It’s A Crock
“It’s a crock. I served my country fighting for these freedoms and now we’re giving them up one at a time. What did I fight for? We’re becoming a communist country.”
Those are pretty harsh words. They were attributed to Vietnam veteran Butch Butler, in a Associated Press report published by the Daily Oklahoma/Newsok.com on April 3, 2006. Mr. Butler is the owner of the Wagon Wheel Diner, located on U.S. Highway 70, near Wilson in Carter County, Oklahoma.
According to the referenced report, eighty percent of the establishment’s customers are smokers. When the smoking ban went into effect on March 1st, Butler complied with the law, declared his establishment “non-smoking” and in the next two days saw his business decline by seventy percent. As a result Butler told his customers to just go ahead and smoke. This in hopes that his rural location would mean that his establishment would just be ignored. Wrong!
The Health Department smoking police swooped down like a vulture eyeing a carcass and shut him down. Mr. Butler’s business was one of four shut down last month by the State Health Department ’smoking police’ for violation of the Oklahoma smoking ban. The business remains shut down as the date of this writing. This while Mr. Butler awaits the approval of his newly completed “smoking room” which must be inspected and approved by the smoking police. Smoking police who do not seem to be in any hurry to approve restaurants attempting to comply with the law.
That Mr. Butler is a victim of Oklahoma’s smoking ban is without question. With an estimated eighty percent of his business comprised of smokers he is at the mercy of the smoking police intent on stamping out all smoking in Oklahoma. Butler had no choice, he was forced to either make expensive modifications to his establishment, in hopes of winning the stamp of approval of the smoking police, or he his business would not survive. At this point in time it is not possible to say whether his business will survive or not. What is apparent is that there’s currently one less eating establishment open in the area of Wilson, Oklahoma. A business forced to close by the smoking police.
Mr. Butler is right, we are becoming a communist country when we take away the rights of private business owners and their customers to choose whether they prefer a smoking or non-smoking policy.
To Butch Butler we can only say, thank you sir for your sacrifices in serving your country during the Vietnam War. Unfortunately it appears that many of your countrymen do not understand the concept of freedom, individual and property rights or the value of a free enterprise. If they did there would be no smoking police and your business would not be closed today.
April 5th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
This just makes me soooooo mad! A business owner in America should decide how he wants to operate his business. If he wants to allow smoking then those who object can just go somewhere else to eat. It is not government’s business!!! Why are non smokers such biggots about it. It was probably someone who only visits his restrurant once a week who complained to the smoking police, and they are strutting around with their nose in the air over it. I would have set up a picnic table outside and hung a sign over it “NON SMOKING SECTION”.