol in the 19th and early 20th Century(and led up to a U.S. constitutional amendment prohibiting alcohol), and occurred with other vices before then. (including rulers who prohibited tobacco use pre-20th Century)
Thanks Shawn for standing up for the rights of those of us who are being denied our constututional rights. As a smoker living in the Twin Cities, I am tired of going to patios to enjoy dinner and a cigarette only to be be criticized by new dinners that to have to “cough” or make comments on how “I am shortening their lifespan or causing them to become ill”.
I do have a right to smoke and I pay the taxes (and bring in lots of user tax for the state) for something that is legal in the state. I may be a “social outcast” at this time, but I am not doing anything illegal.