standing up for property rights

[supperman15]

today the feared smoking ban goes into effect.  what should we do?  someones idea was to gather a big group of people together and start at one end of elm st and go into each and every restaurant asking if we can get seated in the smoking section and smoke.  when they say no, we move on, if they say yes we give them a little business the smokers in the group enjoy a cig and we try to find more. 

I suggest meeting at the Verizon Center at 5:00 if you cant join till later pm me before 5 and i can get you my phone number so you can meet up with us as we are on the move, or just call around i think dale and mike may join,  we will probably be just on elm st.

[dalebert]

I just put out a Porc 411 about this so I just wanted to bump the thread. I'm looking forward to this. This should be a fun and very effective way to protest and raise awareness about what this ban really does to businesses.

[kola]

I do NOT like to smell cig smoke while eating.

I occasionally(2-x per week) smoke a pipe (tobacco) but only outdoors.

I beleive in individual free rights regarding smoking but not when they invade other peoples rights.

Kola

[Nicholas Gilman]

    I used to eat out once a week with co-workers, and
we all smoked or tolerated smokers.  The city said they
would ban smoking in restaurants, and I went to a hearing
and told the city council straight away that the half dozen
of us would simply drive an extra mile to a nearby restaurant
outside city limits and they would lose the tax money.

   The irony is the basis for the ban was to "prevent cancer and
health issues", yet establishments that had more than 80% of sales
in alcohol were exempt.  I asked the doctor who proposed the issue
if alcohol could cause health problems, and he remained silent.

We must of presented our side of the issue well, because our city
shelved the issue for later review...that was four years ago.

[supperman15]

the idea is to let people know that they are loosing business by tolerating oppression.  and if we find people that are not we will give them some business to help them fight against it.

[d_goddard]

I have to work late tonight but I've been wishing I had time to go to some bars with copies of the NHLA Report Card and distribute to pissed-off smokers and bar owners. The Report Card is nice because it lists the Reps by town, so it's easy to find out who you should thank or bitch at

If anyone else would like to use the Report Card in this fashion, please email me and I'll get a buttload of copies to you: Denis.Goddard (at) gmail.com

I've attached the roll call for just this vote, in case it's useful.


[attachment deleted by admin]

[kola]

If I were a restaurant owner I would have my restaurant divided into 2 separate sections with a full wall and large exhaust system. There would be no trace of cig smoke in the nonsmoking section. A business owner has the right to do what they want and serve whoever they please and even restrict certain people, races etc. And yes, that means if I the owner, choose only to serve blacks or people with 3 eyes, that is my choice.

Kola 

[d_goddard]

If I were a restaurant owner I would have my restaurant divided into 2 separate sections with a full wall and large exhaust system.

There was an amendment that would have provided for exactly that.
Rep. Tara Reardon, chair of the House Commerce committee, assured me she agreed with this compromise and would support it.
Then in committee she individually personally killed that very same amendment.

Thanks, Tara. You earned your "F" in oh so many ways... 

[Rifkinn]

someones idea was to gather a big group of people together and start at one end of elm st and go into each and every restaurant asking if we can get seated in the smoking section and smoke.  when they say no, we move on, if they say yes we give them a little business the smokers in the group enjoy a cig and we try to find more.

Out of curiosity, would you support a place that bans all smoking not because of a law, but because they choose to do so?

[error]

Out of curiosity, would you support a place that bans all smoking not because of a law, but because they choose to do so?

Absolutely yes. We go to such a place twice a week or sometimes more!

[dalebert]

Out of curiosity, would you support a place that bans all smoking not because of a law, but because they choose to do so?

In theory, that's perfectly fine. Question is, do they support a smoking ban so that they don't have to lose their smoking customers to places that would allow them to smoke if they could.  For this particular event, I think the point is to emphasize the business they could gain by having a smoking section and allowing smoking, and to encourage them to engage in a tiny bit of civil disobedience. If the point of your business is to make money, it behooves you to find a way to cater to the largest amount of customers' desires. It may not be practical in all cases to have a smoking section and enough ventilation to keep non-smokers happy so some businesses might just choose to keep their establishment non-smoking.

[supperman15]

someones idea was to gather a big group of people together and start at one end of elm st and go into each and every restaurant asking if we can get seated in the smoking section and smoke.  when they say no, we move on, if they say yes we give them a little business the smokers in the group enjoy a cig and we try to find more.

Out of curiosity, would you support a place that bans all smoking not because of a law, but because they choose to do so?

good question, and yes. i plan on asking any business that does not alowe me to smoke when they started that policy if it was before today i would love to give them some business, it is about them choosing not the government. 

[Rifkinn]

good question, and yes. i plan on asking any business that does not alowe me to smoke when they started that policy if it was before today i would love to give them some business, it is about them choosing not the government. 

I think I knew what an answer would be  , but I just had to ask since it didn't seem clear to me in your first post.

Error, since I am not local (someday though...) I don't know the policy of... ahh, I see it now on their site just after mentioning "24 beers on tap, the outstanding food".

[FTL_Ian]

today the feared smoking ban goes into effect.  what should we do?  someones idea was to gather a big group of people together and start at one end of elm st and go into each and every restaurant asking if we can get seated in the smoking section and smoke.  when they say no, we move on, if they say yes we give them a little business the smokers in the group enjoy a cig and we try to find more. 

They will probably just be paranoid and think you're part of a sting operation... 

[J’raxis 270145]

I have to work late tonight but I've been wishing I had time to go to some bars with copies of the NHLA Report Card and distribute to pissed-off smokers and bar owners. The Report Card is nice because it lists the Reps by town, so it's easy to find out who you should thank or bitch at

If anyone else would like to use the Report Card in this fashion, please email me and I'll get a buttload of copies to you: Denis.Goddard (at) gmail.com

I've attached the roll call for just this vote, in case it's useful.

Handing out the entire eight-page report to people so they can find their district's reps seems wasteful. Ever though of printing up individual cards (business card–size) for each district/county/city/whatever, then handing the right one out at the right place? I think we have a few people on the forum in the printing business.