Sunday, January 04, 2009

South Carolina Dragged Kicking and Screaming Into 21st Century

Smoking ban sees very few complaints By Dawn Hinshaw
Smokey Bauman doesn’t abide by Richland County’s no-smoking law. He said he didn’t realize smoking restrictions in the workplace extended outside Columbia. And almost all of his customers come to the Cactus Inn to smoke and drink, he said. “I’m sick and tired of these cry babies, crying about, ‘Oh, you’re in my space; you’re polluting my air,’” said Bauman, 60, who did five tours in Vietnam with the Army. “Stay out of here. It’s a bar; it’s not a bakery shop. To me, it ought to be up to the discretion of the owner and the people that come through the door.”
A smoker, Bauman has $10,000 worth of exhaust equipment in his bar. He said it runs all the time and does a good job. “If I’ve only got one complaint,” he said, “I think I’ve done well.” Still, Bauman said, if push comes to shove, he’ll comply with the county law.
_______________________
Hello Smokey....great name by the way...I have a friend who's an alcoholic and her name is Chardonnay, go figure.
Wake up man. It's 2009. You wanna smoke and run the risk of lung cancer, go right ahead, but leave me out of it. Because you are polluting my air; you are in my space......space....hmmm....there's an idea.
You wanna smoke, Smokey, get yourself a space suit with it's own ventilation system and smoke like a friggin' chimney. Or just stay home and smoke, or smoke in your car, or in your yard, or walking down the street. Just, please, Smokey, please don't do it in my face.
Because maybe, just maybe, all those good customers of yours, those good non-smoking customers, at the Cactus Inn just might go elsewhere to enjoy a drink.
Sheesh, what kind of backward thinking red state did I move into.
Anyone?
Anyone?

5 comments:

  1. They banned smoking in bars/restaurants years ago in NYC, and it had absolutely no affect on business. I work in a bar/restaurant - so I know for a fact that the ban did nothing but prevent second-hand smoke from killing others. It is also a pleasure not to smell like a chimney when one comes home from a bar.

    They also did this more recently in Pennsylvania. My father - a conservative Republican - is UP IN ARMS that he has to GO OUTSIDE to smoke when he's at a restaurant or in a bar. The hysterical thing is, HE SMOKES OUTSIDE AT HOME!!! No matter how cold or rainy it might be, he always goes outside on the deck to smoke. But it PISSES HIM OFF that the gubment makes him do this at a bar!!!

    Go figure...

    XOXOXOXO

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  2. After living in California and Florida I was shocked when we moved to Camden and you could smoke in restaurants.
    They take their own sweet time here, catching up to the rest of the world!

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  3. in Ohio, you ahve to go outside to smoke. In NC? They still ask "smoking or non smoking?" which is whack. I HATE cigarette smoke. so many in my family of died from lung cancer from the stupid things, and I don't plan on being one of them. I've enver smoked but if I come up with lung cancer, someone is gettin their ass kicked!!!

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  4. I hated it when people could smoke everywhere. TN finally came around and banned it. I hope Camden follows up soon.

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  5. Actually, Camden became a Non-smoking city last November, so South Carolina is inching forward, butt by butt.

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