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• Huckabee explains smoking ban decision 

Under Gov. Mike Huckabee's definition of restaurant owners' rights, as long as customers can see a potential health hazard -- smoke, for example -- in a restaurant, the government shouldn't ban it.

Owners don't have a right to have filthy kitchens or to allow cockroaches in the flour, but smoke is different because it's visible to potential customers, he said.

The state regulates many aspects of restaurants and other businesses, a practice with which Huckabee is content, based on his view of what government should, and should not, do. Checking for cleanliness and filth, for example, is acceptable to him.

"You can't look at a plate and tell if it's got E.coli or salmonella," Huckabee said, mentioning two common causes of food-borne illness. "You can't look at the plate and know how it was washed and under what temperature the water was heated.

"But you can walk in and say, 'Do you have a nonsmoking section?'

"If they say, 'No,' then you say, 'Thank you very much, but I'll be taking my business elsewhere.' "

Huckabee on Oct. 26 decided not to approve a state Board of Health proposed regulation that would have banned smoking in restaurants. . .

"That's a real simple issue," Huckabee said. "One relates to the unseen issues of food preparation, where the public has no ability to ascertain cleanliness. The public is not allowed to go into the kitchen and make an inspection, so the Health Department does that on their behalf.

"The smoking issue is one in which it's part of the atmosphere of the customer, not the atmosphere of the kitchen. It's a very clear distinction to me. That's a ridiculous kind of association some have tried to make." . .

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One relates to the unseen issues of food preparation, where the public has no ability to ascertain cleanliness. The public is not allowed to go into the kitchen and make an inspection, so the Health Department does that on their behalf. The smoking issue is one in which it's part of the atmosphere of the customer, not the atmosphere of the kitchen. It's a very clear distinction to me. That's a ridiculous kind of association some have tried to make.
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who on Oct. 26 decided not to approve a state Board of Health proposed regulation that would have banned smoking in restaurants. ROWETT, M.