Ocean City Maryland Public Park Smoking Ban
-
Kevin Godbee - Mar 11, 2011
- 1 min read
The Mayor and City Council voted unanimously on first reading, with no discussion, to ban smoking in public parks and playgrounds.
The ordinance defines “environmental tobacco smoke” as the complex mixture formed from escaping smoke of a burning tobacco product or smoke exhaled by the smoker. “Smoking” means the burning of a lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe, or any other matter or substance that contains tobacco.
The ordinance reads, “It is the intent of the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City to protect the public and its employees from involuntary exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in certain areas open to the public.”
Public parks include Ocean Bowl Skate Park, Ocean City Tennis Center at 61st Street and Coastal Highway, and playgrounds in the following parks, Bayside Park (aka Downtown Recreation Complex), Robin Park, Little Salisbury Park, Northside Park, Gorman Park, and North Surf Park.
Any person who violates the law “shall be subject to ejection from the public park and be subject to a municipal infraction of up to $500.00, which can be issued by an employee of the Department of recreation and parks in addition to enforcers listed in this code.”
The smoking ban at public parks and playgrounds was originally discussed last December during a public hearing to ban smoking on Ocean City’s boardwalk, beach, and public parks. The council voted not to ban smoking on the Boardwalk or the beach. Instead, council officials decided to create designated smoking stations as an “educational step” for smokers.
During the hearing, Councilman Joe Hall said as far as the “kiddy parks” are concerned he proposed smoking be prohibited in those areas. He made a motion to create voluntary smoking areas on the beach and Boardwalk and restrict smoking in public parks. Councilman Doug Cymek seconded the motion and the council voted unanimously to approve it.
Written by Kevin Godbee
20 Responses
Recent Posts
Recently, on the Pipes Magazine Forums, a user asked an open question about the Rattray’s Grand Lighter. I had not used or spent much time looking into those, so I thought it would be a good time to pick one up and do a review of it. When I do my lighter reviews, I generally like to do some deep digging and get in touch with the manufacturers such as IM Corona (Old Boy) or Tsutobo (Peterson, Kiribi), but in this case, there is scarce information available. Rattrays is distributed in the US by Sutliff, and you’ll find their lighters on SmokingPipes.com and other great retailers. I pinged Jeremy over at Sutliff to help me get in touch with the folks at Rattrays/Kopp and he got me connected to Oliver Kopp who was able to answer a few of my more detailed questions. The lighter that I chose to review is the Rattray’s Grand “Squares” lighter, which features a square line design on a highly polished stainless steel lighter. The Grand lighter was introduced about three years ago, and the Bel lighter was released about five years ago for context. It features a 45-degree soft flame, which helps (but not completely) keep build-up off the striker wheel – a problem that seems to plague my other lighters. These lighters fall square in the same competitive market of the Old Boy and the Kiribi, with a retail price of around $105 to $120. Some of their other lighters, like the Bel, retail for slightly less, around $82. Unboxing, you can see a few provided flints, which, upon inspection, are very similar to zippo flints if you’re looking for future replacements. The box contains instructions and warranty information and has silver foil inlaid text and decoration. Rattray’s states that their lighters are designed by them in Germany. But until I received it, I had no idea where it was actually made—China. That said, Oliver tells me that the Bel lighter is the same lighter used for Pierre Cardin and that the manufacturer they chose to go with also manufactures the Dupont Jet lighters. On the bottom of the lighter is a flip-up cover with Rattray’s name etched into it, which protects the refill valve and adjustment screws. The cover, though, you can see by the pictures, is less finished and does not quite feel as quality as one would expect for a $100+ lighter. But I do appreciate the cover. Zooming in, you can see the butane nozzle is angled out to the left from the spark wheel. The top flint section slides back on a spring load, but I warn you the tiny mechanism on the side is a bit of a pain to release the catch holding it back. But this feature is unique in that you can visually always see how much of the flint is left for when you have to replace it. That’s right, there’s no need to unscrew something; just slide the bar back, it locks into place, and then drop the new flint in. You need to put your fingernail between the thumbslide and the tiny metal catch, and the thumbslide will slide back into place. If you don’t do this, the top will not close. You can also see in this picture where the flame hits the metal area, which can be wiped away, but it’s due to the shorter nozzle. The lighter features a long “ignition” wheel, which is great for guys with big thumbs. It rotates quite easily and sparks well. I find that the lighter is taller than many other lighters and a bit slimmer at 2.76 in. / 70.21 mm in height and 0.39 in. / 10.07 mm in width. It weighs about 2.6 oz or 73ish grams. On the front-facing side it has the Rattray’s logo on the bottom right corner. It produces a nice soft flame that works like a champ to light your favorite tobacco. The internal tank is a plastic tank, but this is very common in many new lighters manufactured today. Before Rattrays introduces a new lighter, they actually send it (the prototype) to the repair shop that they use for all warranty services to review the lighter and make sure that it’s of high quality. Oliver tells me the return/repair rate for all of their lighters is low, and that is also because they concentrate on flint-style lighters as they are considerably more reliable than the electro-jet flames. The official repair center for these lighters is located here. Vintage Styling Now let’s talk about inspiration because the first thing one of my pipe club members said when I showed him the lighter was, “Wow, that looks like a Dupont.” As mentioned earlier, it’s the same manufacturer that makes one of the lines for Dupont as well as Pierre Cardin, so you can assume some shared styling. Borrowing ideas for lighters is nothing new; the “Old Boy” was originally a Dunhill lighter style. But when thinking about styling, we also look at the name – Dupont has a lighter named “Le Grand.” The Le Grand features both a soft flame and a torch flame for use with pipes and cigars. Now, price-wise, an ST Dupont lighter will set you back $1,500 and is geared squarely toward the luxury gentlemen’s market. That said, S.T. Dupont lighters have been around since the 1940s and are as much of a jewelry piece as it is lighter. When flipping the cap of most of the Dupont lighters, you get this resonating “ping” sound that is synonymous with them, and unfortunately, the Rattray’s Grand does not emit that type of sound. Kirby Allison did a great review of many of the ST Dupont lighters here, and its quite possible you will see a review from me at some point covering the best Dupont lighters for pipes and including some buying tips on the used and new market. In Summary There are some pros and cons to […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 575. We have a special show tonight to celebrate the start of our 12th year. In lieu of an interview, Brian will be joined by another popular pipe podcast host – Jon David Cole. JD is the Owner/Tobacconist at The Country Squire in Jackson, MS, and he is the former co-host of the now discontinued podcast, Country Squire Radio. Country Squire Radio ran for 10-years and is still one of the most popular pipe-niche podcasts. Having these two pipe and tobacco brainiacs bouncing off of each other for over 45-minutes will be a blast. We will be preempting our usual first segment to start right off with JD. We will have the usual music, mailbag and rant at the end of the show.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 574! Our featured interview tonight is with Michael DiCuccio. Michael is the President of TinBids.com, “The Pipe Collector’s Auction Site” where you can buy and sell vintage and rare tobacco tins, tobaccos, pipes and accessories. He has been collecting for over 30-years, and has a personal pipe collection of over 1,100 pipes. Michael also has his own IT company and is a self-proclaimed “computer geek”. At the top of the show we’ll get caught up on a backlog of emails and messages from our listeners with some great questions and comments. We will still have our regular mailbag segment at the end of the show as well.
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 573! Our featured interview tonight is with J.B. “Brandon” Frady. Brandon is a new pipe maker making the Ash Cooper line of pipes which just launched earlier this year. His pipes are freehand and artistic shapes and designs. He is also a freelance writer for any type of project, but has been published for music reviews, concert reviews, and a single anomalous video game review, and other writings in a couple dozen professional publications. His full time job is with State Farm Insurance. At the top of the show we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA.
I’ve never owned a four-square billiard. I’ve had plenty of pipes with paneled sides, but this venerable classic has always eluded me. Truth told, I’d always considered it something of a remedial shape, a pipe to be made when a conventional billiard exhibited too many flaws, or when the lines went wrong. And, I considered them too “simple.” For as long as I’ve been smoking pipes, this quaint but cunning shape has held little interest. Then, something conspired to disabuse me of my prejudices all at once. One day, a few months ago, an Instagram friend taunted me with photos of a beautiful example of the shape that he’d just gotten. I was instantly smitten. Then he showed another. And another. As I looked at his photos, I saw things in the shape I’d never really noticed, sending me down the rabbit hole to look at hundreds of photos of as many examples I could find. It turns out it’s far from the simple shape I’d thought it to be, but rather one that’s clearly challenging to execute well. While it shares the overall profile and proportions of a conventional billiard, including the slight forward cant of the bowl, those panels have to be even, perfectly square, and, importantly, must not destroy the balance of the shape. If the bowl doesn’t have that very slight forward tilt, it looks like it’s falling backwards. Too much tilt, and it’s just weird. If the panels are cut too deeply, the walls could become too thin, and at its worst, it makes the thing look like a cube on a stick. The cut and gentle curvature of the four vertices are as important as the panels themselves. The shank, too, must be carefully and consistently square along its length, as must the taper of the stem. Though based on the classic billiard, it became clear looking at Frank’s pipes, and so many others, that if it’s going to be successfully executed, the pipe maker has to start out with the four-square in mind, rather than using the shape to “fix” a billiard gone wrong. As a bonus, the panels and facets exhibit the briar’s grain in a unique and interesting way. There’s also the practicality of the shape; the bowl has good capacity coupled with light weight. I had to have one, and so began my quest. A Dunhill EK would be nice, but finding one in good shape that wasn’t more than I was willing to spend turned out to be something of a fool’s errand. I went looking for a more modest example, maybe something French. After weeks of searching, I came across a “shop pipe” stamped for Garfinkel’s, an old Washington DC tobacconist that has always held deep significance to me. In the 1980s, a friend in our local pipe community introduced me to Garfinkel’s by way of their magnificent Orient Express #11 mixture. Produced for them by Sobranie, to this day I consider it the finest example of genre ever created. The balance of Virginias, orientals and Latakia were absolute perfection, resulting in a rich, complex and always fascinating tobacco. I started buying a pound of it every month, eight 2oz tins, until the tragic day when Larry Garfinkel called me to ask if he could send me two pounds that month. “Sure, Larry. Why?” It was his last two pounds. It was this tobacco that was the most significant inspiration on my own blending journey. I have no idea what magic was performed to make it so special, but it was, and it is. Garfinkel’s may be gone, but the memories linger. There were other spectacular blends in the Garfinkel’s catalogue, including a range made my Robert McConnell. The Olde Scottish Cut Cake #6 seen in the photos was another special one. In those days, I wasn’t much interested in Virginias, so I never explored them very deeply, but if I had, I would have squirreled away a lot more of this one, too. This is the last of only a few tins I’ve had over the years. And then there was Shottery, Armon, Ridgeway and Marlowe. I wish I had many tins of all of them. I digress. This Garfinkel’s four-square seemed perfect, a bit of serendipity, and it was made in France. I got the pipe for a good price, and waited for its arrival. When the package reached me, I tore into it quickly; my enthusiasm instantly collapsed when I got to the pipe itself. The pipe was covered with flaking and blistered shellac, and wore a bit of road rash from careless handling. The panels, while cut fairly evenly, were not flat, but comically concave. The top was badly scratched, and the stem was crusty, dull, and in need of serious restoration. Perhaps worse was the condition of the airway. Ironically, though the bowl had been reamed almost to bare wood, I don’t think the thing had ever seen a pipe cleaner, and it was tough work just to get a thin one through it. And, it wasn’t just the shank – even the stem was heavily caked with thick, tarry goop. The wretched stench, too, from ages of cheap aromatic tobacco was epic. But, there were no visible fills, the overall size, shape and proportions were good, and under the years of grunge, there might be some pretty nice wood hiding. Time to get to work. It took a lot of alcohol, and dozens of pipe cleaners to get the airway clean. The drilling through the shank was okay, but it was very tight through the stem, so a little blueprinting was in order, funneling the tenon, smoothing out the transitions, and opening things up to a more consistent cross section. The shellac had to go. Since the pipe was destined to be completely refinished, I sanded the whole pipe smooth, spending a little extra time on the scratched and chafed top and ensuring that the stem and shank were well mated. […]
This is the fun time of the year, methinks. Major League Baseball is winding down into its playoff madness when the Boys of Summer become the Boys of October. High school football warms up those chilly stands under Friday Night Lights. Nothing quite matches this slice of Americana. Then college football’s television spectacle on Saturdays takes over the mania button on the remote. Ah, yes, these magical Saturdays of gridiron wonder. Thank the lords of sports that we can discard for a time recent diversions. Well, sort of, weather permitting. And then, by Jove, we arrive at what the Pundit describes as “Pull up a chair, kick off the shoes, light a pipe, and open your favorite adult beverage. It’s football time in America with a dash of baseball wrapping around the keystone event of the sports seasons, The World Series!” And just so you know, the Pundit was once a hard-working pipe-smoking sports writer in the press box high above the fields of play. Puffing away and typing furiously on a portable typewriter (a what?). Yes, there were many jokes about my pipe whilst my colleagues smoked cigarettes continuously. “That pipe stinks. What are you smoking in that thing?” I heard that enough times to give me a nervous twitch and delusions. But dare I say, some of sports greatest minds were puffers of the grand aged leaf. Think of Billy Martin on and off with the New York Yankees as a player and manager. Captain Black if you please. And another baseball superstar, Sparky Anderson, smoked his pipe even in the dugout. He skippered the Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers, winning championships with both teams. This time of the year always puts me in a mood of contemplation. Sports, yes sir, and of our championship pipe makers worldwide, as well as those special tobacco blends that seem to arrive around now. It takes a champion-like spirit to harness oneself to the tools of griding pipes into art and blending tobaccos to grace those works of art. Long ago, the Pundit visited the old Cornell&Diehl blending area when the company was located in Morganton, N.C. Small quarters then, which later had to be enlarged. And enlarged again. Then as history rolled on, C&D joined Laudisi Enterprises company (aka Smokingpipes.com) in 2014 in Longs, S.C., and quickly outgrew that blending and production area. And, yes, the kit and caboodle had to move into larger digs to satisfy supply and demand for those lovely tobaccos in creative tin art. Laudisi Enterprises, by the way, has a network of shops in it’s A-Z distribution tobacco and cigar shops across the nation. Just so you know. Ahem. Jeremy Reeves, C&D’s head blender and tobacco maestro, says the sky’s the limit, maybe even the stratosphere and beyond. The company, he says, “will continue growing as long as pipe smokers want our products. We keep trying to find our limits.” With C&D’s Small Batch production with uniquely sourced tobaccos, there isn’t likely to be a retraction of growth. Just sayin.’ Take, for example, Jeremy’s and C&D’s latest Small Batch, Steamworks Small Batch, released on Aug. 22, and sold out within hours, if not minutes. Little wonder. The Smokingpipes.com website defines it as a “unique Virginia/Oriental/Perique flake (that) utilizes two proprietary stoving processes and some of the rarest tobacco varietals in the world. “A study in flue-cured leaf, Steamworks presents six top-tier, Old Belt Virginia grades — ranging from dark Mahogany to brighter Lemon/Orange — in unstoved, partially steamed, and blackened formats, resulting in a deep, natural sweetness and mature flavor right out of the tin. “Elevating that flue-cured foundation is a selection of exceptionally rare 2005 Black Sea Sokhoum, 2005 Izmir, and 2006 Katerini Oriental grades, as well as a modest portion of pure 31 Farms Perique — grown, harvested, and fermented at the Roussel family farm in St. James Parish.” Makes your mouth water, right? You had to be quick on the draw to nail this latest C&D Small Batch. It disappeared in a flash. Of course, your erstwhile Pundit was quick on the draw, doncha know! The Pundit works on the dictum given to him long ago by his first city editor, the beloved Arthur Cobb in Pensacola, Fla., at the old Pensacola News-Journal. “First in, last out.” That’s been a powerful journalistic engine driving the Pundit. So, snagged four tins, two to puff, and two to cellar. And now a Pipe Smoker of the Past: Billy Martin: Born on May 16, 1928, in Berkeley, Calif., and died on Dec. 25, 1989, in Johnson City, N.Y. Martin managed the New York Yankees five separate times between 1975 and 1988. In that span, he and the Yankees won the 1977 World Series title. And now from the Baseball Almanac, a Martin quote: “All I know is (as a Yankees Manager), I pass people on the street these days, and they don’t know whether to say hello or to say good-bye.” Martin’s choice of tobacco, as most know, was Captain Black. He even made television commercials and magazine advertising for the blend. So, it is somehow fitting that we end this yarn with a couple of quotes from the great baseball Zen master, Yogi Berra. His baseball records are still in play for today’s sluggers. Yogi played as a youngster for the famed New York Yankees (please, hold the boos), managed them for a while, and even did a stint managing crosstown rival, New York Mets. My two favorite Yogisms: When you come to a fork in the road, take it. And one of his most inciteful philosophical thoughts for all times: You can observe a lot by watching.
Sounds just like the draconian smoking laws here in British Columbia. RIP freedom.
It would be different, if you could reason with the anti-smoking zealots…,
but you can’t. They are convinced that they are on a mission to save us all
and will turn a deaf ear to any ideas but their own – or at least what they
have been told is fact. Individual freedoms are trampled in the name of the
‘public good.’ It didn’t work with alcohol or guns, so now they are after
tobacco. It’s the tyranny of the masses at work that presume to dictate choices.
Just cancelled my golf trip to ocean city,thank’s for saving me money.
‘officials decided to create designated smoking stations as an “educational step” for smokers.’
That just makes me angry, its like calling all smokers stupid and they are going to educate us. Fred’s comment is perfect and says all that needs to be said.
This isn’t about public health.
It’s about casting smoking as an “anti-social” activity, not unlike drinking from a bottle of whiskey in the park.
Since only a dwindling minority of us engage in this anti-social behavior there will be no protest or opposition.
Probably a decade from now there will only be a few parks where you can light up, or some parks might have smoking sections behind some bushes and a fence.
The trend is apparent.
First no smoking in offices, then no smoking in restaurants, then no smoking with x number of feet of store entrances, now no smoking in parks. Sidewalks are next.
If you own a car you’re safe. If you own your home you’re safe. You’ll still be able to smnoke at home, and in your backyard but maybe not on the sidewalk in front of your house.
That’s the future.
Saves me from ever going back for a visit. There are some places I would have liked to revisit, but since these draconian laws are ever encroaching, count me out. These places are losing business they are unaware of from prospective tourists who would do more than just add to the tax base of the local economy.
The smoking ban does not go far enough. I am tired of smelling the disgusting, nasty, noxious fumes. You may do what you want with your body – but not mine. Smokers do not realize how bad they smell, how people maneuver around them to get away from the smoke and how we avoid trying to step on the tossed butts on the beach. Look around at the public areas, sidewalks, streets, beautiful parks, boardwalk – cigarette litter everywhere. The littering fine should be given to all who callously toss their butts everywhere – a solution to financial woes. Just think of how much money the cities could make fining smokers from littering???????? What is the difference in tossing out trash and tossing a cigarette butt – especially a lit one! We will not even begin to get into the health hazards of second and third hand smoke – you just don’t get it!
Carol, thanks for offering your point of view — one that we pipe smokers often fail to appreciate. Nobody should be allowed to litter anywhere in public. That’s just plain rude — ignorant. So let’s take your suggestion and enforce existing littering laws, as opposed to banning people who are courteous enough to discard their used smoking materials properly.
I know how unpleasant it is to stand beside someone who is emitting a smell that I don’t appreciate. It happened to me when an old lady wearing too much of an oppressive, cloying perfume got on an elevator I was in. I got seriously nauseous and almost passed out. Where are the odor police when you need them?
On my way out of the building the down-car got crowded quickly and pinned me next to a hip-hopper with earphones blasting away so loudly that all I could hear was the annoying, sizzling, “cha-chi-chi-chi” etc. of meaningless high frequency sounds leaking from the earpieces, or maybe his nose… I dunno which. But I think we ought to ban those people too! And DON’T get me started on people having cell phone conversations on public transportation, or in public situations generally!
As for not “getting it” on second hand smoke, haven’t you heard? The Illinois legislature, at least, is considering an “about face” on smoking bans (indoors!) at various classes of entertainment venues. You can read about it at:
https://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-news/illinois-lawmakers-mull-smoking-in-casinos-bars/
The article states, “even OSHA has established safe levels of secondhand smoke and those levels are literally thousands of times higher than normally found in bars and restaurants that allow smoking.” So outdoor second hand smoke probably isn’t hazardous enough to your health to justify draconian prohibitions. And the next time you have occasion to see a professional football game, check out the residual clouds of asphyxiating smoke produced by the opening and half-time fireworks displays. (I’ll take the smoke of a sweet Virginia/Oriental blend over that of spent ammonium perchlorate any day!)
I’m not trying to jab you with sarcasm Carol, just trying to provide a friendly reminder that today you’re in favor of limiting my freedoms. Tomorrow, someone with more social or political clout, and alternative views, will try to limit your freedom(s). There’s enough room for cooperation and compromise on these issues, provided we all act with civility and respect for each other.
Oh! And pick up the damned Happy Meal wrapper you left on the beach! 🙂
Hey, Cortez…don’t go putting down ammonium perchlorate! That smells better than a couple of really bad blends, ha ha.
A most excellent reply. Funny, yet serious. Unfortunately, I doubt Carol will deign to respond. I hope, though, that she has read it and perhaps learned something!
As for what’s happening in Maryland, it angers me. Apparently they’re all about shooting down rights and/or stopping new ones, they just failed to pass a bill supporting gay rights, too.
Like so many have said before me…one less state to visit.
Carol is obviously one of the sheeple who just buy in to whatever they are told and has no understanding of the concept of individual rights. After all, it is all about me!
Just a little cheeky fun at the expense of the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City. If you can’t reason with them, poke fun at them.
http://pintpipepolitics.blogspot.com/2011/03/goose-stepping-continuesin-maryland.html
You pipe smokers don’t smell too bad! My husband smoked a pipe for years until the little guys were old enough to ask him to stop – he did.
I lived with secondhand cigarette smoke until I moved away and got married. Well over 20 years not to mention probably breathed in smoke as a fetus. But that is just how it was then – totally excepted and almost expected to be a smoker. Now there is too much evidence that it is harmful. What I am objecting to is the ODOR, THE LITTER, and yes, the fact that my chest/lungs close up at the inhalation. Perfume is the same way – I do know exactly what you mean by not being able to breathe around it. But isn’t it a little better to smell something kind of sweet than to be around stale, nasty smoke odor. I have excited elevators too many times to count because someone entered who smelled horrible.
I have volunteered at a local hospital where bypass patients have refused to stop smoking and are back for a second bypass – you only have so many veins to use to keep the blood flowing – once the legs and arms are gone – you have no veins left for the 3 bypass…..
My father-in-law and my uncle both died of emphysema – not a nice end of life – both due to the smoking.
My uncle died of lung cancer – due to smoking.
Shall we discuss “third hand smoke” – carpets, walls, clothing, just think of holding a little baby with smoke on your clothes…and what they breathe in.
Carol, we can bandy about facts and anecdotal evidence until we’re blue in the face, and all we will have done is spend a lot of energy talking past each other while trying to score points. I’m sure that for every fact you can rally to support your opinion, I can find an equally cogent rejoinder — and vice-versa. Let’s both concede that.
.
The greater issue here is about OUR freedom, and whether we have the right to tell each other, within reason, what may and may not be done. What I see developing in our society is a tyranny of the majority. That’s OK for you now; but after your group has ostracized mine, you may be surprised and dismayed to find that you have provided a precedent for some other majority — to which you do not belong.
.
As a plausible example, and I’ll try not to be tedious, suppose you were raised as a meat eater, and you enjoy it. Now, during your lifetime vegan-vegetarians become the majority of the population. They can summon no end of evidence, better than yours, to prove that slaughtering animals for food is inimical to sentient beings, mostly other mammals; it is unquestionably less healthy than their lifestyle; and, as it has been my experience, they may even claim that meat eaters have an objectionable body odor. No doubt vegans have many more talking points that I’m not even aware of.
.
So, on the strength of their hypothetical majority vote, they impose confiscatory, even punitive taxes on meat; they legislate disincentives for cattleman and meat producers; they prohibit transporting meat into various of their states; they ban you from public places; they make you bar meat eaters from your restaurant; and do whatever else they can, BECAUSE they can, to caste you as a pariah and villify anyone associated with the meat industry. How will you react as you slip down the slope you’ve helped to create?
.
Yes, I engage in a behavior that YOU consider high risk / low reward, like surfing in the ocean with sharks, or ice skating on a frozen pond. But you don’t have the right to make lifestyle choices for me; or to use your political strength to coerce me into conformity with your beliefs. “If you can’t see that, then you have more to worry about than second hand smoke.”
Carol, as adults we are aware of the risks in life. I grew up with parents that smoked and yes the house smelled. Even as an occasional cigar smoker I had a hard time visiting as an adult not being use to cigarette smoke anymore. They chose to quit cigarettes of their own freewill. I chose to smoke a pipe. So what. The point is that we are free to make choices for ourselves and smoking outside away from others does not constitute a menace to society. I am truly sorry your loved ones suffered, but such is the mystery of genetics and life. We have all lost loved ones to illness and some were tobacco users and some were not. You can invoke the second and third hand smoke boogeyman all you want when speaking to children. We are adults that make informed choices and have made it a personal choice to enjoy smoking a pipe like generations before us. Many have lived a long happy life doing so. When age catches up with us and we need to change our life style that is once again, our choice. Please do not address us in this forum with your horror stories as if we are ignorant children. It is insulting to us. Life is full of risks and the peace and pleasure an occasional bowl of pipe tobacco in a favorite pipe is a risk I have chosen of my own free will. I hope you can respect that.
Man, Cortez, you are one well-spoken son of a gun lately. What happened to the grunts of olden times?
I got a new thesaurus for Christmas; and seeing as how I’m an aging retiree, I wanna get my money’s worth out of it before I kick the bucket. 🙂
Carol, I get more complements from the sweet smell of my tobacco than anything else.
You should try it, you may like it.
“Well over 20 years not to mention probably breathed in smoke as a fetus.” Fetus’s don’t breathe… I’m just saying. Also I’m not sure I’ve ever heard someone speak about 3rd hand smoke before, since the walls and clothing don’t emit smoke and the odor and chemicals attached are probably a fraction of those your baby breathes in being pushed in a stroller down the sidewalk.
Well, lest you think I was just exaggerating, and paranoically predicting a dire future for everyone, let me bring to your attention — just 2 months later — a news story that developed in Illinois.
.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1385887/Parents-obese-children-lose-tax-breaks-says-Senator-Shane-Cultra.html
.
In brief, State Senator Shane Cultra, expressing concern that 1 in 5 youths are considered obese, proposed that parents lose their $2000 income tax deduction for each dependant child whose body mass index fails to meet accepted standards. ‘It’s the parents responsibility that have obese kids,’ he said yesterday. ‘Take the tax deduction away for parents that have obese kids.’
.
Now, this was apparently floated as a trial balloon to test the political waters, and within 24 hours public opinion sent the Senator back-peddling pretty franticly. (You see, when it’s THEIR dog in this fight the public at large opposes nanny-ism swiftly and vociferously.)
.
The point here is that such nanny-ism is actually being contemplated; and things have spiralled to this abysmal state (excuse the pun), because the public has stood by and watched, even gloated, as smokers’ rights were being eroded. They never considered that an ugly precedent was being set, emboldening politicians with a control mindset, and it threatens all of us.