Posted on 12/07/2005 6:21:38 AM PST by SheLion
FLORENCE - The general consensus regarding a proposed smoking ban in local restaurants after Florence City Council’s work session Thursday was that the decision should be left up to restaurateurs.
“I don’t smoke and I don’t like to be around it, but I certainly think the owner of the restaurant should make that decision,” Councilman Bobby Holland said. “I think we have too much government in life anyway.”
Florence City Councilman Buddy Brand brought the matter to council for discussion after he was approached by a Pee Dee Healthy People board member.
He said he, too, thinks the question should be decided by restaurant owners, not City Council.
“I think we need to always explore the options, and I think that this group is doing the right thing by simply asking restaurants if they would consider going smoke-free,” Brand said.
“I think most of us would love to go into a smoke-free restaurant, but that doesn’t mean it’s our place to tell these restaurants what to do,” he said. “I’m not for it or against it. I’m just providing the information.”
Councilman Billy D. Williams echoed his fellow councilmen’s sentiments and said he does not think it’s council’s place to impose a smoking ban.
“I don’t think City Council should be involved,” Williams said. “That’s out of line for us. We’re the governing body, but not for private property. If I don’t want to be around the smoke, I don’t have to go there.”
Councils in Columbia, Charleston and Spartanburg are taking a look at similar citywide bans.
Some local restaurateurs already are taking measures to eliminate smoke from their establishments.
As of Jan. 1, the 301 Drive-In in Florence will be entirely smoke-free. Co-owner George Nikolakakos said customers were the catalyst for the change.
“We were getting complaints about the smoke. We even have a couple of customers who’ve said they won’t come back until it’s smoke-free,” Nikolakakos said in an interview Wednesday.
“The main problem here is we can’t have separate smoking and nonsmoking areas. The building’s not designed for it,” he said. “But the main thing is you have to change with the times and these days, people are into a more healthy lifestyle. They want a healthier environment.”
Florence resident Gerald Griffin attended council’s work session Thursday to speak in favor of the ban. He said City Council and South Carolina as a whole need to follow the lead of other cities and states and ban smoking in public places.
“Research has shown that smoking causes cancer so anybody exposed to secondhand smoke is going to be exposed to cancer,” said Griffin, a former athletic director at Francis Marion University. “So many places have already banned smoking - Florida, Vermont, the city of New York. Ireland banned it, even in the pubs. So why don’t we have responsible government in Florence, South Carolina?”
Murray Jordan, who also attended the work session, suggested that council put the question to a referendum.
“Let the people of the city decide,” Jordan said.
After the discussion, council agreed to accept the proposal as information but took no action.
“It seems to be the will that this is as far as we go with this right now,” Mayor Frank Willis said.
“Let the people of the city decide,” Jordan said.
How refreshing! Private property owners actually have rights in todays Nanny State . Amazing!
How refreshing! Private property owners actually have rights in todays Nanny State . Amazing!
It's wonderful. Smoke or no smoke, we have to admire the lawmakers in SC for not letting the government take over private businesses.
The Carolina's is a beautiful place to vacation. I hope smokers keep this in mind when they want to relax by the ocean. Take their money to the Carolina's!
Excellent news. We need more elected representatives like this........they actually understand their jobs and what they are NOT supposed to be doing.
"Councilman Billy D. Williams..."
Lando?
Still peaceful in most of the south. Life has become so hate filled in the north over these smoking bans. They are putting a wedge between everyone.
Buyer beware!
Anybody and anything claiming to be for "Da Pipples", isn't. They are usually the enemies of Liberty.
They are putting a wedge between everyone.
That is their goal - divide and conquer.
Without a doubt. They sure aren't for ALL the pipples!
I Love IT!! A little chunk of the south raising the finger to the nanny state.
Here's something I posted on our state board last night:
My employer deals with a lot of foreign customers on our site. Many of them smoke. The "no smoking" thing was tried many years ago and resulted in pissed off customers blocking locked doors open so they could conveiniently go outside without having to walk all of the way around the building to the main lobby where the receptionist could let them in.
Their blocking doors open effectively eliminated any security we had. We found doors still blocked open in the morning many times. Computers and other things did disapear during this time.
Solution: we built a smoking lounge in the building to accomodate our customers. Made everyone happy and our building was secure again. Thefts measurably went down.
Along comes this ban. Now the lounge is being removed and we are going to have to tell customers that they are going to have to walk all of the way to the front lobby, out the doors into the cold wind and rain and stand 25 feet from any entrance or ventilation shaft, all just to keep the nanny-staters happy.
It won't be long before they start blocking the doors open again...
It is a myth that second hand smoke causes cancer, Griffin should do better research. The smoking hysteria is beyond comprehension – drinking enough Star Bucks will give one in several thousand cancer, just prove it. Every time you heat or cool your house, chemical changes occur depending on the manufactured things you might have in it – some of which might, over time, cause cancer. The spread of AIDS could have been stopped a few years back if people spending their time bashing smokers, had been less politically correct in addressing the AIDS problem….but NO, they spend countless hours demanding the smoking habit be eradicated to save the world rather than tackle the cause of AIDS. Cancer may be pre-determined by genes or lack of a strong immune system, all sorts of things cause all sorts of cancer and thus far there are few cures; however, how to prevent AIDS is well known.
Give me a cigarette any day………………….
Do you have that many snithces working at your company - how would anyone know if the smoking lounge remained for your customers?
I mean that is utterly ridiculous.....I don't see how they can enforce it on such a firm as yours, which is obviously NOT a public place.
My favorite one is the "sacharrin causes cancer" scare: they injected mice with the equivalent of 800 cans of diet soda per day and then were shocked that some of them developed cancers. Billions of dollars were wasted on that scare..........
Frankly, I was surprised when I found out about the smoking lounge. It was not widely advertised. I heard it was the one and only place on company property (indoors) in the US where smoking is allowed - all to keep our foreign customers happy and not inflict our stupid laws on them.
No more.
I hope it works out and they don't get too bent out of shape.
It won't be long before they start blocking the doors open again...
The smoking bans are causing more problems then what second hand smoke ever could.
Loss of revenue, lay-offs.................to include complete closure of a business.
Lots of complaints about having to go outside to grab a cigarette: bar owners say that many smokers run a tab, go outside for a cigarette then keep on going.
Smoking Bans Are Choking Our Nation's Economy!
I remember a scare that drinking milk can lead to rotted teeth..but again, the rats were given the equivalent of about 40 gals of milk per day..
I'm surprised the nanny state hasn't required a warning on the stomach of pregnant women that reads.."Caution: Being born leads to death in 100% of studied cases"...
I guess if they repeat a lie often enough, more people will believe it. And they forget about the shs research that has been done to disprove all this hysteria about second hand smoke!
What about the Oak Ridge Lab Study? It's been swept under the rug. The anti's keep it hidden.
Oak Ridge Labs, TN & SECOND HAND SMOKE
Statistics and Data Sciences Group Projects
I think any anti who tries to dismiss the findings of the U.S. Department of Energy labs at Oak Ridge, should be confronted with the question: "Are you saying that DOE researchers committed scientific fraud and that their findings on ETS exposure are untrue?"
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