[chrisser]

When your fish causes a fire, we can talk about equivalency.

[chrisser]

And by the way, when I say "complain" I'm not merely talking about voicing displeasure.

I'm also talking about calling the state hotline:



The reason there are no ashtrays are also due to state law:

http://www.elyriahealth.com/about/announcements.shtml

"On November 7, 2006 the voting public passed into law legislation which provides for smoke free workplaces and smoke free public places. This law went into effect on December 7, 2006.

These guidelines have been developed by the Ohio Department of Health to provide 3 simple steps to help you comply with the new law as required on December 7, 2006. These steps are:

1. Begin prohibiting smoking in any public place or place of employment as of December 7, 2006. This includes areas adjacent to means of egress and ingress to your facility.

2. Removing all ashtrays and other receptacles used for disposing of smoking materials from any area where smoking is prohibited by the statute.

3. Posting of conspicuous signage in every public place and place of employment where smoking is prohibited, including at each entrance. The statute requires these signs to say "No Smoking" or have the international symbol for "No Smoking" (consisting of a pictorial representation of a burning cigarette enclosed in a red circle with a red bar across it. These signs must be clearly legible and MUST include the toll free number for reporting violations"



So here in my state, you are prohibited from smoking at work, or anywhere near the doorways, and your employer is prohibited from providing any safe means of disposing of the butts to employees on their way back or visitors on their way in.

Likewise, a business like a bar, restaurant or retail establishment is prohibited from allowing smoking in their facility and is also prohibited from supplying responsible means for smoking customers to extinguish their cigarettes on the way into their facility.

You can imagine, in this kind of atmosphere with state-encouraged public snitching, that no business is going to let an employee or customer put a cigarette in their trash and certainly not empty an ashtray into their trash and risk a visit from the smoke Nazi's because some busybody got a whif of burnt tobacco leaf.

[AnglePark]

If YOUR car burns because you didn't extinguish YOUR cigarette, too bad. It's YOUR car, and YOUR responsibility.

If YOUR house burns because you didn't extinguish YOUR cigarette, too bad. It's YOUR house.

If those are the only places you can dispose of YOUR cigarette butts, that's too bad -- that's where they need to be disposed.

If you have to carry YOUR butt until you find a proper place to dispose of it, DO IT!

It's YOUR responsibility as a smoker, no matter how inconvenient it may be for you. I don't care if you have to chew and swallow the damned thing -- it's YOURS, and your responsibility alone to properly dispose of it.

Good grief -- personal responsibility no longer exists in this country.