I no longer fly to the West Coast or Hawaii. I haven't gone to a restaurant in Buffalo Grove since their smoking ban went into effect. I won't be eating in a restaurant in Chicago with their new smoking ban. I don't go to restaurants that prohibit smoking. Yes, airlines, towns, villages, and cities have lost business with their restrictions.
Ann Payne
Libertyville
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_opinion_letters/2006/03/antismoking_eff.html
5 comments:
Jaango, dear sir--I respect your right to patronize any place you desire, but I found the statement that she wouldn't fly because she couldn't smoke to be truly sad.
How are you, old friend?
"...smokers make for better converstation (sic),..." Only when they are far enough away that I can't smell them, their smoke or the festering lung chunks they cough up.
Speak up, Ann - I can't hear you. Maybe it would help if you took the butt out of your trach tube.
I'm in probably the tiniest minority on earth on this one: I'm a non-smoker who feels bad for the smokers. Smoke just doesn't bother me. And I've experienced more than most: I've been playing in some of the smokiest bars you'll find for 20 years. Take a whiff of the inside of my guitar cases sometime.
I get that it bothers a huge segment of the population; it's hard not to get it, because they won't quit fussing about it. I understand that they're actually trying to ban outdoor smoking, everywhere, in California now.
Think about that for a minute: your neighbor could call the cops on you if you are smoking in your back yard.
On the list of problems we face as a Nation, wouldn't this have to rank in the bottom 10%?
I hate to see so much energy spent on this.
I am a reformed smoker (7 years on Kentucky Derby Day) and I too see both sides to this argument. On the one hand, non-smokers have the right to not be exposed to secondhand smoke. On the other, smokers have been persecuted, and now are being (in my mind) overly regulated. There is something almost comically funny about outlawing outdoor smoking while allowing Hummers to skirt the CAFE rules.
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