Tag Archives: smoking ban

business news, local news

Amarillo goes smoke-free … without a city ordinance

I feel like revisiting an issue that some years ago got a lot of Amarillo, Texas, residents all fired up.

I am referring to smoking indoors.

Over the years I have discovered something curious — and quite welcome — about the city where my wife and I live. It’s damn near impossible to find an eating establishment that still allows indoor smoking.

I haven’t been to every single such establishment in the city, so this isn’t a declaration of fact. It is a perception that has dawned on me.

City residents twice in recent years rejected municipal referendums calling for a citywide ban on indoor smoking. The calls for a city ordinance came from the medical community that sought to mandate that business owners order customers to keep their smokes unlit while they ate and drank indoors.

I worked during at least one of those elections for the Amarillo Globe-News. Our newspaper’s editorial policy opposed the mandate. We stated our preference for business owners to do the right thing without being forced to do so by the government.

I gritted my teeth while writing editorials taking that position. My personal preference — and it remains so to this day — was that the city should put residents’ health first. Second-hand smoke is dangerous to those who inhale it. What’s more, a former city councilman — a physician — once admitted to me that his personal preference was to enact a smoke-free ordinance, but that he didn’t want to be the sole vote on the five-member governing panel.

But now, years later, my wife and I are still eating out on occasion. We have discovered that none of the establishments we frequent allow indoor smoking. Indeed, some of these businesses — which formerly allowed it — have gone smoke-free on their own. Imagine that! It turns out that the newspaper’s opposition to was on the mark.

A couple of well-known places along Historic Route 66 have gone smoke-free. I interviewed one business owner while working part-time for KFDA NewsChannel 10 and learned that although she opposed the ordinance she was adamantly opposed to smoking inside her restaurant.

This is all my way of paying tribute to those business owners who have stayed true to their conscience while improving the health climate for their customers.

I am pretty certain some readers of this blog are going to remind me that there remain some joints around the city that still allow smoke to billow from stogies and cigarettes.

Fine. I just can’t find them. I prefer it that way.

local news

Light ’em up, just not around me

I am not too proud to acknowledge making a mistake.

Such as when I railed on the blog about smoking indoors. I once thought that Amarillo needed to enact an ordinance that banned the activity everywhere. Other cities had done so; even communities where residents are as politically conservative as this one.

Then it occurred to me: Although my wife and I don’t go out all that often, we are able to enjoy meals and each other’s company in smoke-free environments — even without a smoking ban ordinance in effect in Amarillo.

I guess, then, it’s time to acknowledge that my view on smoking bans has, um, evolved yet again.

Back when I was working for a living — specifically writing editorials and editing the Opinion page for the Amarillo Globe-News — I got to offer perspectives with which I didn’t necessarily agree. One dealt with smoking ordinances. The newspaper’s editorial board, of which I was a member, opposed citywide ordinances banning the activity. The Globe-News believed that privately held businesses had the inherent right to determine such matters.

I sucked it up and espoused the company line.

A smoking ban ordinance went to a citywide referendum twice. Both times Amarillo voters rejected the proposed ordinances.

It’s not that I oppose citywide bans as a matter of principle. I wouldn’t object to Amarillo’s City Council imposing such a ban if it chose to do so. What I’ve determined is that such a mandate from City Hall is unnecessary, given what I’ve determined has occurred in the city without such an edict.

I’m sure there are still joints in Amarillo where smoking is allowed. I won’t go to any of them. Neither will my wife. To the best of my knowledge, neither will our son. The Chamber of Commerce office in downtown Amarillo likely has data on which places are smoke-free and which still allow patrons to smoke ’em if they got ’em.

I recently made a lunch date with a friend. We’re going to a diner on Sixth Avenue that used to be notorious for its smoke-filled environment, which was the sole reason my friend stayed away from the place; frankly, so did I. I mentioned that in the past year, the diner has remodeled its interior and has gone smoke-free.

Good deal! That’s where we decided to meet.

I quit the nasty habit of smoking cold turkey more than 37 years ago. I dropped a two-pack daily habit to zero simply by tossing the weeds into the trash can. No one told me to quit. No one forced it on me. Indeed, the price of smoking has gone beyond prohibitive. I recently saw a guy drop about $150 on two cartons of cigarettes. My thought: You’ve got to be kidding me.

I figure that business owners know how to market themselves to attract paying customers whose money will keep the lights on.

That’s what has happened in Amarillo, Texas. I am grateful.

local news, medical news, State news

Statewide smoking ban: Round 5

Let’s hope that the fifth time is the charm.

For what? The state ought to impose a statewide ban on indoor smoking. No exceptions, please. Everywhere should fall under the rule.

The Texas Tribune reports that the Texas Legislature is likely to take up the issue for the fifth consecutive session when it convenes in January.

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/12/19/smoking-ban-stalls-capitol-cities-go-it-alone/

The odds aren’t great that it’ll pass either legislative house. Both chambers will be full of pro-business Republicans who think the government has no say in determining whether Texans should be exposed to second-hand smoke. That’s a business call, they’ll contend.

Never mind that the Texas Restaurant Association — a key business group affected directly by such a law — supports a statewide ban.

We’ve danced to this tune already in Amarillo. Voters here have rejected narrowly two city referenda calling for a citywide ban.

The state, though, can weigh in this coming year.

It’s not that Texas is plowing new ground. Two dozen states already have enacted statewide smoking bans. More than 30 Texas cities have enacted such a ban, many with exceptions made for restaurants and businesses that serve alcohol.

Yes, there will be those who contend that business owners should be allowed to make these decisions for themselves.

But if second-hand smoke presents a health hazard and if some businesses refuse to ban smoking inside their establishments, isn’t the state obligated to step in protect people’s health?

Yes, we have choices. We can choose to do business in a place where we cough at the smell of smoke, or we can choose to go somewhere else.

Still, a statewide ban isn’t an unreasonable rule to impose on business owners. Who knows? Maybe we’ll all get used to living in a totally smoke-free indoor environment.

I’m not going to hold my breath — pun intended — waiting for the Legislature to do the right thing.

 

local news

Time to revisit smoking ban?

Recently, I had lunch with a friend at a downtown Amarillo restaurant.

The diner has been around for many years. I walked in, greeted my friend Gary, who then said, “Sorry about the cigarette smoke in here.”

Yes, the place smelled of smoke. The smoking section was separate from the rest of the place, but the “aroma” was distinct and, to be candid, quite disgusting.

It got me thinking. Amarillo has referred indoor smoking bans twice to voters. The referenda failed both times.

Is it time to revisit the issue? I would say “yes.”

https://www.facebook.com/TobaccoFreeAMA?fref=nf

The Amarillo City Council has a physician among its members. Dr. Brian Eades delivers babies for a living and he’s well-versed on certain hazards to people’s health. I would hope Dr. Eades could take the lead in promoting a push to make indoor smoking illegal. Yes, I mean require businesses to end it.

I totally understand that most businesses in Amarillo ban smoking already. Almost all new restaurants are non-smoking establishments.

But when you walk into a time-honored place, such as the one my friend and I visited the other day, you still get to whiff the odor of cigs in the back room.

I quit smoking cold turkey just short of 35 years ago. The older I get the more militant I become about smoking.

I understand the hazards of second-hand smoke and reject efforts to dismiss those hazards.

Amarillo’s governing council has a real-life medical doctor serving the residents of this city. It’s time to speak out, loudly, against this hazard to public health — and to vote once again on banning smoking indoors everywhere in the city.

 

 

 

Uncategorized

Rethinking smoking indoors

I don’t smoke, having quit the habit cold turkey 34 years ago in one of my proudest achievements.

Long ago I lost the desire to light up. In fact, the older I get the more militant I have become about smoking. I detest it now where before I merely disliked it.

The more militant I become the more inclined I am to rethink Amarillo City Hall’s refusal to enact a citywide ban on smoking in indoor public places. I formerly thought the city should leave it to private businesses. I’m wondering now whether the city could make a symbolic statement about its commitment to its residents’ good health by imposing a city ordinance.

http://blogs.star-telegram.com/politex/2014/03/fort-worth-city-councilman-wants-to-revisit-smoking-ordinance.html

Other cities have done it, with no apparent ill effect. The Texas city where my family and I once lived, Beaumont, enacted a citywide ban years ago, arousing the ire of business owners who thought the city was interfering in a private business decision. The city council’s response? That’s too bad; it’s our decision and we’re sticking with it.

Amarillo took a different course. It put the measure up to a vote twice and both times voters narrowly rejected proposed ordinances banning indoor smoking. The city decided to let the voters’ have their say. They spoke and that’s it, according to city council members.

Is it? I’m not so sure.

A lot of bar owners — so I’m told — still allow smoking. Not only are people consuming alcohol, perhaps too much of it, but they’re breathing second-hand smoke as well, causing further damage to their health.

Fort Worth, as the attached blog notes, is grappling with the indoor smoking issue. It’s the largest city in Texas that still allows smoking inside bars and taverns. It’s also considering whether to ban sales of e-cigs to minors.

Everyone on the planet seems to know that smoking is bad for your health. Amarillo has a physician serving on its five-member city council, for crying out loud. He hasn’t yet been able to persuade his colleagues to enact a city ordinance banning indoor smoking.

I’m wondering, actually, if Dr. Brian Eades is trying hard enough to bring his colleagues to his side. If not, he needs to try. If he is, he needs to try harder.