- Cape Rolling Out Bloomfield Road Art Trail (8/21/19)1
- Donors Pledge Almost Two Grand To Replace SEMO's Possibly Sentient ‘Gum Tree' (8/16/18)
- SEMO and The Will To (Become A Consultant) – Part 2 (6/14/18)
- SEMO and The Will To Do (You Really Want To See That Legal Notice?) – Part 1 (6/4/18)
- Judge, Jury... Trashman (6/1/18)
- Diary of Cape Girardeau Road Deconstruction (5/11/18)
- Trying To Save A Tree From City “Improvements” (4/30/18)2
Proposed Ordinance Inspires A New Smoker
Using it long enough will shave years off your life and likely give you cancer or contribute to some other lethal disease. Your teeth and fingers may get stained an unattractive yellow. You may develop one of those phlegmy "smoker's coughs" that you wake up to each morning. Smoking is both horrendously addictive and thanks to sizable excise taxes, horrendously expensive. In short, it's not a good habit to start, but I'm thinking of taking it up anyway. The local anti-smoking movement is mostly to blame for this desire. They've gathered the signatures of enough local citizens to either force the Cape Girardeau City Council to enact the ordinance as it is submitted or if they don't do anything within 60 days, have it appear on the ballot at the next general election. My bet is that the City Council will not do anything. It's too divisive of an issue, and political hari-kari. So I expect the vote will go to the people and we will get to decide. And as a new smoker, I will vote against it. There are a couple reasons why. First of all, I feel this is a business decision especially when it comes to restaurants and bars that should be made by those businesses. I believe the market will decide those establishments' fate. If customers don't like the environment of a restaurant or bar, they won't spend their money there. And if enough of them shun an establishment, it will go out of business. Problem solved without any government meddling. The counter-argument is employees of those establishments have no choice when it comes to breathing second-hand smoke exhaled by customers or fellow employees. Actually, they do. They don't have to work there. It's one thing if a business did not permit smoking, and suddenly recanted that policy, but many of the restaurants and bars that are being targeted by this ordinance have allowed smoking on their premises for years. Anyone who works there or applies to work there knows that smokers and second-hand smoke is part of the work environment. If you don't smoke or are easily bothered by second-hand smoke, don't apply to work there. It's as simple as that. I'm also going to vote against this proposal on my belief that very few of the people who signed this petition actually read the entire eight-page ordinance. They were probably just asked, "Would you like to sign a petition to ban indoor smoking in all public places in Cape Girardeau?" without bothering to read the specifics. While the ordinance primarily targets smoking in any indoor public areas, it also ventures outside prohibiting smoking "within a reasonable distance of outside entrances." What is reasonable? Five feet? Ten feet? A thousand feet? Who decides what is "reasonable?" I'm guessing the businesses being targeted by this ordinance are not competent enough to make that distinction, so who? And according to the definitions in the ordinance, smoking would be prohibited at essentially any event, inside or out. For instance, smoking will be banned at "sports arenas" which the ordinance defines as "sports pavilions, stadiums, gymnasiums, health spas, boxing arenas, swimming pools, roller and ice rinks, bowling alleys and other similar places where members of the general public assemble to engage in physical exercise, participate in athletic competition or witness sports or other events." It's a rather broad definition. I could see that as covering everything from the little league fields to golf courses to the family reunions being held at a city park. I think the title of the proposal is a clue to its ultimate agenda: ~"AN ORDINANCE ADOPTING PROVISIONS TO PROHIBIT SMOKING IN INDOOR WORKPLACES AND PUBLIC PLACES HEREBY KNOWN AS THE CAPE GIRARDEAU SMOKE-FREE AIR ACT." It doesn't say "INDOOR WORKPLACES AND INDOOR PUBLIC PLACES." Considering that the proposal also includes the phrase "This Ordinance shall be liberally construed so as to further it purposes." makes me wonder how far the anti-smoking proponents will push their agenda if this becomes law. Perhaps, if they add leaf burning, I might consider becoming a supporter.
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