STAY HOME

Quote :

" Smoking ban passes General Assembly Posted: Today at 11:07 a.m. Updated: Today at 7:42 p.m. RALEIGH, N.C. — The House narrowly approved a broad indoor smoking ban Wednesday that was previously passed by the Senate, delivering another jolt to the tobacco industry that once was a key piece of North Carolina's economy. House Bill 2, which lawmakers approved by a 62-56 vote, bans smoking in nearly all restaurants and bars. Private clubs and cigar bars are exempted from the no-smoking restrictions. The bill now heads to Gov. Beverly Perdue's desk, and she said Wednesday that she was ready to sign it into law. "Today is an important and historic day for North Carolina," Perdue said in a statement. "I have vigorously supported efforts to reduce and eliminate smoking, and this bill will help more North Carolina citizens avoid the dangers of second-hand smoke." House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman said the proposal is a good step toward protecting the public's health. "Tobacco has a great legacy in North Carolina. It's done some great things, (but) certainly, people have a right to smoke-free air," said Holliman, D-Davidson, who has survived two battles with lung cancer. Anti-smoking advocates praised the House's move while lamenting that some workplaces weren't covered by the bill. "North Carolina restaurant and bar workers and patrons will be able to breathe easier at work and at play," Pam Seamans, policy director for the North Carolina Alliance for Health, said in a statement. "Although North Carolina did not achieve smoke-free workplaces for all employees, which was the original intent of the bill, (Wednesday's) vote marks a huge step in the right direction." But others said the measure violated individual freedoms. "This is a tobacco state. It built Wake Forest and Duke (universities). All of them, they were built with tobacco (money)," said Rhonda Selph, co-owner of Watkins Grill on Atlantic Avenue in Raleigh. Selph said her customers appreciate the choice between sitting in smoking or non-smoking sections, and she doesn't want that option taken away from them. "They're regulating everybody. It's getting worse and worse," she said. "They're stomping on everybody's rights. We don't have rights anymore. It's really upsetting." State Sen. Neal Hunt, R-Wake, said he agrees with critics that state lawmakers crossed the line with the smoking ban. "If someone owns a piece of property, and if it's a legal process – if it involves a legal activity – they should be allowed to do that," Hunt said."

5/13/2009 9:29:58 PM

5/13/2009 9:30:44 PM

message_topic.aspx?topic=561903&page=12#12901064

5/13/2009 9:31:43 PM

stay home?

[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 9:32 PM. Reason : o, my bad, b]

5/13/2009 9:32:14 PM

I don't smoke, but I also didn't give a fuck enough about other peoples' lives to actively get their 'bad' habits banned out of establishments that they frequent.

5/13/2009 9:32:46 PM

I told hotcurlz24 a year or so ago that it was all over when Pam's Farmhouse banned smoking.

5/13/2009 9:33:10 PM

the vote might seem narrow, but the poll numbers were pretty staggeringly in favor of this

which blew me away considering this is NC

i'll try and dig em up

5/13/2009 9:33:52 PM

i really wish that GA would hop on board

5/13/2009 9:34:23 PM

never thought I would see NC do this, hah

5/13/2009 9:36:01 PM

here it is.. a bit older than what i read, but pretty close to the numbers i remember

Quote :

"Elon, N.C. — Sixty-eight percent of North Carolina residents support a statewide law that would ban smoking in public places, including public buildings, offices bars and restaurants, according to the latest results of last month's Elon University poll."

yet at the same time

Quote :

"Although a majority of respondents indicated support for legislation that would ban smoking in public places, in assessing who is responsible for the regulation of smoking, 62 percent said the decision should be left to business owners."

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1883905/

5/13/2009 9:36:37 PM

5/13/2009 9:36:47 PM

Quote :

"I don't smoke, but I also didn't give a fuck enough about other peoples' lives to actively get their 'bad' habits banned out of establishments that they frequent."

And the government shouldn't care that much either.

5/13/2009 9:38:43 PM

message_topic.aspx?topic=561903

5/13/2009 9:39:23 PM

ibtl?

5/13/2009 9:40:52 PM

Quote :

""If someone owns a piece of property, and if it's a legal process – if it involves a legal activity – they should be allowed to do that," Hunt said.""

WTF KIND OF INBRED IDIOT MAKES THIS ARGUMENT

IT WAS LEGAL

NOW IT IS NOT LEGAL

That is how a government works.

It used to be legal to kill someone in a duel but we got past that.

5/13/2009 9:40:59 PM

plz not to lock

my thread has a much snappier title and first line

5/13/2009 9:41:38 PM

5/13/2009 9:48:44 PM

im moving back to fucking arizona

and i dont even smoke anymore

5/13/2009 9:49:18 PM

At most there should be incentives to keep places smoke free. That way if someone wants to open a smoker's paradise, they can do so.

Oh wait...those incentives already exist, because people who don't want to be near smoke won't come to smoking establishments.

I always figured it would happen, just not this soon.

Quote :

"WTF KIND OF INBRED IDIOT MAKES THIS ARGUMENT IT WAS LEGAL NOW IT IS NOT LEGAL"

No sir. Smoking continues to be a legal activity. And now private individuals who own private businesses are being told that they're not to allow that legal activity to continue.

[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 9:53 PM. Reason : ]

5/13/2009 9:51:13 PM

doesn't it sicken you?

fucking china over here these days

5/13/2009 9:52:51 PM

plus don't tobacco and NC go like hand in hand

are the farmers mad?

5/13/2009 9:58:25 PM

yes

5/13/2009 9:58:47 PM

people aren't gonna slow down on their smoking. they're just gonna leave the restaurant faster. bars will find a way around this.

[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 9:59 PM. Reason : farmers are subsidized anyway. they don't really give a shit.]

5/13/2009 9:59:14 PM

so couldn't every bar that wants to continue allowing smoking just have everyone "join" their "private establishment" by signing a piece of paper (like they do at champions and katmandoo and other bars that don't serve food) to get around this?

5/13/2009 10:00:10 PM

it said to be a "private club" they have to be non-profit.

[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 10:01 PM. Reason : and they can serve food, but only to members]

5/13/2009 10:01:29 PM

Why don't you fucks cry about it already... while I breathe deeply in the bar.

5/13/2009 10:01:54 PM

it's really not a big deal - nyc and chicago are both much much larger than any city in nc and have been just fine since they instituted this ban - people still smoke - they just go outside now to do so

quit whining - oh the humanity - oh no

5/13/2009 10:02:04 PM

any smart farmer got the fuck out of tobacco 10 years ago

5/13/2009 10:03:38 PM

I wonder if this ban includes the outdoor parts of bars, like the patio area at Mac's Tavern or the breezeway on the side of Flying Saucer?

5/13/2009 10:03:57 PM

bars and restaurants haven't found a way around it up here in NY...and it's been anti-smoking for a while now. I mean, people will go outside and smoke...but you don't see people (smokers) hanging out at bars for hours and hours on end like I saw people do in NC.

last summer (I think), NY made the tax on cigs. statewide (instead of just NYC). It would cost about $7+ a pack up here now for smokes. The gas stations and local stores were PISSED. Their monthly revenue dropped like a rock, some establishments went out of business, etc...
The reason behind that is my location in NY is about a 5 minute drive from the PA border where tobacco isn't taxed like crazy. Everyone just makes the drive now.

5/13/2009 10:03:58 PM

stay home

5/13/2009 10:03:58 PM

Oh no, you'll have to go outside to kill yourself now, whatever will you do? The people that weren't killing themselves no longer have to inconvenience themselves so that you can kill yourself.

5/13/2009 10:04:12 PM

i'm not crying about not being able to smoke (good job missing the point guys!). i just think it should be up to the individual business owner.

yea you said it, nyc and chicago = much bigger than any city in nc.

5/13/2009 10:04:55 PM

why cant we just fucking DO THIS already?

5/13/2009 10:05:40 PM

sacrificing freedom for security.
the road to socialism

5/13/2009 10:06:19 PM

Quote :

"plus don't tobacco and NC go like hand in hand are the farmers mad?"

A quite small percentage of NC's GDP (or whatever you want to call it) comes from agriculture. Of that, a relatively small percentage comes from tobacco. We've got a lot in livestock (especially pork) and planting has shifted increasingly to other shit in recent years.

Farmers are and for a long time have been a disproportionately powerful influence in American politics, but their influence is waning in places and hopefully will continue to wane across the board.

Quote :

"so couldn't every bar that wants to continue allowing smoking just have everyone "join" their "private establishment" by signing a piece of paper "

Yeah, they could, but that's likely to be a greater impediment to business (at least, if it's followed strictly, which it never is).

5/13/2009 10:06:23 PM

Quote :

"any smart farmer got the fuck out of tobacco 10 years ago"

i was always told in my early days at nc state agricultural and mechanics college that industrial hemp would save them

but i have no idea if it was cleared to grow or not

my guess is that they still can't?

5/13/2009 10:06:48 PM

Quote :

"i just think it should be up to the individual business owner."

well, it was up to the owner before and very few went smoke-free

[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 10:07 PM. Reason : ^nope]

5/13/2009 10:06:50 PM

Quote :

"it said to be a "private club" they have to be non-profit."

So the private club meets at X restaurant. They get around this in Alabama all the time. To drink on a Sunday at the Hooters in Dothan you have to join the "Dothan Wings Club", which costs a dollar and gets you a piece of paper as a membership card.

The club is non-profit and Hooters is quite benevolent to permit them to hold their weekly meetings for free.

But again, it is asinine to tell private property owners what they may, and may not, do with their own property.

5/13/2009 10:07:01 PM

they need to do as much as they can to ostracize smokers

5/13/2009 10:07:58 PM

Quote :

"Quote : "i just think it should be up to the individual business owner." well, it was up to the owner before and very few went smoke-free"

yea. i'm aware. that is how it should be.

5/13/2009 10:08:36 PM

Quote :

"i just think it should be up to the individual business owner."

If he doesn't like the fact that he is using the infrastructure and profiting from being in a city that is well run and growing, then he can get the fuck out and go somewhere that it isn't banned.

When will we stop with all this "private business" bullshit. This is a tired old lame argument by conservative douche bags.

5/13/2009 10:09:07 PM

^^so very few options for those who do not want to suck in second hand smoke?

[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 10:09 PM. Reason : .]

5/13/2009 10:09:17 PM

Quote :

"well, it was up to the owner before and very few went smoke-free "

Then apparently non-smokers weren't very adamant about avoiding smoke.

If the nonsmokers had avoided smoking places in any sort of force the response would have been different, because they're in the majority.

5/13/2009 10:10:15 PM

Quote :

"When will we stop with all this "private business" bullshit"

Go to China you communist faggot

5/13/2009 10:10:25 PM

Quote :

"Oh no, you'll have to go outside to kill yourself now, whatever will you do? The people that weren't killing themselves no longer have to inconvenience themselves so that you can kill yourself."

i know an obvious troll when i get the urge to smack the poster, but still

i'd respect it if it was a citywide ordinance... maybe. but state government is even more worthless than federal.

im a cities rights kind of guy

5/13/2009 10:10:30 PM

there are PLENTY of places that are smoke free now. i can think of THREE new bars really quickly that just opened in downtown raleigh that are smoke free.

so many restaurants etc have voluntarily gone non-smoking.

5/13/2009 10:11:20 PM

maybe in raleigh and charlotte, but i cannot think of a single smoke-free restaurant back home in wayne county

[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 10:12 PM. Reason : and places like that make up a much larger portion of the state]

5/13/2009 10:12:32 PM

Quote :

"If he doesn't like the fact that he is using the infrastructure and profiting from being in a city that is well run and growing, then he can get the fuck out and go somewhere that it isn't banned. When will we stop with all this "private business" bullshit. This is a tired old lame argument by conservative douche bags. "

Nothing obligates you to go into a private business. You have a much greater ability to look for other venues than a business owner does.

5/13/2009 10:12:35 PM

^x8 and if you want to live in a country where the government tells you how to run your business, move to china

[Edited on May 13, 2009 at 10:13 PM. Reason : s]

5/13/2009 10:12:40 PM