Posted on 07/25/2014 8:35:42 AM PDT by Drango
Any beachgoers that enjoy puffing away on a cigarette while they sit on the sand or frolic in the surf may have to get their nicotine fix elsewhere, as Oregon has proposed a ban on smoking that would include all 362 miles of beaches on its coastline.
The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department has followed up an earlier ban on smoking at most state park properties with this proposal, partly because the agency is worried that all those smokers pushed out of parks will come to the beach, reports the Associated Press.
The move would also serve to cut down on litter on the beaches and ensure consistent rules throughout the entire state parks system, an agency spokesman added.
According to the executive director of a nonprofit organization called SOLVE that collects trash on Oregon beaches, cigarette butts are the most prolific item.
“Most of the debris picked up by the volunteers consists of either small plastic items or cigarette butts, which both harm marine life in various ways,” she told the AP.
Those caught smoking could face a $110 fine under the proposed ban, though the department would rather educate visitors and save the heavy fines for the worst repeat offenders. Park rangers would be responsible for enforcing the ban, as they are for the February ban that only allows smoking inside vehicles or campsites when on state park property, or in specially designated areas in day-use parks.
Rangers have already started asking people to put out their cigarettes in state parks, but won’t start ticketing anyone until next year, the spokesperson adds.
Every person here bitching about smokers belong on a liberal board because
you certainly do not belong on a Conservative site. Get lost..
Amen from a former 40 year smoker. Sign of the times I guess as it’s not the only anti-conservative position routinely espoused here any more.
I don’t mind being called a statist/ Nazi by those who pimp death or addiction.
You are trying to make a connection between potato chips making a person fat and cigarette smoke in the air affecting those around them? That is pretty weak. I don’t care how fat people cause themselves to be......... it doesn’t affect me (except to make me look slim in comparison).
I don’t think cigarette smoking on the beach would bother me so maybe this really is about littering with cigarette butts and filters.
“Why don’t they just switch to smokeless e-cigarettes? No smoke. No butts.”
I live in a Cleveland suburb, and they just banned smoking in all public city owned areas, parks, football and soccer fields, etc, including e-cigarettes in order to, “Foster and promote a healthy environment.”
Nevermind Cleveland area cigarette smokers have been paying a .50 per pack tax to pay for the Cleveland Browns stadium for years now.
They take their money, and then banish them.
Nicht Rauchen das Evangelium von dies NAZI Fuhrer verordenen
GOOD NAZIS
DON’T SMOKE /s/
I’m sure you don’t. You don’t mind lying either. Same ole same ole elitist “knows best for everybody” mindset all statists have.
I am saying YOU WON. Do what you want.
No, but they probably bring drinks, lunch etc. Presumably they have a trash receptacle of some kind.
Why would they not put the butt in with the rest of the trash?
Move out of the sticks. You can smoke in the park sin Cleveland, you just can’t litter. Though many do.
I don’t mind being called a Nazi by those who pimp death or addiction.
“You are trying to make a connection between potato chips making a person fat and cigarette smoke in the air affecting those around them? That is pretty weak.”
First, with the breezes that exist at beaches, the chance of any second hand smoke getting into someone’s nostrils is probably about as low as a potato chip being blown from an adjacent eater’s potato chip bag into your mouth (second hand potato chip consumption). And then, again, one always has the liberty of moving away from someone who smokes, curses, engages in lewd behavior, smells bad, etc., etc. Or rather than moving, get the nanny state beach police make the offending party move.
“I don’t care how fat people cause themselves to be......... it doesn’t affect me (except to make me look slim in comparison).”
Someone on the beach smoking near you bothers you, but not fat people nearby (in skimpy bathing attire?). Fair enough. But what if someone is not bothered by someone else smoking but is bothered by an obese person wearing a bikini. They paid a lot for their vacation and now are physically sick at looking at all the extruding beer guts. Should the offended party have to move or advert his/her gaze, or can the nanny state beach police make the fat person cover up?
No I said fat people on the beach would not bother me neither would smoking on the beach. What I said was your attempt to make a connection between a fat person eating potato chips and cigarette smoke was lame.
Personally, I did it for more than 20 years, as did all of my friends and family when we headed to the beach. I am also known to stop my car and make any passenger who threw something out the window get out and find it - even a cigarette butt.
I hate litter and litterers. My property includes 500 feet of road front, on a busy road frequented by tourists and the drug dealers in the next town. Cigarette butts are the least of the litter I routinely pick up and by routinely, I mean at minimum every other day -at this time of the year it is a daily routine.
Obviously you didn't realize my post was tongue-in-cheek. (Especially the part about a revenue stream for homeless people.) I didn't think I needed the sarcasm tag. Have a nice day.
“No I said fat people on the beach would not bother me neither would smoking on the beach.”
Sorry to have missed that and glad you haven’t joined the nanny staters.
“What I said was your attempt to make a connection between a fat person eating potato chips and cigarette smoke was lame.”
Perhaps it was not the best example or analogy that could be devised. Someone more creative than me could probably come up with something better.
However, the point remains that while there is some behavior that we may think people should refrain from (e.g., smoking at the beach) and therefore we might feel it’s O.K. to outlaw it, there may be other behavior we like to engage in (eating on the beach, shining light on the beach at night though it messes up turtle mating patterns, etc., etc.) that the nanny staters could come after at any time.
They will never have enough regulations and restrictions on liberty to satisfy themselves.
When I was about ten my father (a smoker) saw me toss a candy wrapper on the ground in our campsite. He made me pick up every bit of litter there. From that day on I have always picked up every piece of litter I find when I go camping, hiking etc. I have filled 40 gal. trash bags in some places. Less than 1% of the trash has been cigarette butts.
I don’t know when or why I got into the habit of picking up litter, it just seems I’ve always done it. If everyone just picked up after themselves there wouldn’t be a problem, but so many people have the attitude of “so what, that what I pay taxes for.”
Some people care about the world they live in, some people care about controlling others and some people just don’t care. ;-)
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