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Tarheel State Joins Smoking-Ban Bandwagon
N.C. Gov. Bev Purdue says she will sign into law a bill the state House of Representatives passed Wednesday that bans smoking in bars and restaurants in the state.
The House approved by a 62-56 vote a version of the smoking ban that had been passed by the N.C. Senate. The measure will make it illegal for restaurant and bar owners to allow smoking in their establishments.
Cigar bars and private clubs will be exempt from the law.
The bill's supporters contend the legislation will protect workers from second-hand smoke. Opponents argue that the state is overstepping its bounds, encroaching on the rights of residents and business owners.
North Carolina has long been the top tobacco-producing state in the country.
Watch Reason.tv's Banned: Welcome to Nanny-State Nation:
Mad Max|5.14.09 @ 11:04AM|#
This reminds me of the slogan in T.H. White's ant-dystopia:
"Whatever is not forbidden is compulsory."
It seems that North Carolina's solons think that they either have
to *promote* tobacco or *restrict* it. And now that promoting
tobacco doesn't seem politically popular in the state's
post-tobacco economy, the only alternative is some kind of New
York-style harassment of smokers.
phalkor|5.14.09 @ 11:11AM|#
*lights ciggy*
Yeah! Fuck those bastard smokers! They won't be happy until
everyone has cancer and dies an agonizing death! A pox on
smokers!
*cough-cough*
Hey, who wants to rip this bong?
Abdul|5.14.09 @ 11:23AM|#
Ahhh, Tarheels do love them some smoking. I lived in a small NC
town just three years ago. My wife and I took our then 7 month old
to a local diner. We asked the waitress to seat us in the
non-smoking section.
"Ain't got one," she said. She seated us near a table of smokers.
In the waitress's defense, it was difficult to find any of the
patrons not smoking. Gesturing at our baby, my wife asked if we
could be seated a little further away from the smokers.
"Why? They ain't smoking that much. But suit yourself." The
waitress said.
Somehow, our kid survived the hour's exposure to second-hand smoke,
but it was an odd experience.
|5.14.09 @ 11:25AM|#
Somehow, our kid survived the hour's exposure to second-hand
smoke,
You don't know that. If your kid dies at age 112 of a heart attack,
it will be smoking-related death due to his exposure to second-hand
smoke as a child.
You're wise to post with a handle, Abdul. That kind of exposure to
second-hand smoke is probably child abuse in many states.
|5.14.09 @ 11:30AM|#
I'm curious to see how the legislation defines "private clubs".
Under NC law, bars that serve liquor (rather than just beer and
wine) and are not also restaurants are required to be membership
bars. You sign up and 3 days later you are a member. The law is
largely ignored- some places have you sign a sheet at the front
door as a "guest", and many don't do anything. I haven't heard of a
place getting busted for this in a long time.
Anyway, if all membership bars are "private clubs", there are going
to be a hell of a lot of exemptions to this.
Abdul|5.14.09 @ 11:39AM|#
You don't know that. If your kid dies at age 112 of a heart
attack, it will be smoking-related death due to his exposure to
second-hand smoke as a child.
Come to think of it, our toddler is short and can't even do basic
long division. Maybe he was damaged? Time to sue the waitress, the
smokers, and the tobacco companies!
|5.14.09 @ 11:47AM|#
You're right JLM - all of the bars (that don't serve food) I've been to in raleigh are private and require "membership" and is many times ignored.
|5.14.09 @ 11:59AM|#
I don't believe that anyone has the right to pollute the air I breathe, especially in enclosed places. Can I fart on YOUR entree since I don't smoke?
The Angry Optimist|5.14.09 @ 12:03PM|#
AC -
Then don't breathe that air. who says you're entitled to breathe
the air inside private property?
JLM|5.14.09 @ 12:05PM|#
AC-
You are welcome to eat at a restaurant that allows farting on
entrees. I will choose not to- but I will defend your right to do
so to the bitter end!
The Angry Optimist|5.14.09 @ 12:07PM|#
I hope for AC's sake s/he does not drive a car. Or buy stuff that comes from a factory.
freeforall232|5.14.09 @ 12:24PM|#
@Abdul - "Somehow, our kid survived the hour's exposure to
second-hand smoke, but it was an odd experience."
You, and so many, miss the point. If you don't want to eat at a
place that's filled with cigarette smoke...LEAVE, OR DON'T GO IN
THE FIRST PLACE!!!
Before the cigarette ban here in TN, I either ate on the
restaurant's patio (preferably upwind from any smokers), or didn't
eat there at all. If you live somewhere that doesn't offer you a
number of dining choices, then eat at home! You could pick up some
hot dogs and fire up the grill...oh wait, does grilling out count
as "second-hand smoke" exposure?
|5.14.09 @ 12:32PM|#
I don't believe that anyone has the right to pollute the air
I breathe, especially in enclosed places.
I don't believe that anyone is requiring you to go into places
where smoking is allowed.
I also don't believe that you should be able to prohibit someone
from smoking so that you can go into a place that you might
otherwise prefer not to.
Abdul|5.14.09 @ 12:35PM|#
Freeforall,
You missed the point. I don't want smoking in restaurants to be
outlawed, I just thought it was an odd experience.
|5.14.09 @ 12:54PM|#
If North Carolina bans smoking, what's next? Is Detroit about to ban driving? Is Hershey, PA, going to ban candy?
freeforall232|5.14.09 @ 1:01PM|#
@Abdul - I'm sorry. I mistook your comments as being from
someone who thought they had no other recourse than to suffer
through a smoke-filled meal.
I'm glad you and I agree that restaurants should be free to allow
their customers choices without government choosing for them.
I will be sure to re-re-read your comments in the future.
Jeff|5.14.09 @ 1:18PM|#
If North Carolina bans smoking, what's next? Is Detroit
about to ban driving? Is Hershey, PA, going to ban
candy?
Indeed. I remember the student smoking section at my NC high
school, and I graduated a short 9 years ago. Nowadays, of-age
students and staff can't even dip within a several-thousand-foot
margin of a school campus.
|5.14.09 @ 1:24PM|#
You can't smoke weed in public in the top weed-producing state, either. How is this any different?
Mad Max|5.14.09 @ 1:28PM|#
'I remember the student smoking section at my NC high school,
and I graduated a short 9 years ago.'
I remember when the only smoking restriction at hospitals was that
surgeons should 'try not to let too much cigarette ash into the
patient's body.'
(I should probably note that this is a joke, lest it get recycled
via the intertubes rumor mill)
Paul|5.14.09 @ 1:29PM|#
Cigar bars and private clubs will be exempt from the
law.
This is actually pretty cool. A lot of other state bans don't even
allow this. The private club loophole is a pretty wide open
one.
Mad Max|5.14.09 @ 1:30PM|#
'try not to let too many ashes from your cigarette drop into the patient's body while you're leaning over him.'
Jose Rodrigues|5.14.09 @ 1:40PM|#
Having a smoking section in a public restaurant is like having a peeing section in a public pool. Yeah, piss is sterile, but that doesn't mean I want it swirling around me. Unless of course it was produced by Anne Hathaway.
Jose Rodrigues|5.14.09 @ 1:42PM|#
"Is Hershey, PA, going to ban candy?"
No. Just brown lard products.
Paul|5.14.09 @ 1:54PM|#
Having a smoking section in a public restaurant is like
having a peeing section in a public pool. Yeah, piss is sterile,
but that doesn't mean I want it swirling around me. Unless of
course it was produced by Anne Hathaway.
Analogy almost works. *almost*
There is a peeing section in the public pool. It's called
"The Pool". It just isn't stated with a sign. There's also a
pooping section, too. Ever see the little ones in 'swim diapers'.
Yep, that's right. That's why we here in the first world chlorinate
our pool water. You know, because the world ain't perfect and
sometimes some foreign particles are a'gonna enter in through your
orifices in small quantities.
We do what we can to mitigate these things in the pool, without,
you know, banning everything we see that we're not comfortable
with.
ed|5.14.09 @ 2:14PM|#
Biggest gang wins. That's democracy. I missed the republic, but I heard it was nice.
|5.14.09 @ 2:37PM|#
That's why we here in the first world chlorinate our pool
water. You know, because the world ain't perfect and sometimes some
foreign particles are a'gonna enter in through your orifices in
small quantities.
And the restaurants that installed smoke eaters as was required by
law in Monkey County MD only a year or 2 before they banned it
outright? Ha ha! Suckers! You spent $100,000 on a politician's
promise.
Zeb|5.14.09 @ 2:39PM|#
To all the "no one has a right to..." people: You do have a
right not to be exposed to tobacco smoke. You can exercise that
right by not going to places where people smoke. See how easy that
is? That is how rights work: you have many rights and you can
choose to exercise them or not.
Similarly, I have a right not to be exposed to stupid comments on
the internet, but I chose not to exercise that right on many
occasions.
Janeane Garofolo|5.14.09 @ 3:33PM|#
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United Democrat State,
and to the Republic for which it once stood:
Fuck you, rednecks! We won! Deal with it!
|5.14.09 @ 3:47PM|#
Jose Rodrigues | May 14, 2009, 1:40pm | #
Having a smoking section in a public restaurant is like having a peeing section in a public pool. Yeah, piss is sterile, but that doesn't mean I want it swirling around me. Unless of course it was produced by Anne Hathaway.
Since it hadn't been explicitly mentioned yet. The difference is
that a public pool is public. A private restaurant is private. As
soon as you learn what that those words mean, you'll understand why
your analogy is dead wrong.
Jose Rodrigues|5.14.09 @ 3:54PM|#
"Since it hadn't been explicitly mentioned yet. The difference
is that a public pool is public. A private restaurant is private.
As soon as you learn what that those words mean, you'll understand
why your analogy is dead wrong."
Having a smoking section in a private restaurant is like having a
peeing section in a private pool. Yeah, piss is sterile, but that
doesn't mean I want it swirling around me. Unless of course it was
produced by Anne Hathaway.
Fixed that for ya.
|5.14.09 @ 6:31PM|#
Jose Rodrigues | May 14, 2009, 3:54pm | #
"Since it hadn't been explicitly mentioned yet. The difference is that a public pool is public. A private restaurant is private. As soon as you learn what that those words mean, you'll understand why your analogy is dead wrong."
Having a smoking section in a private restaurant is like having a peeing section in a private pool. Yeah, piss is sterile, but that doesn't mean I want it swirling around me. Unless of course it was produced by Anne Hathaway.
Fixed that for ya.
Who are you letting pee in your private pool? Shouldn't you be
angry at your posterity or partner? Would you want the government
to go through the motions and spend millions of dollars passing a
law to make it a felony for any person to pee in a pool, public or
private, when it would be absolutely impossible to actually enforce
it--especially in private?
Besides, if the owner of the restaurant WANTS people to smoke in
his/her restaurant, primarily because they will make LESS money if
they are forced to forbid it (or go out of business altogether),
then why are your wants for a single meal that you could get
elsewhere more important than the livelihood of the owner and the
wants of all of his/her customers?
Oh, and by the way, you really should look into that "private" vs
"public" dichotomy... Or do you really believe that the whole world
is your playground?
hmm|5.14.09 @ 6:34PM|#
Cigar bars and private clubs will be exempt from the
law.
Time to open Bob's Steakhouse and Techno Rave.
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