generalsn

Probably many of the patrons are off duty police and other government workers, just like many small neighborhood bars. Al Capone is laughing in his grave.

What a waste of money. Now that the ban lobbyists found gullible lawmakers and got a foot in the door, they'll keep returning every year until ALL exemptions are gone. They'll just walk past the "smoking allowed on patio" signs to complain about the smoke. It's on the last page of their instructions. Here they are.

www.no-smoke.org/pdf/CIA_Fundamentals...

All they have to do is go to all the bars. They are avoided like the plague by the anti smoking zealots.

After over a year of experience here in Chicago, trying to ban smoking in small neighborhood "shot and beer" bars is pretty useless. Many small bars in my area ignore the ban to keep their customers, neighbors, and local police satisfied. The problems of undesirables being attracted by groups of people outside the bars far outweighs the issue of people peacefully smoking inside a bar, bothering absolutly no one.

Grandfathering a bar will make it difficult to sell the place when the current owners want to retire. Hopefully, a group of anti smokers will want to give the owners a decent price for it.

Myra and Rodney need a lesson about "public property" by being 86ed from every bar, restaurant, and vets club in the state.

Now that the new year is starting, the "new push" is returning to every community or state that has no ban, or a ban with ANY exemptions. Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, and their Robert J. Wood Foundation and it's many political action committees (charites) have endless funding to keep armies of lobbyists throughout the nation employed for years to come. Their instructions are to keep returning EVERY YEAR until ALL exemptions are gone. They made the print of their book smaller to keep people from reading it, but you can CTRL and scroll to enlarge it. Here it is. www.no-smoke.org/pdf/CIA_Fundamentals...

The governor of Illinois may publish a book on how to make money with smoking bans

Boston is way ahead. They want to just close tobacco shops entirely. Also, those expensive patios were just a waste of time and money. Why will Dallas be so far behing the times? http://hubpolitics.com/2008/12/09/tha...

No big deal. Here in Chicago, a year into the ban, once the hoopla and novelty wear off, you would't even know it exists in many small neighborhood bars. It's fading into forgotten history, along with many other obscure long forgotten laws.

The tobacco control advocates try to avoid any publicity about their activities. Page seven of their guidebook instructs them to "avoid ballot initiatives" See for yourself. www.no-smoke.org/pdf/CIA_Fundamentals...

Most people I talk to have no problem with smoking not being allowed in most "really public" places, but having the government stomping all over business owners is really getting alot of people riled. Many restaurants were smoke free anyway, with no intervention. Had the ban fanatics stayed out of small bars and private vets clubs, they could have easily passed reasonable smoking guidelines. A lot of small bars here in Chicago ignore the ban with NO complaints from workers or customers. Strangely, the only registered complaints are for ash receptacles or smokers too close to the entrances of bars that actually comply.

I'm in my mid 60s, and have many friends in their 80s who, like myself, grew up in the days of smoke filled homes, movies, restaurants and most places, cleaned flues and breathed coal smoke everywhere. All this "sky is falling" hype is really getting old.

Once these lobbyist find gullible lawmakers and get a foot in the door, they will badger for years until total bans are in place. It's instructed on the last page of their guidebook. The best way would be to give them the boot BEFORE they get started. Here's their book. www.no-smoke.org/pdf/CIA_Fundamentals...