Hello Stacey,

I just got back from baring it up on Saint pat's at an Irish place. Apart from my brother, I was the only one wearing a kilt. Like WTF on that but whatever.

Anyway on topic, we are looking at getting that same thing up here in CT soon. We have had one guy sitting on a commission for like twenty years who has been to sole voice for no booze on Sunday and he just got pulled to serve on some special governor's committee for something. I don't know what it is and I really don't care. The point is that we should be able to get our blue laws pulled this time around.

Cheers!

You in a kilt, why am I not surprised? I could just see you shouting "Was it over when the Germans bombed Perl Harbor, hell no, and it aint over now" (line in the movie Animal House)

(Just being silly)

I used to be a fan of dressing up for Halloween going out to parties. One year I dressed up as  B-52(shooter drink) The Idea was that you dress up as your favorite drink(colors in the drink). I made mine too obvious. It was home made. I had propellers made of foil, and I stapled a deck of Bicycle cards shaped a "B" on the front and "52" on the back. It looked stupid. Still had fun at the party.

As far as blue laws. What is so stupid is that you can buy the booze on another day and still drink it at home on Sunday. 

 Good luck, those damn Sunday laws are a pain in the ass. Here in Ohio we don't have a state law, but some counties and townships have local laws. I took a girl out to eat at an Italian restaurant that had a rather impressive wine list for such a small place and when I ordered a bottle the waitress informed me that they couldn't serve wine on Sunday. WTF, who eats in an Italian restaurant on Sunday without drinking wine? Italian food and red wine go hand in hand. 

That is why I prefer to eat out in Kentucky where not only can I drink whatever I want with my meal, I can smoke a cigar afterwards as well. Although, even in KY the anti-smoking dictators are taking over, one county at a time. I get so tired of people who apparently have so much extra time that they worry about someone smoking in a CIGAR BAR, someone stripping in a STRIP CLUB, someone buying booze from a LIQUOR STORE or someone playing poker at a POKER CLUB. If you don't like smoking, naked women, booze, or gambling I would recommend not going to those establishments. Go live your life elsewhere. I don't go to your church because it offends me, but I don't seek to ban it, I simply exercise my freedom to not go there. 

Your right to smoke vs my right to have a beer without inhaling smoke.  Me trampling your rights?  You trampling my rights?  I don't go to bars where people smoke.  Problem is, without an outright ban, there are almost no bars without smoke.  And I don't care how fancy the hvac system is - it isn't good enough. 

The reason I never got into smoking is I can't stand the smell or taste.  Don't know how other people can. 

Here in Portland, smoking was banned in most public places except bars until just recently.  Only the upscale bars  - as in yuppieville - were voluntarily smoke free.  The local bar owners were crying about losing money until they saw more people coming back into their bars that didn't reek of stale tobacco.  Now if they could just get the stale beer and urine and vomit odors out of the carpet, I just might go to some of the "dives".

80% don't smoke - 20% do - do the math.

If there is such high demand for non-smoking bars why don't you just open one rather than using government force? If you are drawing 80% of the bar going population you should be making a lot more money. Why can't I go to say Anthony's Cigar Bar and smoke a cigar? It says cigar bar right in the title, they sell cigars there, their main attractant is their cigars. Now, with the Ohio smoking ban, smokers (virtually EVERYONE who goes there) are relegated onto a small patio, while the inside bar remains virtually empty. Ironically, all of the horrible cigar smoke that used to be contained inside with the smokers and went through a very expensive HVAC system, is now going freely into the air, probably going to pollute the lungs of some innocent passerby. No doubt medical studies will tell us that the kid walking on the street in front of the bar has a 0.0000001% increased chance of cancer because of the smokers. 

If you don't like being around smoking, don't go there. No one is using force to make you go into an establishment that permits smoking. The anti-smoking zealots ARE using force to prevent me from smoking inside a bar where the owner and employees have no problems with it. If you think there are not enough non-smoking bars to cater to the number of non-smokers, I suggest you invest in a bar and make some money. Call it Anthony's Non-Smoking, No Urine, No Vomit, Fresh Beer Smelling Bar and advertise that no one who smells like smoke, urine, stale beer or vomit is allowed through the door. Somehow I think that is a failing business investment.   

I meant before the anti-smoking laws were passed. Do some businesses resist change? Yes. And that is where money making opportunities are. When a current industry is not changing to meet a changing demand, the perceptive business owner can make a killing by being the first to change. Once that person starts making massive profits the others will follow suit. Why do you feel a need to use government force to make businesses change their model? It seems foolish to me to spend so much money pushing a smoking ban if there is so much money to be made by making a non-smoking bar.

Bars in Cincinnati have experienced declines in their client having lost an estimated $100 million dollars to Kentucky bars. Obviously, a smoking ban will have little effect on a bars revenue if all bars within driving distance are also under the ban. People still drink and when they don't have the option within a reasonable distance, they will drink at a non-smoking bar. When they do have a choice, many will choose to drive. No big deal if you are a bar that caters to a sector of the population that doesn't smoke a lot, you might even gain customers. A huge deal if you happen to own Anthony's Cigar Bar. 

I simply don't understand why people can't accept that not everyone wants to go to the same kind of bar. Some people want places with no smoking, some people want places that allow smoking. Why not allow the owners to decide what segment of business they want? Why do you insist everyone has to be in the same kind of bar you are in? And that goes for any other business that wants to allow or not allow smoking. I'm sure you would quickly see it as absurd if I proposed a law requiring that people be allowed to smoke in a bar. Why don't you see the absurdity of banning smoking in a bar? If 20% of us want to go to a bar that allows smoking, why not let us?