Couple demands halt to neighbor's smoking

Akron Beacon Journal ^ | 1/23/04 | Phil Trexler

[alisasny]

Maybe they can hire the BRECK BOY after he is toast this year and looking for a new case LOL

[angkor]

Time to rent a Particle Counter and put the lie to these nuts.

[RightOnline]

Ohfercryinoutloud.............what a supreme pu**y.

[saul goode]

I'm sure you're speaking tongue-in-cheek, but you wouldn't have a leg to stand on from a legal standpoint as long as the tree is well-maintained. In fact, if there was a large storm and the tree blew over and crushed your house, your neighbor would have no liability whatsoever for your damage. The damage, like the falling of the leaves, is legally considered to be an act of nature provided that the neighbor took reasonable steps to keep the tree healthy.

[not_apathetic_anymore]

Alternatively, he can approach the owner of this adjacent unit, buy it, and evict this lady. He can then stipulate in his next rental contract that only nonsmokers can rent the property.

It IS her property and she should be able to smoke at home. As a non-smoker I find these people over the top.

I think your suggestion above is a good one. But on the other side of property (non)rights I wonder if it's actually doable. I have friends who are landlords and they say they can hardly exclude anyone as a tenant for any reason...or they'll be sued for discrimination. Despite the fact that it's their property, their hands largely tied in choosing their renters. Can one make a rental decision based on smoking criterion?

[Lazamataz]

Headline, Jan 21: Couple demands halt to neighbor's smoking

Headline, Jan 22: Smoking neighbor demands halt to couple's screwing

[Welsh Rabbit]

but this guy needs to address his hypersensitivity to smoke(and oddly no sensitivity to pet dander) on his own.

Good observation.

[mylife]

"For some people, over the age of 50, litigation takes the place of sex."

Wh00p! LOL

[cyborg]

Oh you got it! hmmm....

[RightOnline]

"Suppose the guy's health really is affected by her smoking -- which is entirely likely. What's your answer then?"

......and the odds of that really being the case are.............?????

"Annoyance" does not equal "health risk" 'Bout damned time people learn this.

I have a neighbor who's a royal a-hole. I have yet to seek a restraining order preventing him from being an a-hole. He's an annoyance. He doesn't risk my health (although he has occasionally risked his own by annoying me.............).

Not picking on you, by the way. Just how I see it.

[Snerfling]

Who says she has to smoke at all?

It's their right! The State is oppressing them! LOL. My two favorite anecdotes regarding smoking/smokers are:

(1) One of the original Marlboro cowboys (models) was being interviewed as he was dying from lung cancer. He said that none of the Philip Morris execs who were around for some of the shoots ever smoked;

(2) Now that the major cigarette firms have been forced to raise prices to cover their settlement agreements with the states, a whole new crop (pun intended) of farmer co-ops have jumped into the business because they can provide the same (or better) quality at a lower cost for generic brands (eg Kentucky's Best, et al).

In a recent interview with one of the leading KY farmers behind this movement, he mentioned that neither he nor any of his children or his grandchildren smoked. He claimed (rightly so) that tobacco is a legal product and that everyone knows the dangers - especially his family members who had been lectured about the dangers from their childhood.

[Lazamataz]

Ohfercryinoutloud.............what a supreme pu**y.

Supreme Putty?

Is that like Majestic Caulk?

[mylife]

I have a nieghbor that wouldnt paint his house. I left 6 cans of paint on his porch. its painted now.

[Tall_Texan]

I don't think it is insignifcant that these are university types. Their disease is liberalism, not second-hand smoke.

Seems like the easy answer is to buy a fan and put it on the gate that separates the two patios. Problem solved.

[Dog Gone]

Oh, I realize that I couldn't win. I just wanted to find out if R9etb could distinguish between the two situations. I don't think there's any legal difference between them.

[notaliberal]

Life is all about choices, not imposing our will on each other.

Why is it that negative behavior always gets a pass.

Yes, I wasn't forced to move here, but I "assumed" that neighbors would respect one another. I was wrong. I sold my house because at my age, I couldn't keep up with all the work involved in maintaining a household and work too. I wasn't expecting to breath smoke all summer long.

I wonder why the government prohibits restaurants and factories from operating without equipment to filter the effects of what they put into the air.

[badmrbunny]

I have always considered radical non-smokers to be the saddest lot in our society today. They spend their entire existence asserting their superiority in all things, so bashing smokers comes second nature to them. It's yet another way that bullies never grow up, they just change the playing field. My unscientific opinion is that nazi non-smokers have a life filled , in every imaginable way,with attempting to extract every ounce of control their little wringing hands can muster...

[angkor]

Smoking right outside my door falls into those categories.

Why is your door open when you're frail and elderly and suffer all these ailments, and the current temperature in Akron is 15 degrees?

Oh? It's because you need to let the dog and two cats outside, but you can't even do that because they might also smell tobacco smoke. They have asthma too.

Neat trick, that pets clause. It could only come from the conspiring minds of a cranky professor and his lawyer.

[LizardQueen]

Condiminium living is different than subdivision living and the behaviors have a much more significant impact on the neighbors.

I agree - I once lived in a condo complex populated mostly by smokers and because of the close quarters there's not much you can do that doesn't somehow affect the other neighbors. It wasn't just smoke, it was noise, and headboards banging against the wall when the neighbors were frisky, etc.

Good smoking condo-neighbors will check if the windows are open before smoking under them and will try to smoke downwind of the buildings. And good non-smoking condo-neighbors will try not to be giant sphincters about the most minute particle of smoke coming into their personal space.

It just seems like a little more consideration and flexiblity from both parties in this article could go a long way toward solving the problem.

LQ

[Vesuvian]

Yeah, that's why I really don't admire lawyers!