Law protects no one and subjects business owners to hardship.
Jump to full article: Fort Wayne(IN) News-Sentinel, 2008-04-24
Author: Kevin Leininger of The News-Sentinel
Intro: But this is a legal issue, not a moral one: Who should decide whether smoking should be allowed in adults-only businesses where no one is ever victimized by being subjected to secondhand smoke involuntarily?
The Shafers, on the other hand, are victims - even if they are able to sell off some Tailgators' equipment and decorations at a fraction of their original cost.
So is Brenden Newland, a single mother who worked at Tailgators from its first day to the last but is now worried about the future because "I just lost my job." . . .
In other words, the smoking ban is increasing the distance bar customers must drive to get home. Good plan.
The Shafers don't want sympathy, nor do they expect the kind of massive government help big businesses locating downtown are getting. All they wanted was a chance - a chance they say died when the smoking ban was born.
So Wednesday night the Shafers and their regulars said goodbye, doing their best to use up the inventory. Many were smoking, but there's nobody left for the smoking police to punish.
The fact that some people will find smug satisfaction in that says far more about their morality than it does about the Shafers'.
Jump to full article » |