Change of heart on smoking ban
Awhile back, Leilani A. Mueller, Northglenn I appreciate your 'change of heart' on having us nonsmokers inhaling unwanted smoke. But FYI....don't worry about the mom and pop little places. The one down the street from me has buisness up 20 plus % since the ban. I suspect there are more of those than the opposite. Its been years coming and I'm certainly not sorry about the ban. I appreciate your 'change of heart' on having us nonsmokers inhaling unwanted smoke. But FYI....don't worry about the mom and pop little places. The one down the street from me has buisness up 20 plus % since the ban. I suspect there are more of those than the opposite. Its been years coming and I'm certainly not sorry about the ban. Ann Butler is living in a fantasy world. We have compiled the true statistics from the source ie, the owners. The averageloss is over 25% with a large segment in the 30% range and this is a statewide survey ,not just down the street, and does not include the over 40 bars, pubs and taverns that have closed because of the negative finacial impact of the smoking ban. These are Mom and Pop neighborhood businesses which just got by under the best of circumstances.The ban sealed their fate which is loss of livelihood, retirement nest eggs and children's and grandchildren's educational savings accounts. People have the right to not be subjected to second hand smoke , so why on the first hand do they subject themselves to it by going where it exists. You never have had the right to tell private enterprise how it should operate. It is the free market place that decides it's success or failure nor do you have the right to tell people how they should live there lives. To do so by force of law is nothing short of tyranny. Allen Campbell We used to go the restaurant bars (even with the smokers) just to avoid the screaming children. Now that there's no smoking, all the kids are in there----and we're not! I'd rather have second-hand smoke and peace and quiet. I'm sure the bars and restaurants are losing business, especially during the football games. All our friends now stay home and have parties (and smoke if they want to). Mr. Campbell fails to mention that his organization, the "Equal Rights Coalition", has close ties to the cigarette lobby and tried to defeat and then overturn the smoking ban. Its always important to note the source of any information. His "true statistics" are meaningless without knowing the structure of the survey. For example: How many restaurants actually participated in the survey? What were the parameters? How were the questions phrased? etc. His results imply that over 25% of customers at these establishments were smokers and that 0% decided to return. John Gains The idea that the smoking ban has not had a negative effect on a number of businesses is laughable. The Celtic tavern managed to get itself classified as cigar bar prior to the ban, allowing othem to have smoking in the premises, and I have yet to see a Friday or saturday when it wasn't packed. The same can be said of most of the other bars which became classified as cigar bars. meanwhile, the bars next door to these haestablisments never seem to have quite the crowd that they used to. I realize that this anecdotal evidence and that correlation is not causation, but the disparity in crowds between the two types of establishments would seem to argue against the idea that the ban has had no effect. As a non-smoker I have enjoyed visiting old haunts without the smoke, but I ve missed the crowds. This kind of socialist garbage should be left in Huxley's Brave New World. The book was meant as a warning, not an ideal. perhaps some people want a world where the individual(small bar owners) is thrown under the bus for the greater good, but I certainly don't. John Gains is so wrong I laugh. The Equal Rights Coalition has absolutly NO TIES TO ANY CIGARETTE COMPANY or any other entity. We do have a relationship the CLAB which is an organization the represents bar, pub and tavern owners and works with us on things pertaining to that. I am the Senior Vice President of the coalition and have been involved in it since it's inception and I know. You run the risk of a law suite under liable and slander laws if you continue to publicly say it does. Be careful my friend ,we may be a non profit entity under Colorado law but we won't allow ignorant people to slander our organization. Mr. John Gains also doesn't tell you that he is a spokesperson for GASP. How interesting. Also Mr Gains this is not about restaurants it's about bars. But to inform you I do work in a restaurant and we are down over all 20% and it is a big chain. I am also on the Coalition board and have studied the effect of the bans world wide and the losses are pretty much across the board. Quit lying to people and admit that ETS is such a small amount in bars. OSHA did surveys for years and tested smoke filled rooms and they're PEL's barely registered anything so they told the Federal Government that they won't have any part of they're greedy lies. They felt it was to benifit the company's that own Nicoderm, Nicotrol and extra including Phillip Morris whom you keep saying we are in cahots with. Who is in with Phillip Morris? You anti's are.
Why should nonsmokers be subject to our smoke? If they choose not to smoke, the. . and . . however unfair it is to us.
Senior Vice President
Equal Rights Coalition
Furthmore, the implication that banning smoking in public establishments is tyranny is the real fantasy. If we carried his argument to its logical conclusion, then we should do away with all health regulations at restaurants and let the chips fall were they may. After all we have a choice between going out to eat or staying in to dine. If we contract food poisoning, well, those are the chances we take and we know that going in.
Its a public health issue. Don't try and pull the wool over our eyes with misdirected shots at liberty and capitalism. Most of us have seen right through the smoke screen(pun intended) and through you.
Average citizen
Not associated with any lobbying group