Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Smoking Ban

This is less about wine, and more about a topic that has definitely chapped some hides in the STL area. Yesterday, a ban on smoking in most public places in Saint Louis City and County passed. The law will take effect on Jan 2, 2011.

My quick thoughts:
-Since I'm not a smoker, I'm glad this passed. I visit a lot of restaurants and bars for my job, and I don't like coming home smelling like an ashtray.

-There will be outcries about "they're taking away our freedom!" from the smoking population. This isn't true. You can still smoke, just not in certain areas.

-There have already been outcries of "This is the end of democracy". Nope. There was a democratic vote. Only 20% of the County's roughly 705,000 registered voters turned out. If you don't like the results, you should have voted. If you did vote, you should have gotten more people to vote on your side. For the record, I had to work yesterday, and didn't vote. Much like the Presidential vote, I accepted whatever happens (I did vote in that one.) That's the way a democracy works- the people decide. Right or wrong, we must deal with the choice.

-I hope this doesn't turn anyone off to reading my blog. If the ban wouldn't have passed, I would have said "oh well", and moved on with my life. I try not to put very many of my political or religious views on here. This just happens to be a big time vote in the STL restaurant scene, and would have been remiss not to bring it up.

So, tonight either celebrate, or drown your sorrows with a glass of 2007 Lockwood Block 7 Pinot noir. This is a new item put out by Lockwood, and tastes about twice what the price is. It should cost you around $20 retail, and is delicious.

Cheers!

1 comment:

  1. I quit smoking several months ago using Chantix. It was a last ditch effort. I hated smoking but couldn't stop and the patch wasn't working for me. Plus I worked in a bar and pretty much all but one of my coworkers smoked so I was constantly being triggered. Anyway, the Chantix has turned me into one of those non smoking people that I never wanted to be. The smell of cigarettes turns my stomach. I don't know if thats a useful side effect of the drug or what. We went out to a bar last week and the cig smell was grossing me out. The next morning we were both hacking up a lung. So I'm not sad about the ban.

    Gee, sorry that was kind of rambling. I guess I really needed to get that out.

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