Secondhand smoke has been classified in several independent studies as being a hazard to the public health and safety. There is indisputable evidence that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Therefore, it is the government's duty to either mitigate or eliminate said health hazard.
I want to upchuck whenever I get a whiff of someone else's secondhand smoke. Would you want me to barf on the floor right in front of you? I think not.
Now, as far as bars losing money when there is a smoking ban in place, well, I'm as sorry as anyone when a business decides it has to close. Look at it this way, fewer bars means fewer drunken drivers, right?
Minnesota's statewide smoking ban that includes bars has been in effect since Oct. 1. Many of my co-workers say they're frequenting the bars over in Moorhead more than they are the ones in Fargo for the simple reason that smoking is banned in bars on the Minnesota side of the river.
So, Fargo bar owner Randy Thorson would be well-advised to get off his high horse and stop fighting the inevitable. I think Fargo establishments will one day become totally smoke-free. Probably sooner than later. Thorson owns two Fargo drinking establishments that currently allow its patrons to puff away. Thorson naturally has a vested interest in maintaining what he considers to be the status quo.
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However, I think Thorson and others in the local hospitality industry had best accept the change as it is coming. No one knows for sure when a complete ban on smoking in indoor workplaces, including bars, will come about in the city of Fargo. However, I have no doubt it's going to come. Probably sooner than people like Thorson would want to admit.
If North Dakota's largest cities
of Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck, Minot, etc. start adopting total indoor smoking bans including bans on smoking in bars; then the state Legislature is bound to take notice. The Legislature will hopefully find that it needs to level the playing field, so to speak, relative to this subject. If the Legislature does so find, then hopefully state lawmakers will enact a statewide indoor smoking ban similar to Minnesota's. North Dakota's Legislature does not meet again in regular session until January of 2009, following the Nov. 4 general election.
Of course there's always the possibility of a statewide initiated measure coming down the pike. No individuals or groups to date have announced plans to launch a statewide petition drive to get an initiated measure onto the ballot for a complete statewide indoor workplace smoking ban, including a ban on smoking in bars. However, it could happen. Such an initiative would require some 12,844 valid signatures of voters in order for the secretary of state to certify the measure for the ballot.
That's exactly what happened in Minnesota. Cities and counties throughout the state were adopting various versions of an indoor smoke-free workplace ordinance. Some, including Moorhead, included bans on smoking in bars. Others did not. It was confusing for a time in the Twin Cities metro area in that some of the suburbs banned smoking in all indoor workplaces including bars, while others exempted smoking in bars from the ban. Minnesota state lawmakers had no choice but to level the playing field statewide. Thus, the Legislature enacted a complete indoor workplace smoking ban, including banning smoking in bars; and Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed the legislation into law.
I think if a complete indoor smoking ban, including a ban on smoking in bars were to go on the ballot in Fargo, in my opinion it would in all likelihood pass. Probably by upwards of 70 percent of the vote. All we can hope for is between now and the Fargo municipal election coming up in June of 2008 that there will be a serious discussion of this subject and that plenty of information will be provided to the public so that the voters can make an informed choice.
Olson lives in Fargo.
Other views: Fargo ban on smoke inevitable By Rick Olson 20080103
