"I want to be a leader in something that is extremely important," says Bill Dukes.
Well, he is — and God bless him for it.
The local business leader’s decision to ban smoking from his distinctive Vista restaurant, The Blue Marlin, will at the very least provide a healthy haven for workers and patrons. Beyond that, there’s good reason to believe that customers will flood his establishment in a grateful rush, in order to be able to breathe freely while they eat and drink.
And the food’s good, too.
Better yet, it seems inevitable that other bistros and bars will follow.
Given that I have my doubts that state law will let Columbia ban smoking in public accommodations by ordinance, this is particularly encouraging.
You go, Bill.
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So maybe in the future, some places will be smoke-free, others will have separate smoking and non-smoking sections, and still others will be so hazy that you can’t tell if the person you’re flirting with is attractive or revolting.
Isn’t that what freedom of choice is all about?
If he wants to be a leader towards something truly enjoyable, he’ll divert his advertising dollars away from Phil Kornblut’s snorefest of a sportstalk show and towards Mark Packer’s WFNZ broadcast which is (finally!) debuting in the area. Columbia sports fans finally have an option. A MUCH better one.
Which would you rather listen to: the trials and travails of some kid being scouted in the 5th grade who may or may not play football at USC or Clemson or the Whiner Line?
Make mine Mark.
Private decisions by owners of businesses and their customers is how it is supposed to work in America, not dictates from potentates.
Those who don’t like the America way will not be as cheerful when another restaurant announces that it is a “cigar bar” or other such haven for smoking, and warns those who don’t like it to go somewhere else.
I rarely go to the Vista,but now I can have my favorite dish;UNsmoked scallops!Thank You,
Mr Dukes,for leading the way.You should get an award.
Bingo. This is precisely how the smoking issue should be solved: on a case-by-case basis, decided by the owners of the establishments. Now we will have a chance to see if anti-smoking agitators will put their money where their mouths are or if it’s all just about running other people’s lives.
Hooray for the Blue Marlin. But what’s with those parking meters in the parking area by the Blue Marlin?
Exactly as it should be. Owners CHOOSE “to smoke or not to smoke”. Hopefully, there will soon be a restaurant where smoking is 100% ALLOWED !! Folks can go to either one they want. Or neither. Government intervention not needed. Or wanted.
I don’t smoke and hate it (cigarettes, that is). Wife smokes. Hate that, too, but I live with it.
I think it’s about smokers’ RUINING other peoples lives.
Did Tom ruin Jerry’s life? How long until such thought control as the following makes it to our shores?
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/story.html?id=333bb7db-4036-40ed-a1f9-205133c08e5c&k=14977
Let me fix that link for you, Cap:
Tom and Jerry.
There.
Whoa! Those ’80s chicks in that ad were just kissing at me! Whoever mentioned that before wasn’t tripping. Either that, or I am.
And this is the way it should be. I applaud any private business owner for making his or her own decision.
When the government gets involved, then I have to say BOOOOOO.
Thought control? Yeah,it’s a great idea to keep kids from thinking that smoking is an acceptable addiction.An addiction that kills more Americans each year than all car accidents,murders,other drug deaths,and AIDS combined.If you think those are bogus stats,check out the CDC and the American Heart Association.
BTW-that link went nowhere,but I found the story.
p.s.I know we’ve been through this before and I’ll try to refrain from posting anymore comments on this subject.This is SC,people are stubborn and slow to change.
p.p.s.I have lots of nieces and nephews,and am sure they’ve never heard of Tom and Jerry,so it’s pretty much a moot point.
Check out the 20 year studies by the FDA and AMA which found absolutely no health effects from a controlled population of workers in a confined area with lots of cigarette smokers.
Now, there is a new study of the all the other research which also finds no connection between “second-hand smoke” and health problems.
Let me fix that link for you, Cap:
Tom and Jerry.
There.
Posted by: Brad Warthen | Aug 24, 2006 2:08:10 PM
Thanks for the assist. I owe you a smoke. Too bad neither of us does.
Thought control? Yeah,it’s a great idea to keep kids from thinking that smoking is an acceptable addiction.An addiction that kills more Americans each year than all car accidents,murders,other drug deaths,and AIDS combined.
Posted by: bill | Aug 24, 2006 2:21:18 PM
You’d sacrifice cultural record for political correctness? Smoky logic.
Let’s erase all of our bad habits from films so that we can create the illusion of what we once never were. What’s next — Bogey and Bacall go bye-bye?
Yeah, let’s not forget dumb ol’ South Carolina and all its stubborn, slow to change, dimwitted, dumber than oak sap (JG’s Manifesto) redneck, racist, ignorant, blahblahblah dopes who try to pass for humans. Let’s please not forget them nor all the brilliant non-South Carolina people who have blessed us by moving here and are helping to drag us up out of this Southern swamp of ignorance we call our home.
Spencer, look at what happens in other states.
Connecticut had peoples homes taken away for commercial reasons, Kansas tossed around the evolution hot potato, Florida and Ohio don’t know how to vote, Cali is well Cali, NY has Hilary Clinton, Arizona and Va had serial killers etc.
Point being we’re not a desolate island in an ocean of utopia. Ok, so our governor carried pigs into the capitol atleast he didn’t punch a security gaurd.
Yeah Spencer,
That’s one of my favorite books. It’s too bad that the Dem “leadership” forgot how to talk about class-and boy did they do some damage to the Democratic Party by ignoring it. I know a lot of manufacturing workers who are fed up with status quo. Let’s get together for a beer sometime-seriously. I’ll try not to smoke too much.
Capital A – History purging by the politically correct crowd is well under way. FDR was never without a cigarette sort of like Churchill and his cigars. When the new monument was unveiled by the Clintons in D.C., sure enough the original mockup had him holding a fag, but the final sculpture was purged.
Visit FDR Monumnet!
Dave, thanks for the info. To quote Peter Griffin: That really grinds my gears!
History, in all its ugliness, should never be spit-shined and polished.
I’m unsure as to the Clinton connection, but I’ll take your word for it on this one. If that charge is true, it is unsurprising since I wouldn’t expect any less from a “lady” who spent so much time and money wiping away her Southern accent.
Web site of intolerant blue noses seeking to control the lives of others.
http://www.smokefreecolumbia.org/
test, damn it.