Appleton Ban Upheld.

Appleton voters yesterday voted to uphold the smoking ban as originally enacted.

Some of the bars in Appleton promised not to allow smoking on their premises if the ban was amended. That would have been perfect, after all, the proposal was not to force all bars to have smoking but to leave the decision to them. Anduzzis was only going to allow smoking upstairs and not downstairs, non-smokers would not have had to wander through the smoking section to get into the bar.

It is tempting to go hyperbolic here, throw out the usual hyphenated cliches but I have to face it (and so to those who believe similarly to myself) there is no right to smoke cigarettes anywhere and if society passes a law against smoking cigarettes than we have to honor that law. Yelling health-fascist or health-nazi etc does nothing to change that fact.

While we recognize a right to private property, there is no guarantee we can use our private property in any fashion we choose. Allowing the smoking on our private property is the same. That said, it is important we recognize the importance of allowing people as much freedom with their private property as possible.

It sets a bad precedent to prohibit smoking on what is private property. What is next? The sale of alcohol in taverns is to be banned? Don't scoff, after all the MADD types are just concerned about the health and safety of people. Soda pop to be next? Hey, don't you know we have a diabetes epidemic? Do you know how much it would save society if we cut down on the obesity rates that soda pop consumption contributes to?

What is next?