Bar Owner Blames Smoking Ban For Rape

The Denver Channel ^ | March 15, 2004 | The Associated Press.

[qam1]

PUEBLO, Colo. -- A Pueblo bar owner says the smoking ban that forced his female employee outside is directly responsible for her rape.

When the woman went outside the Irish Brew Pub for a cigarette break last month, a 33-year-old man attacked her, dragged her into an alley and raped her.

Owner Ted Calantino says people like his employee wouldn't be exposing themselves to dangerous situations if it weren't for the recent smoking ban.

City Councilman Bill Sova says it's inappropriate to blame the ban. He says it should be Calantino's responsibility to ensure his employees and patrons are safe.

That could mean hiring more security and putting up more outdoor lighting.

The two men have been butting heads over the smoking ban since it became an issue.

[Mears]

Good lord,Will---You just described Amherst and Northampton in Massachusetts.

[Drango]

Blame the victim for the crime

I blame the rapist...who are you blaming?

[Humidston]

I remember the time (when I was a smoker) that I was forced outside the Dallas airport to smoke at 11:30 PM, where I shared a dark space with two teenage males, in order to grab a couple of puffs between flights. Thank heavens they weren't dangerous!

I think airports especially should be put on notice that when they force lone females outside in the dark, they should assume some liability for their safety.

[Humidston]

You smokers will be happy to know that CA is now going to ban smoking ON THEIR BEACHES. I saw some clown from the Lung Assoc. on TV today - stating second hand smoke "falls" back down to earth and "poisons" the air of non-smokers, thereby putting them in serious danger!

If it wasn't so idiotic and absurd it'd be laughable.

[Gabz]

Reread your post to which I responded.

You obviously have never met a bar/restaurant employee or patron that has been assaulted because they were required to go outside to have a cigarette. I have.

The weather in California is a bit more accommodating to outdoor dining/drinking than it is in Delaware, New York or Maine, or Pueblo, Colorado.

Of course the rapist is to blame, but if there was no smoking ban in effect the victim of this rapist would never have had to go outside and therefore would have most likely not become his victim. The ban is complicit in this crime, without doubt.

[Drango]

The ban is complicit in this crime, without doubt.

Do you also blame SUV's for road rage or is it the idiot drivers? How about people murdered with a pistol? Is the evil gun responsible or is the fool who pulls the trigger?

[Bronco_Buster_FweetHyagh]

Do you also blame SUV's for road rage or is it the idiot drivers? How about people murdered with a pistol? Is the evil gun responsible or is the fool who pulls the trigger?

If you can't see the difference yet, look closer. It's beyond idiotic to make women stand alone outside of bars late at night just to have a smoke. It's dangerous.

[Gabz]

Please learn to read.

[Gabz]

Thank you.

Whether one is a smoker or not - the idea of forcing women who do smoke outside without some modicum of safety is ridiculous.

And considering it is the government that has created this danger - it is the government that is responsible for the safety of those forced to abide by it. The owner of the establishment, who most likely opposed the idiocy to begin with, should not be held responsible.

[NautiNurse]

Do you also blame SUV's for road rage or is it the idiot drivers? How about people murdered with a pistol? Is the evil gun responsible or is the fool who pulls the trigger?

Drango, your analogy is skewed. When smokers are forced to stand in the middle of the road or in front of the target at the shooting range, it is silly to blame an SUV or a gun for the inevitable results.

[richmwill]

I still don't see much blame for the actual rapist on this thread, which is very scary. Also, who's to say the attacker wouldn't have waited for the lady as she left the bar to go home? It's not like if she had been able to smoke inside the bar she would have NEVER had to leave the bar again.

[Hell to pay]

Here is a recent letter to the editor in the Pueblo Cheiftain.

Sova is out of touch

Regarding (City Councilman Bill) Sova's responses to the smoking ban and the concerns of Irish Pub owner Ted Calantino's concerns, Sova says: "The general nature of bars compromises public safety more than forcing smokers outside to partake in tobacco." And, "Maybe it's (Calantino's) responsibility to take additional steps for safety - adding lights or hiring additional security. He should be accountable for having a well-lit, safe area for those people who still choose to smoke." And, "Maybe we need to cut down the number of bars." And regarding the number of bars and police officers per-capita in Pueblo, "I think there's a correlation there. We're spending a lot of taxpayer money to baby bar owners that allow unruly behavior. I feel it's a waste of taxpayer money to do that when police could be out doing more community-minded endeavors."

Sova has his head in the sand or somewhere again. Does he not know that rapes, beatings and sexual assaults have taken place in parking lots of restaurants, malls, discount stores, schools, collage dorms, homes and motel rooms throughout Pueblo and other cities? Who's that basketball player that's been in the news for a while now? Or did Sova miss that one? Do all these places need more lights and need to hire additional security and do we "need to cut down the number" of these businesses?

Is there a "correlation" between these businesses and police officers "per-capita" in Pueblo? A lot of taxpayer money is being spent to "baby" crimes in the streets, domestic disputes, drugs, holdups and burglaries. A whole lot more taxpayer money is spent in those areas than on a bar owner, or any business owner, being forced to send employees and customers into the streets.

It wasn't Calantino's choice to send his employee out of a safe environment that night. They were obeying the "law." But how does Sova put it? According to The Chieftain article, "Sova, a vocal supporter of the anti-smoking ordinance, said the 'incident' has not changed his opinion that the ban has been a 'success'." The "incident." My God. A woman is raped and beaten and he calls it an "incident." What a man of compassion. The smoking bans "success" has a higher priority with him. For a "doctor" that's some bedside manner.

To my customers and those of other bars who are blue collar workers, doctors, lawyers, accountants, women who work and are the glue that holds our families and lives together and every other cross section of worker in Pueblo, this is what Bill Sova thinks of you if you go to your favorite bar to relax and enjoy the company of your friends. From the Chieftain article, I quote Bill Sova, "If these are the kinds of people that frequent these establishments and constitute their patrons - you know, the gang element and troublemakers - then maybe those places shouldn't be open." He is so out-of-touch and has no idea of all the wonderful people of Pueblo who are bar patrons as well as his patients.

Dan Wolf Pueblo

[Gabz]

What I would like to say about this Sova guy would get me banned from Free Republic.............

I'm very impressed with the paper that publiched that letter, and with the writer of it.

[Great Dane]

OK. Smoking bans are stupid. But the rape is the fault of the rapist.

We know that, but the smoking ban puts smoking employees more at risk.

[cherry]

As we drove thru Pueblo, was it may imagination but isn't it quite a poor town?.....

anyway, the true and real blame is neither the bar owner or the ban on smoking....it rests with the animal rapist that probably can't get it any other way except force....

I am vehemently anti-smoking except even I know that the most fun people are smokers......

go to a dance club or bar and you will notice...the ones smoking are having the most fun.....

[Great Dane]

Please go away, far far away.

[montag813]

He says it should be Calantino's responsibility to ensure his employees and patrons are safe. That could mean hiring more security and putting up more outdoor lighting.

In other words, another tax.

[snowstorm12]

If you're a woman and you work at a bar and go outside by yourself, you're putting yourself at high risk. I definately think she should've taken a buddy. Nobody forced her outside, she chose to go outside alone. Most ladies ask if someone will escort them to their car at night if you ask the security.

[Clock King]

This whole country needs new government NOW!

[cyborg]

from your lips to god's ears