Aiken Council votes 4-3 to limit smoking in bars, restaurants

You can now drink youself into a coma-like state, get in your car and drive the wrong way on the 4-lane, kill or injure at least 5 people just on the way home, beat your wife because supper got cold while you were at the bar where you are allowed to get in this condition legally, but now you get fined or jailed if you smoke inside the same building. Does anyone else see something very wrong here ???

So, If I understand the reasoning of the two smokers that have already posted, if you drive drunk and beat your wife or don't kill people with second hand smoke, it should be all right to smoke in public. I'm not certain I follow that logic. I like the simple and easy situation that puts an obvious perspective on public smoking. Watch the reaction of young children that are forced to sit next to a smoker. They choke and cough and hold their nose and lean as far away as they can and try to hold their breath. In short, they suffer...just like adults in the same situation. Smoking is an extremely offensive habit that causes medical problems to the addicted and, arguably, to those around them. It leaves a very nasty smell on the hair and clothes of all that come in contact with the smoke, a smell that can transfer to the upholstery of your car from you clothes, so a nonsmoker that had to walk through a noxious cloud of cigarette smoke has to experience the smell for days. Keep the habit private. The public can deal with your breath and clothes smell by standing just a few feet from you.

As usual Patricia, you missed the point.

Scientists have proven there is direct correlation from smoking leads to either a quick death or slow death...It is fact...As far as second hand smoke goes, if the scientists have proven that the air quality is harmful because of noxious fumes from companies and automobiles then it stands to reason the smoke off of cigarettes is just as lethal...I would assume that most of you wouldn't sit in a garage with the door closed and your car running the effects of that would be death or complications from said fumes...The damage is the same to yourselves and others from the smoke off the cigarettes...I have been fortunate just to have acquired emphysema and COPD from 28 years of smoking. I say fortunate because many of the people I have know over the years are dead now from either direct smoking or the secondhand air...Either way it is lethal...

no, common-sense-justice, I didn't. As an addict, you feel that if it's o.k. for one wrong to take place, then why not two? Well, your examples of drunk driving and wife beating aren't o.k. either. They too are illegal and punishable. I know there are plenty of tobacco addicts who feel it is their "right" to be as offensive as they wish with their habit, but times have changed. They must now be polite or pay a fine. Growing up is tough.

Way to go Aiken City. Now we hope North Augusta will do the same.

I agree with PT and Christian. Commonsense, your stated argument is nonsense. The people who drink and drive or beat their spouses are held accountable when they are caught. Smokers really do not see or care that their decision to smoke is harmful and unpleasant for others to deal with. If someone gets out of hand drinking in a resturant or bar, they are usually dealt with pretty quickly. Not even nearly a valid comparison.

Cellphone use in public is a serious health issue and should be tightly regulated and controlled. The rudeness of the phone users, their horrible driving while chatting, the obnoxious ringtones, all these contribute to a massive headache daily. BAN PUBLIC USE OF CELLPHONES or let people smoke. We cannot control every thing that harms innocent people. If you don't like an establishment because it allows people to smoke, no one forces you to patronize. I am not pro smoking as it took me a long time to quit, I am pro individual rights. If you have the right to own a gun, which is a weapon of death, then you have the right to smoke, which is no more a weapon of death than a gun.

Can we ban fat people from overeating in public as well? I mean, they're really offensive to everyone and studies have shown that people who have fat friends tend to become fat themselves over time...

Your individual rights end where mine begin. I am not a smoking nazi, I just don't want to sit in a resturant with my wife and kids trying to enjoy my food, while another customer nearby enjoys his cigarette ruining my dining experience and others. If I go to a bar, I expect to see smokers at the bar. But if they don't allow it, you won't see me marching at any pro smoking parades. Probably won't see too many smokers marching very far, either.

Use that same illogic with the gun crowd.

Let me ask this question.
Why is that when a smoker gets cancer from smoking, they are getting millions from a lawsuit they put aganist the cigerette maker?
Seems to me if someone that smokes comes up to me while they are smoking, I should be able to sue them due to the danger they are causing me.

I don't think most people should be walking around armed, either. At least there is a license you are required to carry with you, some method of accountability. For the most part, those who carry a gun will not fire them off after eating their steak, so it really is of no concern to me whether they are carrying or not. Same thing with a cigarette. I could care less if you have four cartons of cigs under your jacket. It's when you pull one out and light it the problems begin. Tall, your argument is illogical.

banning smoking in restaurants is very understandable... bars on the other hand.. these people are adults! if you dont like a smokey bar, then buy a case, and save a few bucks at home.

Where does this council and mayor get off. If you own the business, it should be up to you wether to allow smoking. If a non smoker doesn't want to breathe the smoke, then keep your [filtered word] out of the establishment, easy enough. Just another example of govn't gone wild.

Rock, there is no difference between a bar or resturant. If you don'tlike the smoke, go somewhere else. No one is holding a gun to your head making you go into a smoking establishment. Damnn what stupid public officals!

Yes peter, I think there is quite a difference. I happen to be a smoker.... but I would never smoke around a non-smoker during a meal, rude! coffee shops, and bars- are not known for their food, they're known for their drinks. The whole "holding a gun to your head" statement is overused, come up with something else, such as a better argument.

Just remember one thing folks. You put these people in office and if you vote for them again shame on you. I also wonder what the term "smoking related" means. I think drinking is far worse, but people in power, who drink, don't see their sin so they look elsewhere. Really, if we would all just stay home (and save a pile of money) for a month and establishments started closing, then what would they do. Bottom line, vote them out and ask questions of the new candidates before you elect them.

There is no better argument Rock, nobody is forcing you to go to that establishment, period, period, dot. By the way, I am a non smoker. If they passed an ordinance saying you can no longer have sex in your home, what would you say to that? Your argument doesn't hold water, rock.

How to remover a nasty cigarette odor ?

joanie, take a bath!

witty. the only thing we disagree on is whether or not there is a difference between a restaurant and a bar. . . I bartended for years, believe me... there's a difference.

chip..chip..chipping away at your rights as a free citizen of this country and you people are too stupid to see it......"your rights end where mine begin" dumbest statement so far.......in your blind jubilation at the smoking ordinance you fail to see the reality of the big picture..........and while your dancing in the streets read a little book called Animal Farm.........(your all like sheep)

I am all for individual rights, but why should my or my child's health be put at risk b/c you want to light up in a public restroom. There is tons of proof that shows how much more dangerous 2nd hand smoke is. If you want to smoke, smoke at home...you have the right. Nowhere in the constitution are you given the right to harm those around you. Some may try, but there is nothing that you can compare this too. There are a lot of crazies here in CA, but I must say it is great to go to ANY public place and not have to worry about the smoke. Frankly, I'll be glad when they pass the law that you can't smoke within 20ft of the entrance to a public establishment. Nothing against smokers, but please respect my right to NOT want lung cancer at any degree.

tall2 your 8:32 comment is nonsense. Poor driving, regardless of the reason, is punishable. As far as cell phone use comparison goes, the potential damage is to the user, not the person that has to hear the speaking. Are you now saying you don't like the 1st amendment? Smoking hurts and offends and interferes with all in the surrounding area of the addict. Keep nasty habits private.

I am a smoker- I have always been very courteous around non-smokers. Even when smoking is allowed- if someone in the same section close to me is eating dinner, I will not light up. I beleive in the ban in the restaurants. I don't beleive it should have included bars.

yeah, karmakills, spitting on the sidewalk, yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded building, public nudity are all civil rights that are being chipped away. Sometimes sheep need to know where their fences are so they can survive with other sheep. The anarchy of "everyone can do whatever they want" only works in the jungle.

The funny thing is that I remember complaining at a new policy in a hospital years ago, a policy that forced me to smoke out in the hall because they said I was endangering a patient who was in the same room as I...This elderly woman was on oxygen at the time...Go figure..I was there for tests, she was just trying to breathe....Now, all these years later, I am the one just trying to breathe...

I don't see banning smoking in bars unless they serve food. No one wants to smell the disgusting smoke while eating, and I hope and pray North Augusta follows the trend that is happening in Augusta and Aiken.