Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Oh, Really?

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I wanted to avoid getting back into the smoking ban debate but the pro-smoking advocates continue to say really stupid things. With the Sangamon County Board passing a smoking ban for unincorporated parts of the county, the SJ-R asked leaders of some of the incorporated towns in the county if they had any plans for smoking bans. The answer seems to be universally “no”. But Jerome mayor Harry Stirmell had the most bullshit rationale:
“The board members have discussed (a smoking ban), and they are not in favor of ... telling the establishments what they can or can’t do,” Stirmell said.
OK, Harry, so if I decided to turn a bar in Jerome into a strip club you’d be cool with that? Or how ‘bout if I decided to ignore the liquor ordinances and keep my establishment open until 6:00 AM along with outdoor rock bands in my beer garden?

Give me a personal break; governments regulate all sorts of things for the common good. It’s OK to be opposed to banning smoking but come up with something other than the obviously false notion that your board should not be “telling the establishments what they can or can’t do”. You tell them what tehy can do all the time.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a philosphical kind of thing.

Is it fair for government to restrict the rights of smokers to cause cancer in non-smokers?

Just pondering on that really hurts my beanie.

JP

Anonymous said...

I guess he'll also be in favor of removing all the painfully detailed health code regulations that tell business owners what to do.