| |
|
|
Share/Bookmark this Topic:
|
| Message |
Author |
by linkup
on Sun Jun 17, 2007 6:18 am |
|
http://www.nyjournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070616/NEWS03/706160347
Rockland bans smoking in cars with kids
By SARAH NETTER
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: June 16, 2007)
Thinking of lighting up while driving with your child in the back seat? Not a good idea - in Rockland, anyway.
County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef has signed a law making smoking in cars with children younger than 18 illegal, though he said he did it with reservations.
The law is the first of its kind in New York, said Dr. Jeffrey Oppenheim, the Rockland neurosurgeon who proposed the idea.
Oppenheim, president of the county Board of Health, called Vanderhoef's signature "a victory for every child in Rockland County."
Vanderhoef said yesterday that he initially planned to veto the bill because it came very close to regulating behavior, something he said he thought the government should never do. But the basis for the law was that children needed to be protected from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke, he said.
"Ultimately, that trumped all the other arguments," Vanderhoef said.
In his message to the county Legislature, Vanderhoef wrote: "Although privacy rights within one's own automobiles or other private domains are important, they are superceded by the welfare of the child, as in the enforcement of seat belt and children's car seat laws."
ASS FOR BRAINS VANDERHOEF has joined the forces of FASCISM!!! I wonder who he had dinner with that day. Or maybe he read the June 14 Forces Article proclaiming the "Death of Property Rights ".The "health of kids" trump card is becoming cliche. I hope this guy never farts near me! Notice he said "automobiles or other PRIVATE domains".The home is next!
Next VANDERHOEF will sign a Bill requiring an Extenze Enlargement Therapy Program for men,to insure the sexual health of women.VANDERHOEF, go have dinner with all the Lobbyists and make it big,even bigger!! Health trumps ALL Logic!!
The law will take effect when it is filed with the New York secretary of state.
Angela DeFrancesco started smoking when she was 16. Now 74, the Nanuet resident hasn't smoked in 30 years and thinks the law is a good one.
"I just got disgusted with the taste and the smell on my clothes and the cough I had," she said.
When her children were small, DeFrancesco said, she smoked mostly "after hours."
"Mostly outside," her son Ron DeFrancesco agreed, as the two shopped for groceries yesterday in Nanuet.
Ron DeFrancesco, who lives in Brooklyn, remembered his father smoking in the car with him, but said he would put out his cigarette when asked. And his father would never smoke in the car with Ron DeFrancesco's asthmatic brother, he said.
"It does infringe on people's rights," he said of Rockland's law, "but you got to think of the right of the child, also."
Adults, he said, "can smoke when they get out of the car."
Tina Moro of New City also said she supported the law.
"I think it's a great idea," she said.
Moro has two children - 7-year-old twins - and has talked with them about the dangers of smoking to the point at which they worry about her friends who smoke.
Violations of the law are punishable by a fine of $75 to $100 for the first offense and $150 to $250 for second and subsequent violations.
In addition to the privacy issue, the law's opponents have said it would be tough to enforce.
Vanderhoef said he was not sure it could be enforced any better than the ban on driving while using a handheld cell phone, but hoped his approval of this law would serve to educate people that confining a child in a car with secondhand smoke was not in the child's best interest.
Oppenheim said he hoped other municipalities in New York would follow Rockland's lead.
Similar laws exist in Keyport, N.J.; Bangor, Maine; Arkansas; and Puerto Rico. Proposals have been made in several other states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.
Rockland already bans smoking in restaurants and bars, and the county Health Department has a program in place to encourage municipalities to ban smoking at parks and playgrounds. |
Last edited by linkup on Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:49 am; edited 3 times in total |
|
linkup
Smoking Lobby Sponsor
Joined: Oct 01, 2005
Posts: 1201
Location: Anywhere but here
|
| |
Back to top |
|
|
| |
|
by Lynda F
on Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:35 am |
|
linkup wrote: But the basis for the law was that children needed to be protected from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke, he said. "Ultimately, that trumped all the other arguments," Vanderhoef said.
This sentence alone, is the real reason the bans have been passing with such speed. The minute "the children" entered the picture, it throttled up to full speed ahead and then some. AND if you notice, Vanderhoef said "Vanderhoef said yesterday that he initially planned to veto the bill because it came very close to regulating behavior, something he said he thought the government should never do." So while he considered that it might trample private rights, he too, used the "for the children's protection" to trump the rights of the parents to do as they wish. AND this same argument is being used to also ban smoking in your own multi-unit dwelling in many places now. The health issue is what needs to be proven false in order to protect and save "private and property rights".
THIS is the reason that FORCES continually talks about not using the "property rights" argument alone. Once this was turned into a "public health" issue, the health of the masses will always trump the property rights of the few. It's also the reason that many, not just FORCES believe that private and property rights are just about lost now.
You have to prove that private/property rights are being stipped away with the use of phoney science if you wish to win.
Yes, the bar in Nevada won.....................how many others didn't though? There obviously aren't enough judges who still believe in property rights and the constitution.
Hell, with enough money, anyone can strip another of their rights.
While I understand and feel your anger and frustration, Linkup, you also need to find a way to divert it or control it so it doesn't cloud your actions. |
|
|
Lynda F
Enthusiastic Smoker
Joined: May 02, 2007
Posts: 365
Location: Phoenix, AZ
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by linkup
on Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:42 am |
|
| Noted,and yes I do believe in linking Property rights to the phony health issues. Everyone does.But not always! |
Last edited by linkup on Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:29 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
linkup
Smoking Lobby Sponsor
Joined: Oct 01, 2005
Posts: 1201
Location: Anywhere but here
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by linkup
on Sun Jun 17, 2007 7:58 am |
|
The one Property Right that will never be taken from Bar Owners is that they do NOT have to actively participate in the Enforcement of Smoking Bans.Fines will not be upheld in any case as long as signs are posted and ashtrays removed.
In the above case,Property Rights Trump Everything.
So bring your own ashtray and rely on the owners silence to allow you to spend money. |
Last edited by linkup on Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:28 am; edited 2 times in total |
|
linkup
Smoking Lobby Sponsor
Joined: Oct 01, 2005
Posts: 1201
Location: Anywhere but here
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by linkup
on Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:12 am |
|
Health issues refer to people as well as the state of the States Health.Politicians can go either way depending on their goals.
If,for instance,a politician voted for a smoking ban based on SHS,he may later change his mind (trump SHS health) based on the financial HEALTH of his State. |
|
|
linkup
Smoking Lobby Sponsor
Joined: Oct 01, 2005
Posts: 1201
Location: Anywhere but here
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by smokem
on Sun Jun 17, 2007 8:38 am |
|
| In general I think politicians can be trusted to follow fashions (the crazier the trend the closer they follow), scrounge for votes and money, and kiss babies. The point about defiance is good. The more the better. Lots more is lots better. It spreads best by underground word of mouth and action. The bar owners who call the press to announce that their ashtrays are sacred and that the Board of Health can go straight to Hell tend to be brief delights. If they don't have a trillion bucks to really beat the ban for good Anti keeps beating them till they go broke or get closed down. That's why the old speakeasies -- God bless 'em they won in the end -- had passwords and did not have neon signs. |
|
|
smokem
Smoker
Joined: Apr 04, 2005
Posts: 143
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by Darkseid
on Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:14 pm |
|
| Good-because they're coming back. Actually, they never totally left. I used to go to a few back in the 50's and 60's after the bars closed-they had changed the names to 'after-hours joints' then. The cops in town were aware, but bought off in most cases. You could gamble, continue to drink, or eat there. Some were pretty elaborate. |
|
|
Darkseid
Smoking Lobby Sponsor
Joined: Jun 13, 2006
Posts: 1389
Location: Peoples Republik of oHEILo
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by jcleitz
on Sun Jun 17, 2007 11:59 pm |
|
This is ridiculus.. This is my old stomping groud. I worked at a bar in rockland for YEARS.... I know all the cops.. they used to come to the bar after midnight to smoke (and yes, after the smoking law was in effect) there is no way this is going to be enforced. Rockalnd county might as well be kentucky when it comes to law enforcement, It the good ol boys club.. Half of them hang out with the orange county chopper guys and ride motorcycles. THis si so pathetic. I might just buy a car seat and a fake baby and drive around smoking all day  |
|
|
jcleitz
Enthusiastic Smoker
Joined: Apr 17, 2006
Posts: 451
Location: Jersey
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by Darkseid
on Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:07 am |
|
I posted this on a local toledo board, and got the following response:
Bravo Rockland, Bravo! The children there didn't make the choice to smoke... and die of cancer.
I'm not a big fan of government telling people what to do... but in the case children and their health, I'm all for it. Especially when it comes to selfish, uneducated smokers.
Ouch!!! posted by NAVYLT at 12:24 A.M. EST on Mon Jun 18, 2007 #
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My response to the rabid smoker-hater:
Yep-another fine 'selective' american-"I'm ALL FOR FREEDOM and LIBERTY-EXCEPT where ----(fill in the blank)-- is concerned, because I personally don't like it." I repeat-if World War 2 were fought today, we'd lose to the axis powers. I'm ashamed to say I wore a uniform.
P.S. ETS will not kill you. Sorry.
Ouch!!! posted by Darkseid at 03:53 A.M. EST on Mon Jun 18, 2007 # |
|
|
Darkseid
Smoking Lobby Sponsor
Joined: Jun 13, 2006
Posts: 1389
Location: Peoples Republik of oHEILo
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by linkup
on Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:33 am |
|
| You are right, Dark,if this crap continues we will fall as a Nation.I think we have fallen halfway down the stairway aready. |
|
|
linkup
Smoking Lobby Sponsor
Joined: Oct 01, 2005
Posts: 1201
Location: Anywhere but here
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 2
Goto page 1, 2 Next
|
|
|
