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Smokers pleased to bridle their business

Tuesday, January 23 at 12:01 AM

So, Sen. Ken Gordon wants to finish what former Sen. Dan Grossman started (“Smoke-free casino bill on tap,” Jan. 13).
Well, that’s OK, Grossman is no longer in office, I guess the voters can decide Gordon’s fate as well!
I am in my 70s, very healthy and I smoke. I like to smoke and have no intention of quitting! My husband smokes as well. We are sympathetic and courteous to those around us who don’t smoke.
We used to spend time and a lot of money on vacations in California, but when they banned smoking most places, we quit going.
We don’t frequent bars and we do not patronize restaurants anymore, either.
Before there was limited gambling in the mountain towns, we went to Las Vegas at least twice a year. They welcome smokers. (Has anyone ever noticed that several casinos in our mountains towns have no-smoking areas? They are all virtually empty!)
I’m sure that the loss of our business won’t make a whole lot of difference, but it sure is satisfying to us!

M.J. Fogarty, Denver

READER COMMENTS

It's true that the areas set aside in the casinos for non smokers are virtually empty all the time. My wife and I usually go to Blackhawk once a week to gamble, and if the smoking ban is extended to the casinos, we won't go nearly that often. We will probably just fly to Wendover or Vegas for a weekend once a month and spend our dollars there.
I was up last Friday and was talking with one of the bartenders in one of the larger casinos and she says that she thinks that the smoking ban will kill a lot of business as they have people who don't even gamble go to the casinos so that they can smoke and have a cocktail at the same time. After seeing what the ban has done to the local neighborhood bars, I can see where she is coming from. All those non-smokers who proclaimed that they will come out in droves once the ban went into effect failed to materialize.

Posted by Blue on January 23, 2007 09:51 AM

I hope all of the small business owners who are losing money due to the ban follow your leads and take their money and the taxes they generate elsewhere to generate some negative feedback about this piece of legislative garbage. And I'm a non-smoker.

Posted by Geoff on January 23, 2007 03:47 PM

Hey Geoff,

I hope all the smokers follow those small business owners and leave the state, too.

The money the state will save on the treatment and care of people with lung diseases will more than make up for their absence.

The rest of us can enjoy lower insurance premiums and co-pays when we no longer have to pay the price of other people's self-destructive decisions.

If this issue is about freedom and liberties, then it's long past time that non-smokers got their fair say in the matter since it's our air, too.

Posted by Thomas on January 29, 2007 06:46 AM