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by KYBrian
on Tue Jun 08, 2004 12:45 am |
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Hi, update from Lexington KY whose smoking ban is being held up as a national example. It's a dismal failure, restaurant business is down by about 10 % ( I am a waiter wondering how to support myself on a pay cut) but many bars are down by as much as 70%, dozens of bar employees have been layed off. A few bars in the city have refused to enforce this, and still have the ashtrays out, etc, and everytime they have been fined have demanded a jury trial (good move, cost the county $6000 for a $100 fine for the first offense, $250 second, $500 all others) and see long it lasts.
--First the bad news, the University of Kentucky received a HUGE federal grant to study the effect of the ban on bartender health....and income, etc., but it lasts for FOUR freaking years. So it would be easy to give up now, huh. We are the NATIONAL example, if a ban works in the heart of tobacco country (it isn't) it will work nationwide.
--The good news now. On June 17th at the Fayette Co KY Courthouse we are organizing a protest of the loss of our livelihoods and rights during the first jury trial. We need all smokers interested in keeping their rights to come and protest. Remember, if the ban sticks here it will be nationwide in no time, it has been repeatedly said so in the local press that we are the national test city. I can't wait to see how much our city politcians were bribed to pass this law. Bars are so dead even the non-smokers don't want to go and the loss of business here is unprecedented, yet the city won't even talk to anyone. If the Lexington ban can be overturned, it would go a long ways to help the cause nationwide.
If you are serious about your freedom to smoke, you'll help out, either by writing the Lexington-Fayette Urban Co Gov't, coming here to protest, or in any other creative way. If you don't care, you'll sit on your rear and hope they don't ban smoking in your house.
Thanks for your attention. |
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KYBrian
Newbie
Joined: May 11, 2004
Posts: 16
Location: Lexington KY
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by Jay
on Tue Jun 08, 2004 1:22 am |
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| This post is an interesting post that deserves as much attention on several pro-smoking boards. After all, the more you post this same update on other smoking right forums, the greater chance you have to having lots of smokers coming to the protest. Or at least more smokers will write to the Lexington-Fayette Urban Co Gov't. |
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Jay
Enthusiastic Smoker
Joined: Jun 10, 2003
Posts: 647
Location: Chicago
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by Tom
on Tue Jun 08, 2004 8:35 am |
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| If there is ever a march or protest in Lexington, I'll be there. I can't think of a better way to spend my vacation time than helping preserve my freedom to smoke. Right now I don't see Lexington, KY as a national example. I see New York more of a national example. Lexington in itself is not much to worry about, but if Lexington has the same effect on KY as New York City had on the state of NY, then there can be a problem. The 4 year study is too long. More than half the bars will be out of business by then, and many hard working bartenders will be forced to leave their families in Lexington for work somewhere else. |
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Tom
Smokers Rights Activist
Joined: Aug 24, 2003
Posts: 961
Location: The Kingdom of New Jersey
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by KYBrian
on Wed Jun 09, 2004 9:24 pm |
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Thanks for your moral support. I think we've decided to keep the protest pretty small, just enough of us to get on the local noon news the day of the trial, to get some press about our financial suffering, and hopefully some sympathy.
The anti's keep pumping money here though so it might be a lost cause using as their justification that if they can make the city with the highest percentage of smokers in the US smoke free they can do it nationwide with ease. NYC might be the big city test, but we are the test for the rest of the country. Ugh.
I'll update you after the 17th...keep fighting in your towns guys and gals. |
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KYBrian
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Joined: May 11, 2004
Posts: 16
Location: Lexington KY
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by Tom
on Thu Jun 10, 2004 8:39 am |
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| Good luck with the protest. I'd love to hear how it turns out. I think I see how this can be a national example now. The politicians in Lexington County probably won't get reelected now if you have highest percentage of smokers, but they don't care, because they'd get recognition on a national level, and probably move from county government to state or national offices. I don't see how we can have a national smoking ban unless the US government ever considers tobacco as an illegal drug. I don't see any way the Federal govt can bribe states now to comply with their suggestions like they do with the alcohol laws. I fear that now that smoking is banned in Lexington, the antis will go after other key smoking areas like, Richmond, VA, Raleigh Durham, NC, Winsten-Salem, NC Las Vegas, NV, Montgomery, AL and Atlantic city NJ. If half of those cities bacome smoke free, there's a good chance that the states will kick in and ban smoking in the whole state. We should do whatever we can to keep VA, NC, NV, AL, and NJ smoking. I think FORCES should concentrate on these states, because any of these states becoming smoke free would be another drastic sting like what happened in NY or CA. Right now, NJ stands for smokers freedom in the east, and NV in the west. Let's hope it stays that way and maybe CA and NY will learn from their neighbors and not the other way around. |
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Tom
Smokers Rights Activist
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Posts: 961
Location: The Kingdom of New Jersey
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