Special Offer Beverly Blue Cigarettes Beverly Blue Cigarettes $1250 Buy Now

Catalog

Tell a Friend
Whitelisting Email Address
Payment Instructions

Smoking Restrictions

Say this for the Macon City Council and its decision to tighten smoking cigarettes restrictions: The council was bound to anger a lot of people however it voted on the matter, but it didn’t duck the issue.
The new ordinance, which goes into effect Sept. 1, will eliminate smoking cigarettes in bars and nightclubs and just about every other indoor place besides private homes. It also bans smoking cigarettes outdoors within 10 feet or a reasonable distance of entrances to businesses. Businesses could face fines of up to $500, and repeat offenders could have licenses yanked.

The ordinance passed by a 9-6 vote, which indicates that council members recognized there were valid points on both sides of the argument. Nonsmokers have pointed out that they have a right to enjoy a night out without having the air around them polluted by secondhand smoke. Councilwoman Lauren Benedict, a co-sponsor of the ordinance and a workers’ compensation attorney, said she supported the new rules to protect the health rights of employees who might not be able to find work anyplace but a bar or nightclub.
On the other hand, bar owners and smokers could counter that this ordinance is just another example of paternalistic, intrusive government. If a business owner wishes to cater to smokers and posts a sign warning nonsmokers that he does so, what’s the harm? The nonsmokers can go elsewhere or they can accept the risk to their health of secondhand smoke cigarettes and enter the establishment. And if bar workers’ health rights are a priority of council, is there soon to be an ordinance limiting the decibel level of live music in bars? What about enforcement? Are police to stop pursuing criminals and instead round up smokers?
There is another right, however, that trumps the debate of smokers’ rights vs. nonsmokers’ rights: the right to make a decent living. As one downtown nightclub owner pointed out, unless Bibb County enacts a similar ordinance, this could wind up driving business away from downtown and to businesses outside city limits. We hope that in the event that Macon businesses do feel a serious pinch from this ordinance that council takes a second look at it and adjusts it accordingly.


Other cigarettes news and tobacco market events you can find at links bellow:

   • Cigarettes Online News

   • Discount Cigarettes & Tobacco News

   • Discount Cigarettes Tobacco News