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IN THE NICK OF TIME |
By NICK NARIGON |
Blowing a lot of smoke
Do you have your signs up yet?
What I am talking about are the non-smoking signs.
At the newspaper office we have had our signs posted for a couple days now.
What kills me is that we had to stick these signs to the dashboard of all company vehicles. These no smoking signs have to be placed in plain view where they can be seen through the windows on either side of the car.
I mean seriously. You can have these signs in plain view, but people are still going to smoke in their cars, in plain view.
I know I’ve harped on this before, but once the signs showed up on the walls, did it hit me that this smoking ban is really happening.
First, let me qualify this: I believe in the principle of the ban. Smoking is unhealthy. Smoking causes cancer. Second hand smoke causes cancer. Small children can be placed in an environment filled with second-hand smoke and be exposed to potential health risks.
However, the state government should not be treating grown adults like kindergarteners.
At the age of 18, adults in Iowa are legally provided the choice to smoke or not to smoke.
Adults and business owners in Iowa need to be treated like adults and be allowed to make their own health and business-related decisions.
There are several business related activities that are legal in Iowa that are regulated to a certain degree, but still can be potentially detrimental to the health of private citizens.
People can get blind drunk at bars. To tell you the truth, I am more scared of a drunk guy at the bar than I am of somebody smoking at the bar. When I think of the immediate health risks, that drunk guy poses a greater threat to my personal well being than somebody smoking.
Then there’s the fact exotic dancing is legal in Iowa, but smoking is not. What does that say about the moral fiber of our legislature?
And then gambling is a whole other discussion.
A good friend of mine was a successful teacher in the Iowa City School District. Within one year of the nearby casino opening up, he had to sell his house, he was divorced and he lost his job.
But at least in a casino you can still smoke.
You can also drop your life into a coin slot, but that is a like decision the state government is allowing us to make for ourselves.
Now that the law is in effect, the issue of enforcement is finally at hand.
Enforcement of the smoking ban falls into the hands of the department of public health.
As Iowa County Sheriff Nick Roggentien said, the sheriff’s department will enforce the ban on a complaint basis only. If the department of public health cannot get compliance from somebody, then the sheriff’s office will enforce the law.
“I think they’ve gone a little overboard, but the law is the law,” said Sheriff Roggentien.
Rep. Dawn Pettengill said the question of whether somebody is smoking or not is even ambiguous. She said enforcement officers don’t even need visible proof. If a credible source informs officers somebody is smoking, than that person can be fined.
“What is really alarming is that you don’t even need proof. I can say I saw you smoking at your office, and I’m a credible source, so I don’t really need proof and you would have to pay a fine and the employer would be on the hook,” Pettengill said. “I think smoking is a legal activity and it should be up to the business to decide whether they allow smoking or not. Unless they are going to make it illegal, it is not fair. It just really wasn’t thought out.”
Ultimately, enforcement of the law falls on the shoulders of business owners. A person smoking in a public place will be fined $50. However, the employer or business owner will receive a fine of $100 for the first offense, $250 for a second offense and $500 for any more offenses within one year.
Talking to one business owner in rural Iowa County, I noticed a line of people at his counter all smoking. I wondered what all of these people will do once they cannot smoke inside this café.
Pettengill said she wondered the same thing, and her conclusion was not a good one.
“Towns like Mt. Auburn and Luzerne, little towns that have one restaurant for people to go in, if you cut them off a couple of customers, they would be going belly up. You know you are going to lose some customers,” Pettengill said. “The first time the bill left the house it was so heinous, a farmer who had spend half a million dollars on a tractor in the middle of his 160 acre field could not smoke in that tractor. And I’m sitting here going, are we still in America? I don’t like smoking and I don’t like going into a place where there is smoking, but it’s legal. And you are trying to make criminals out of people who are doing legal activity.”
Another piece of ambiguity in the law is where is the smoking band in place?
For instance, during the July 4 weekend, people will be in full force in small towns celebrating the holiday. And the public will be smoking. But where isit legal for them to smoke?
Marengo City Administrator Carl Schumacher said it is legal to smoke in Marengo City Park. However, it is not legal to smoke in the seating area of public entertainment venues. So the area surrounding the bandstand in Marengo City Park is legally a non-smoking area and people can be fined for smoking there.
“I guess what we are looking at doing at this point in the park, unless the council has other ideas, is we have to designate the area around the bandstand that could be theoretically considered public seating area as a non-smoking area. The council has the option of saying no smoking at the park. It would be easier for enforcement, but that is a decision for the council to make,” Schumacher said. “You have to remember too, we are not going to send the SWAT team out because Joe Citizen is smoking in front of the bandstand. In the same token, the police don’t ticket everyone who is driving 27 miles per hour in a 25-speed zone. That’s where that officer discretion that is provided by law comes into play.”
The debate over the smoking ban is just beginning. The problem right now is it is a mess. As Pettengill said, if you are going to make smoking illegal, make it illegal for everyone. As the ban reads now, it is not fair to business owners and it is not fair to Joe Citizen.
If the state government really cares about the health of Joe Citizen, they shouldn’t fine people for smoking. I think that it has been proven that no matter the cost of smoking, people are still going to smoke.
If the government truly wants people to quit smoking as opposed to padding the government coffers, than they should provide incentives to businesses to go non-smoking.
If government law is causing businesses to lose customers, then the government should help subsidize that revenue loss in some form.
Because this new law, as it is, is just a lot of smoke.