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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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 Minnesota’s statewide smoking ban takes effect today 
#7475992 - 10/01/07 11:46 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Minnesota’s statewide smoking ban takes effect today
October 1, 2007 - stillwatergazette.com
OAK PARK HEIGHTS - Smokers who headed out to the bars Sunday night to enjoy the combination of cigarettes and beer one last time before a new statewide smoking ban took effect greeted the law with a frustrated shrug.
Most said they will continue to smoke and frequent their favorite taverns, even if it just got more difficult to do both at the same time.
"A few people will probably spend some more time in Wisconsin, but think most will still come here, they'll just have to step outside to have a cigarette," said Oak Park Heights resident Marie Foley, who was hanging out with friends at Eagles 94 Sunday night. "We don't like it, but it's inevitable."
While Foley said she's going to use the ban as an excuse to quit, she said she knows other people who view it as a reason to keep smoking.
"I think every smoker really kinda wants to quit, but the more they do things like this, the more some people dig their heels in; they don't want to be told what to do," she said.
Foley's friend Bill Kinney said that's how he feels.
"I still think that if people don't want to smell smoke they just shouldn't go into a smoky bar. They shouldn't take our rights away. What's next? Are they going to tell us they can't drink, like they did during prohibition?" he asked.
Kinney lives in Hudson, Wis., but came up to Eagles 94 to be with his girlfriend Brenda Williams, who lives in Oak Park Heights. As a result of the ban, the two of them said they will now be more likely to hang out in Wisconsin.
"I think a lot of business is just going to move over there," Kinney said. "It's not like it's far away."
That's what Lynn Merimonti, who tends bar at the Eagles club, is afraid of. She believes the ban will hurt small businesses the most.
"I don't think it's right. Not only is the ban infringing on our personal rights, it's also really going to hurt small business owners," she said. "Here, we're a non-profit organization and our profits go back into the community, so if this ban hurts our business, it hurts our community."
Merimonti, a smoker herself, said she's not exactly sure what she's going to do once the ban goes into effect, because she often manages the bar solo and won't be able to head outside for a smoke break.
"Leaving the bar unattended for 10 minutes is just not an option, so I don't know what I'm going to do," she said.
Across town at the Harbor Bar, bartender DonnaMae Glass said she will use the ban as one more reason to quit.
"I just got the patch, and I'm going to start wearing it tomorrow," she said.
Glass said she personally doesn't see the ban as a big deal, and she said many Harbor Bar patrons feel the same way.
One example was Stillwater resident Joe Baumann, who was at the end of the bar watching football and smoking with his buddies.
"How's the ban going to change what I do? Not much; I just won't smoke when I'm in a bar," he said. "I'm not angry or anything like that. I mean, we've been dealing with this in St. Paul and Minneapolis for a while now. You could see this coming for a long time."
Baumann said one of his biggest issues with the ban is the effect it will have on businesses, especially those that had spent tens of thousands of dollars to put in separate ventilation systems for smoking and non-smoking sections.
"I'd like to see them get some of that tobacco settlement money as compensation, because they're the ones who really got hurt by the ban," he said. "And I'm also concerned about how this is going to affect some local businesses, too. There are just some places people go to smoke. This is a smoking bar, and I like it."
Though she's heard plenty of grumbling, Glass expects her customers will soon come to terms with the ban, one way or another.
"People know that it's here, and there's nothing they can do about it. It's not like they can just go across the street to another bar where they'll be able to smoke. Besides, how far away is the door? Ten feet, maybe," she said.
"Most patrons don't think it's a big deal, and others have said they're thinking about quitting because of it," Glass continued. "It seems to be about 50-50 - some people are going to become healthier, and some are just going to freeze their butts off in the winter time."
Minnesota is the 17th state to have a statewide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. The law's approval came after years of legislative debate and local efforts to restrict smoking.
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 Visionary Tools
 
Registered: 06/23/07
Posts: 7,953
Last seen: 1 year, 10 months
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Re: Minnesota’s statewide smoking ban takes effect today [Re: veggie]
#7476298 - 10/02/07 03:30 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Whilst I approve of tobacco as much as I approve of meth, fuck! We have this here. It's wrong. This should be people's personal preference. Mine is I don't like people that go to pubs, thus I avoid passive smoke.
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 2 months, 6 days
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Re: Minnesota’s statewide smoking ban takes effect today [Re: Visionary Tools]
#7476380 - 10/02/07 04:46 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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I don't see why it is so difficult to leave it up to owners to decide if they want to allow smoking on their property. I don't see why it is so difficult to let employees decide if they are willing to work in a smoke filled environment. I have no problem making public areas smoke free, but private businesses should be free to decide if they want to cater to smokers or not. Yet another example of Uncle Sam molesting the people.
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Just another spore in the wind.
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prsnlJesus1036
Stranger
Registered: 11/30/06
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Re: Minnesota’s statewide smoking ban takes effect today [Re: Seuss]
#7476478 - 10/02/07 06:14 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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It's been like this in NY for years now. But, I agree with you Seuss, we leave everything else up to the privatre business, why not this, too?
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Trip the shrooms fantastic!!
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nub
Plobable
Registered: 04/14/06
Posts: 204
Loc: little district
Last seen: 12 years, 18 days
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Re: Minnesota’s statewide smoking ban takes effect today [Re: prsnlJesus1036]
#7476535 - 10/02/07 07:01 AM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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MMMmmMM yummy more smoke for me, pollute my precious outdoor air another great move by my governmentors!
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a_guy_named_ai
Stranger
Registered: 09/24/07
Posts: 767
Last seen: 15 years, 10 months
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Re: Minnesota’s statewide smoking ban takes effect today [Re: nub]
#7478094 - 10/02/07 04:49 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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I think this is not productive. They want to reduce the health impact on non consenting inhalers of second hand smoke, butthey push all thesmokers outside to pollute the air more. They're just making the smokers more angry and people are goingto break the law just like they did when the smoking ban was implemented in seattle.
Instead of putting a ban on smoking indoors, they should have a ban on smoking outdoors, that's the real problem. Noone has the right to stand around me and blow that filth around me so that I inhale it in my lungs. My right to breathe is more valid than their supposed "right" to smoke that rotten garbage.
Whoever says "dont judge others" and smokes cigaretes in public so that non consenting smokers breathe it in you are a hipocrite and I hope something hits you really hard so that you think about your selfish actions.
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Nashbar
just strange.... on drugs
Registered: 07/16/05
Posts: 3,536
Loc: strawberry field
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Re: Minnesota’s statewide smoking ban takes effect today [Re: a_guy_named_ai]
#7478129 - 10/02/07 05:07 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
jonathan_206 said: ban on smoking outdoors
i haven't heard/read that before. that's good.
i never smoked cigs, i don't mind going to a bar that's smoky, i don't go to the bar for my health. people choose the places they eat and work. let people decide.
on the other hand, if i'm outside, i should have my choice whether or not to get smoked, it's bassackwards now.
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hpi
Tsar Bomba
Registered: 01/17/07
Posts: 11,922
Loc: Montreal, Canada 
Last seen: 11 months, 10 days
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Re: Minnesota’s statewide smoking ban takes effect today [Re: Nashbar]
#7478218 - 10/02/07 05:33 PM (16 years, 6 months ago) |
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This has been effect for a year now here in montreal and it's the best thing thats ever happened.
It feels so good to walk into somewhere without cig soke everywhere. I HATE cigarattes.
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Tohu Tehom Theli Than Leviathan Tanin'iver Taninsam!
Tohu Tehom Theli Than Leviathan Tanin'iver Taninsam!
There exists one lie that is the absolute worst. A lie that has successfully infiltrated many of the Western governments. This lie is Christianity, and it must be fought in every way, shape and form. Burn the churches and kill the priests. The abomination that is Christianity must be wiped from this Earth.
4-Methyl-Aminorex
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