Clearing The Air

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Local MN bar owner remembers Nicoderm funded activists' claims that smoking bans were good for business

And has just one question.

Were they lying when they made such claims?

Where are all the non-smokers?

Mainline website states:

http://www.mainlinebar.com/events.php

All right, this is gonna be a little awkward but I think it needs to be put out there. The Mainline is down 45% since the inception of the smoking ban. I was told there'd be tons of new customers because of the ban.....Well, I haven't seen any and apparently i'm not the only one. As there are now 201 bars/restaurants/bingo halls that have gone out of business since the ban went into effect. Please check it out.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/01/100-bars-and-restaurants-put-out-of.html

I don't want to be on this list! Don't let anyone tell you that no ones biz is hurting because of it. IT'S A LIE! A GREAT BIG ONE! Any how, we really need customers or were going to be done for.

Stop in and say hello to Lew and his family at the Mainline. And while you're at it tell Bob Moffit at the American Lung Association of MN and David Willoughby of ClearWay MN (formerly MPAAT) what you think of their scheming, caniving, rent seeking legislation. Don't forget to include Governor Tim Pawlenty in your emails as well.

robert.moffitt@alamn.org
dwilloughby@clearwaymn.org
tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us

Online letter from another local bar owner:

http://www.bullseye-saloon.com/letter.htm

excerpt:

First, my customer base, like the majority of hometown bars across the state of MN, is composed primarily of blue-collar working people. These people go to work everyday to build the roads you drive on, fix the cars and airplanes you rely on, wire the house where you live so you have electricity, and raise the crops you put on your dinner table. During the course of their daily lives they are exposed to herbicides, they risk injury building our bridges, and they might get electrocuted while fixing your air conditioning. They fight fires, they breathe in diesel fumes, they remove asbestos, and they cook over charcoal grills. When a “Day’s work” is complete they come to their local bar to have a beer and a cigarette and unwind. All of us are wondering how it is that they can breathe in carcinogens all day long as they fight fires, fix diesel trucks, remove asbestos, spray herbicide, and cook over a BBQ grills, but they cannot choose to have a cigarette at the bar after work?