The Long Arm of the Ashtray

Should smoking ban enforcement focus on the owner of the establishment or the specific ban violators smoking in that establishment? The recent smoking “sting” in Sangamon County actually makes me think it should depend on the situation. I don’t know the particulars of the enforcement rules (where they even exist), but here’s my plan for the way it should be. I’ll leave it up to investigators to determine which situation applies.

If a customer clearly out of view of the staff and management is sneaking a smoke, only the customer should be fined.

If the establishment is full of smokers puffing away right in front of staff and management, then both the customers AND the owners should be fined. This would also apply to employees if they were the ones smoking.

In other words, the smokers should always be ticketed. The owner should only be ticketed if there is a reason to believe they were aware of the smoking in their establishment and did nothing about it.

I’m Dave the Blogger and I approve this message.