Post by Clipper on Jan 2, 2019 10:59:32 GMT -5
wibx950.com/erie-county-bans-smoking-in-cars-with-children-inside/
I advocate banning smoking ANYWHERE in public and anywhere that others are subjected to the smoke. I only makes common sense that innocent children should be protected from having to breathe the toxic smoke so selfishly polluting the air while they are trapped in a car. New Jersey has had a similar law for years.
As a 45 year former smoker some may find it hypocritical for me to be adamantly in favor of smoking bans in general, but since quitting in 2004 I have become more and more sensitive to the smell of cigarette smoke. I grew up with two parents that both smoked. They smoked in the home as well as in the car when we went anywhere. I started sneaking cigarettes in around 1959 or so, taking a cigarette or two from one of my parent's packs and sharing it with a friend while we cowered out of sight somewhere. By the time I was 16 I was buying cigarettes by the pack and smoking a pack every few days. Whitesboro high school actually had a smoking area in the back of the old high school where we could go during our lunch period to smoke. When I drank I was a two pack a day smoker. When I drove over the road, I burned up at least two packs a day, some of which simply burned away resting in the ashtray.
When I managed to quit in 2004 the effects were immediate. My breathing immediately improved. My allergies got much better. Now I absolutely cannot stand the smell of a burning cigarette. They smoke outside the door to the bowling alley. There are usually 5 or 6 people out there smoking when we arrive or leave the bowling alley. Even when there is no one out there smoking, the bucket of sand that is used for a butt can stinks to the high heavens. I actually hold my breath while I walk through the acrid blue cloud outside the door. I have grown so sensitive to the stench of cigarette smoke that my sinuses immediately plug up if I inhale it. I am amazed that for so many years, I not only didn't notice the stench, but actually contributed to it. I sat for hours in bars where the smoke was 4 feet deep and the ceiling and every ashtray had a cigarette smoldering away. I subjected MY OWN kids to smoke while riding in the car. When I go to hang my jacket up at the bowling alley, I avoid hanging it next to a smoker's smelly coat. I look back and can't believe that my clothes, my trucks, and our house used to smell that badly. Kathy smoked as much as I did and smoked for 4 more years after I quit. We HAD started going outside to smoke when we moved here. The people that lived here before us were both chain smokers. We spent two days washing the walls and ceilings before we could repaint. Wiping the wall with a wet sponge and wringing the sponge in a bucket of water created a solution that looked like coffee.
This is tobacco country. The tobacco is grown all around us. People here smoke, dip, and chew in huge numbers. If you drive through the countryside you will see acres and acres of tobacco growing or drying on racks in the sun. There are large tobacco warehouses and tobacco brokers and auctioneers. There are tobacco outlets and smoke shops on every other corner. There is a tobacco allotment system that allows a person to only grow a certain amount. The people here before us had a tobacco allotment to grow a small amount for personal use. The plot where I plant my garden is very fertile because it was always fertilized and amended to insure a good base in which to grow tobacco. You can't park your car in a public parking lot and get out without having to dodge a wad of chewing tobacco or snuff, or step around puddle of tobacco juice. This area resists any and all efforts to curtail smoking. We still have restaurants and bars where smoking is allowed outside where there are patio dining and cocktail areas. CVS and small hometown pharmacies have stopped selling tobacco products but Walgreens and Rite Aid still resist and continue to sell cigarettes and snuff. Cigarette prices have risen to anywhere from $35 to $50 a carton. I can't imagine what the cost in Cuomo land. If I still smoked I would be spending $200 bucks a month on smokes.
In my not so humble opinion tobacco sales and tobacco use should be outlawed completely. There is no redeeming benefit to be derived from tobacco use of any kind. I guess I am just a biased old fart that believes that it should not be necessary to legislate a ban on smoking around children. A parent should have the common sense to avoid subjecting their kids to the toxic hazards of second hand smoke.
I advocate banning smoking ANYWHERE in public and anywhere that others are subjected to the smoke. I only makes common sense that innocent children should be protected from having to breathe the toxic smoke so selfishly polluting the air while they are trapped in a car. New Jersey has had a similar law for years.
As a 45 year former smoker some may find it hypocritical for me to be adamantly in favor of smoking bans in general, but since quitting in 2004 I have become more and more sensitive to the smell of cigarette smoke. I grew up with two parents that both smoked. They smoked in the home as well as in the car when we went anywhere. I started sneaking cigarettes in around 1959 or so, taking a cigarette or two from one of my parent's packs and sharing it with a friend while we cowered out of sight somewhere. By the time I was 16 I was buying cigarettes by the pack and smoking a pack every few days. Whitesboro high school actually had a smoking area in the back of the old high school where we could go during our lunch period to smoke. When I drank I was a two pack a day smoker. When I drove over the road, I burned up at least two packs a day, some of which simply burned away resting in the ashtray.
When I managed to quit in 2004 the effects were immediate. My breathing immediately improved. My allergies got much better. Now I absolutely cannot stand the smell of a burning cigarette. They smoke outside the door to the bowling alley. There are usually 5 or 6 people out there smoking when we arrive or leave the bowling alley. Even when there is no one out there smoking, the bucket of sand that is used for a butt can stinks to the high heavens. I actually hold my breath while I walk through the acrid blue cloud outside the door. I have grown so sensitive to the stench of cigarette smoke that my sinuses immediately plug up if I inhale it. I am amazed that for so many years, I not only didn't notice the stench, but actually contributed to it. I sat for hours in bars where the smoke was 4 feet deep and the ceiling and every ashtray had a cigarette smoldering away. I subjected MY OWN kids to smoke while riding in the car. When I go to hang my jacket up at the bowling alley, I avoid hanging it next to a smoker's smelly coat. I look back and can't believe that my clothes, my trucks, and our house used to smell that badly. Kathy smoked as much as I did and smoked for 4 more years after I quit. We HAD started going outside to smoke when we moved here. The people that lived here before us were both chain smokers. We spent two days washing the walls and ceilings before we could repaint. Wiping the wall with a wet sponge and wringing the sponge in a bucket of water created a solution that looked like coffee.
This is tobacco country. The tobacco is grown all around us. People here smoke, dip, and chew in huge numbers. If you drive through the countryside you will see acres and acres of tobacco growing or drying on racks in the sun. There are large tobacco warehouses and tobacco brokers and auctioneers. There are tobacco outlets and smoke shops on every other corner. There is a tobacco allotment system that allows a person to only grow a certain amount. The people here before us had a tobacco allotment to grow a small amount for personal use. The plot where I plant my garden is very fertile because it was always fertilized and amended to insure a good base in which to grow tobacco. You can't park your car in a public parking lot and get out without having to dodge a wad of chewing tobacco or snuff, or step around puddle of tobacco juice. This area resists any and all efforts to curtail smoking. We still have restaurants and bars where smoking is allowed outside where there are patio dining and cocktail areas. CVS and small hometown pharmacies have stopped selling tobacco products but Walgreens and Rite Aid still resist and continue to sell cigarettes and snuff. Cigarette prices have risen to anywhere from $35 to $50 a carton. I can't imagine what the cost in Cuomo land. If I still smoked I would be spending $200 bucks a month on smokes.
In my not so humble opinion tobacco sales and tobacco use should be outlawed completely. There is no redeeming benefit to be derived from tobacco use of any kind. I guess I am just a biased old fart that believes that it should not be necessary to legislate a ban on smoking around children. A parent should have the common sense to avoid subjecting their kids to the toxic hazards of second hand smoke.