Tobacco Smoke indoors (Oak Ridge: neighborhood, live, restaurant)

[osmotic]

Originally Posted by mbmouse

Something you have to remember about TN/KY/VA. This is where the countries tobacco is grown. There are still a lot of property that has a tobacco allotment that comes with the property you buy if you are looking for anything with more than a few acres. To some of the older generation and some of the newer, saying you can't smoke is like telling them they can't make a living. Not saying it is right or wrong, just explaining.

IMHO, it has not much to do with what is grown in the local farms. It's not just south where tobacco is grown, but also states like MA and CT. Also, you can easily find an eastern Tennessean who is a militant anti-smoker. I guess south is no different from north, or vice versa, when it comes to smoking in the public places. One side note: Tennessee Eastman probably is still making tobacco filters, but I bet rauchen ist stricktly verboten inside its plant.

[GettingOutOfFlorida]

This thread just honestly made me laugh. Everyone has the choice to go where they want and do as they wish. If a store owner is allowing people to smoke in the stores then pick your child up and take them away from the problem. What is the big deal? I have had to do it for you, why wouldn't you do it for me? I am currently living in Florida where you cannot smoke in any business what-so-ever. I am honestly looking forward to being able to sit at the table and have a cigarette with friends after a meal. I really hope that they do not change it before I leave for Tennessee in late December. I agree with what some of the other people have said in previous threads about people trying to change the town instead of adapting to it. Why should an entire town, county, or state, adapt to you. They were fine before you arrived there. If smoking in a restaurant is sooooo awful, then move to a state or city that has smoking laws. Afterall, they were created for you.

[where_to_move]

I bet in less than 10 yrs the whole US will be smoke-free in restaurants & bars & bowling alleys.
I can't wait!
I hate being on vacation, wherever I may be...
request a non-smoking section (ludicrous notion...that air can be divided in a single building) only to leave after eating all stinky like smoke.
I won't even want to take my kids bowling b/c they stink soo bad.
I know the smell is the absolute most benign problem...it's the second hand smoking causing problems....but anyways...
It just seems that this is a trend to become smoke-free everywhere in restaurants & in bars...
I don't care if people smoke in their cars or their homes or on the streets ...wherever, just not in enclosed public places like restaurants....

[Mrs.Bewitched]

Originally Posted by GettingOutOfFlorida

This thread just honestly made me laugh. Everyone has the choice to go where they want and do as they wish. If a store owner is allowing people to smoke in the stores then pick your child up and take them away from the problem. What is the big deal? I have had to do it for you, why wouldn't you do it for me? I am currently living in Florida where you cannot smoke in any business what-so-ever. I am honestly looking forward to being able to sit at the table and have a cigarette with friends after a meal. I really hope that they do not change it before I leave for Tennessee in late December. I agree with what some of the other people have said in previous threads about people trying to change the town instead of adapting to it. Why should an entire town, county, or state, adapt to you. They were fine before you arrived there. If smoking in a restaurant is sooooo awful, then move to a state or city that has smoking laws. Afterall, they were created for you.

I hope this wasn't commented towards me, but I think I am the only one who used my own child as an example, so I will just place a comment anyway..."pick my child up and take him away from the problem". Let's say it is where I go to get his prescription, and I didn't know beforehand to ask if someone smokes in their store. So how do I pick him up and take him away? I can't. I have to stay and get that prescription and hope he doesn't have an attack.
"I have had to do it for you, why wouldn't you do it for me?"...what? what have you had to do for me?
I agree with the last poster who said that in 10 years she can see everyone banning smoking. I think that too. It isn't adapting to me. It is adapting to the stastics that are ever growing about how second hand smoke kills people. It's alright to kill yourself with smoking...but to kill someone else?
If I had chickenpox, would I go to restaurants or stores so that I can expose people to it?
But i will stop now because this has nothing to do with Tenn, and this thread might get pulled now.

[LauraC]

Not to go too far off topic or anything but if the US starts to use corn to put fuel in our cars (in a major way), do you see Tennessee farmers switching their main cash crop from tobacco to corn?

I mean, if you really think about it, if the country made the fuel switch big time, farmers could become extremely wealthy and if there are a lot of farmers in Tennessee (I don't know if that's true), they (and the state) would benefit. Not to mention, that the countryside could be preserved for farmland instead of residential and business development because, well, the farm corn would be the really big business in town. They could "eminant domain you" to put a farm on your land. "Get out, ya big master planned community. We need this land for corn."

But seriously, I don't know anything about farming so I don't know if it costs more to grow tobacco versus corn or it takes more land to grow one over the other but I would think if we go with some corn based fuel (ethanol), Tennessee has the potential to become a wealthy state. I know right now it only grows approximately 2.1% of the US corn (I just looked it up) but I'm guessing that is because tobacco is the more lucrative cash crop right now.

And to get back to the original topic, it could result in more of "Put that in your corn cob pipe and smoke it!"

[mbmouse]

LauraC,
I heard several years ago about a TN initiative to try to get TN tobacco farmers who were loosing profits on tobacco to switch to soy bean crops. Not sure what ever came about with it, but I thought it was a really good idea.

[DeLaSalle]

Originally Posted by Joe P

This thread makes me cringe. I can't stand people that leave one place for another and try to make the new locale like it was "back home". Yes, people around here smoke in restaurants, convenience stores and bars. I really hope the crying liberals don't chip even further into the heritage of the area by trying to outlaw this simple pleasure in Tennessee like they did in Florida.

I moved here six months ago and I'm adapting to the area, not making the area adapt to me. If a bunch of Floridians move here and try to "evolve" the heritage and social aspects of the area it's just going to be Florida, Part 2...and one Florida is enough.

Well Said Joe.
Sorry for your asthma Lutz Lady
I hope my cig smoke doesn't bother you-I smoke on my Lanai

[DeLaSalle]

Originally Posted by rescue1

You people are way tooooo anal about this subject. I quit smoking three years ago,smoked for 35 years. I still belive you have the right to do so. When I was in high school in the late 60s we had a smoking area. Most of the time x-smokers are the worst ones to deal with.

There are so many other Contaminates and Carcinogens in our environment, that SMOKIN is the LAST thing you people should be worrying about, Sheesh...

[hiknapster]

Like the fallout from Oak Ridge. It is absolutely hilarious. But not really. A lot of people here think there is a nuclear power plant there.

Do the people that are whining about cigarette smoke know what Oak Ridge was, is, and the actual threat that it is now?

Did y'all take history in high school?

There's a teacher on this forum complaining about second-hand smoke, but has she looked into the fish you can't eat in the Oak Ridge waters? I would look into that before I started whining about the local customs.

Do you know what Oak Ridge is and was? Fascinating history, really. The federal government and the state (who didn't know what was going on at the time) are still monitoring the place. It's a real lab experiment.

[etepsnewo]

Sounds like Tenn is a lot like NC. Where you get out of the larger cities its like the 1950's concerning health issues.

I have lived in North Carolina now for 37 years of 48 years and I love this state but believe me, the smoking issue is no picnic here. I would like to see smoking banned in all public places including parking lots! Short of that I would like to see a sign (decal) required at the entrance of all businesses that allows smoking anywhere on the premises. This would be similar to the surgeon general’s warning labels now required on tobacco products stating the second hand smoke statement. I want to know before I decide to enter the building. Even better, I would also require it on all advertising for the business. Don’t waist my time advertising your business to me if it is a health risk for me to enter it.

I am both frustrated and embarrassed. Federal, State and local governments have mandated controlled of other industries with similar or even much less health impact issues. One case in point is the Federal Highway Beatification Act and local ordinances that limited outdoor advertising displays on our streets and highways. My issue is not why it was done but how the tobacco issue has been handled in comparison. The sign issue was done with little cost to the taxpayer and was more of a cosmetic issue, indicated by the name, than a health risk. Our governments very skillfully supported laws to phase out the billboards and reduce size and placement of on premise signs, virtually seizing of private property without compensation. This was achieved by using an amortization plan. Brilliant! Why did we not do that to the tobacco industry? We are paying the farmers NOT to grow tobacco. That’s a start but why should we? We did not pay the billboard companies NOT to paint there signs anymore. We did not even pay them for their assets the laws outlawed. The same should have been done with tobacco, they all knew it was coming, how is this any different? Also, I am embarrassed by the way North Carolina initially used the Tobacco company settlement money to promote tobacco products usage world wide. Did we miss the point of the lawsuit and settlement, I think so!

Why am I frustrated? I suffer from a sever allergic reaction to one or more of the chemicals the tobacco industry puts in cigarettes. I use to think it was the tobacco but second hand smoke from cigars and pipe tobacco do not bother me at all and certain brands of cigarettes are worse for me than others. Marlboro lights are the worst for me followed by Marlboro regulars. I can tell you if someone is smoking these brands in a shopping center parking lot or in traffic anywhere upwind from me. I can tell you if the store employee smoked one on there last outside smoke break. May times from twenty feet away in the store. This is not an exaggeration. Exposure to this second hand smoke or more accurately the evaporated chemical(s) results in instant nasal pain, headaches, tightness and pain in my chest and airways followed by sever sinus bleeding for days and sometimes weeks. Many times a full sinus infection sets in afterwards. I have gone to medical doctors for relief to find little if any assistance. They prescribe Flow-naze, or something like that, which does not stop the bleeding from happening and they say to avoid cigarette smoke is best and that I am lucky my body reacts this way to such a health risk. The allergist specialist said he can not tell me what chemical in the cigarettes I am allergic to because to expose me to these know cancer causing chemicals would be a case for malpractice. I have little if any social life due to the disabling condition. Most work and social groups have members that smoke and they always want to light up around me. Even when I explain to them they are polite but can only refrain for about ten minutes until the addiction wipes out there will to be considerate and they light up anyway. I spend all on my time with the group trying to stay away from the smoke which is always a failed effort. Restaurants that use the ventilation systems are a complete and absolute joke for me. Maybe since it is the evaporated chemicals that I need filtered and there system is only filtering the larger tobacco particles. That would explain the extreme sensitivity I have at such great distances and why there filters are useless. A total ban might just give me a life again.

Note: I have been under the care of a Homeopathic Doctor with some good results but a far cry from complete relief.

Smoke free is the way to be!