Norman Considers Smoking Ban
The city of Norman, Oklahoma may enact a public smoking ban in the near future.
The Norman City Council is considering banning all smoking in public parks, the golf course and even on city owned parking lots.
This after Noble, another Cleveland County town, recently enacted a ban on smoking in its public parks.
As smoking has been banned from more and more indoor locations it is only reasonable to expect that the anti-smoking zealots would go after outdoor smoking.
They have and have already achieved considerable success with smoking bans in football stadiums, zoos and now public parks.
The handwriting is all over the wall and unless smokers as well as others interested in individual rights take a more active role in public policy and decision making, odds are that before long smoking in public will be relegated to the same status as urinating in public; a criminal offense.
It strains the imagination that anyone would claim that second-hand tobacco smoke outdoors, in the presence of Oklahoma’s prevailing winds, constitutes a health hazard to anyone. Such claims simply fly in the face of logic and reason. Yet they play well to a gullible public eager to have someone to look down upon and yes, even to hate.
Some of the anti-smoking zealots have concluded that the health hazard argument of second-hand tobacco smoke outdoors makes no sense. Therefore they have switched tactics claiming that if smoking is not banned from outdoors in public parks, zoos and other facilities, children will see some adults smoking and concluded that smoking is ‘a good thing’.
That argument is as weak as is that regarding heath hazards from second hand smoke outdoors. If non-smokers have not indoctorinated their children in the evils of smoking they probably should be prosecuted for child neglect or in he least shunned for their political incorrectness.
If your children are convinced to take up smoking owing to the fact they see me smoke out doors, then all I can say is that you are pretty damned poor excuses for parents.
Otherwise you would have ‘taught them better’.
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:24 pm
I don’t smoke, but I have to agree that some of the bans on outdoor smoking may be going a bit overboard.
A guy sitting on a park bench by himself ought to be allowed to smoke all he wants. Of course he shouldn’t just flip his butts on the ground afterward.
I don’t know what to think about the zoo. Is the smoking person off by himself watching the polar bear lying around, or is he holding his cigarette in the face of a six-year-old while both are watching the seals play?
There is always a cluster of people smoking at the entrance to an office building. When I enter or exit, I hold my breath for as long as I can while I walk through the cloud. Do you think they might stand a bit farther from the door?
I would hate sitting next to a smoker at a football game, especially if I was downwind. (Someone always is.) I would move to another seat, but there aren’t any empty seats at OU football games.
Unfortunately, inconsiderate smokers are spoiling things for other smokers. I wish I could say that it’s just a few, but actually - it isn’t.
One more thing - would you have a talk with the guy who empties his car ashtray in the middle of the road where I walk my dog? Disgusting! It just isn’t politically correct to do that!
June 24th, 2007 at 9:44 am
Unquestionably some smokers go way over-board and infringe the rights of others, just as do some non-smokers.
Odds are the person that dumps an ashtray in the street or road is just as prone to toss other trash from their vehicle window, including trash from fast-food merchants and just about anything else that comes their way.
There is no excuse for or excusing lazy people, smokers or not, that trash the countryside.
You do make a valid point regarding sitting next to a person smoking in a crowed outdoor public facility, such as the stadium at OU. The option to get up and move simply may not exist and in such a scenario smokers should refrain from lighting up.
And you make a very valid point about inconsiderate smokers spoiling things for other smokers. To a large degree many of the limitations and outright smoking bans we see today are the result of the backlash against inconsiderate smokers.
June 26th, 2007 at 10:46 am
You and I have more areas of agreement than I would have thought. Actually, we agree on almost everything.
I have hated to be around cigarettes ever since I was a kid. Both my parents smoked, and I can still remember riding in the car, with the two of them joyfully puffing away, and feeling like I was suffocating. Back then (1950’s), Mom and Dad and everyone else thought that cigarette smoke was just a normal part of the atmosphere. As an adult I suffered for years from a mysterious “chronic sinusitis” (nothing debilitating, just annoying) which magically cleared up when my office went smoke-free in the late 1980’s.
Politically, I think that the fight for “smokers’ rights” is lost for good. Although I’m glad about that, I’m not without sympathy for people who need to smoke but can’t find anyplace that allows it. I’m just a person who likes fresh air, not an anti-smoking zealot, but there are certainly zealots out there who want to crowd out smoking to the point of silliness. But I admit that I start to ally myself with the zealots when I encounter (the large number of) inconsiderate smokers who act as if they have a constitutional right to blow smoke in my face.
If you agree that inconsiderate smokers are causing problems for all smokers, it is this non-smoker’s advice that educating smokers about “smoking courtesy” would be more productive than continuing the lost battle for “smokers rights.”
Relative to our conversation in the comments to another of your posts, I agree that the guy who empties his ashtray in the road where I walk undoubtedly throws his beer cans and McDonald’s bags out the window too. But when he empties his ashtray in the road, he says to the world, “I’m not just an ordinary pig - I’m a SMOKING pig.”
As my drill instructor used to say - “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.” But police up those butts!
July 2nd, 2007 at 11:32 am
Unfortunately, inconsiderate people are everywhere, and those who smoke are inconsiderate in many aspects of their lives, I’d bet.
When considered the same as other things, it’s really very similar. Consider that it is those who pay too much attention to a conversation and too little attention to the road that have caused so many wrecks and resulted in cell phone bans in many locations. It is those who have driven drunk that result in “dry” areas, including this hole in the southeast corner of the state where I live. It is those who are violent parents who cause all of those who are not to look over their shoulder if they ever spank their child.
Life is full of restrictions that have resulted from the inconsiderate, rude, and just pure hostile actions of others. Sadly, that is now, and will always be, the case.
I will agree with stadiums being nonsmoking, I must say. The proximity there is too close. You don’t know if you are sitting right next to someone with emphysema, and your smoke could harm them. Sadly it’s not really possible to equate for everyone else you may encounter, so therefore it’s always best, I believe, to err on the side of caution and avoid taking the chance with someone who happens to cross your path or who (as is the case with stadiums and similar venues) have no choice but to be close to you.
Common courtesy goes a long way….sadly, it seems to be in short supply.
October 24th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
I’m usually quite opposed to government control of moral issues, but when faced with a case such as the two chain-smoking idiots blowing smoke going right in my 4 year olds face at the recent Centennial Parade - I might reconsider. Too bad we can’t all use our brains or their might not be a reason to consider banning anything…
February 18th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Who is the owner and manager of this site? We anticipate the passage of SB 1875 today and would appreciate your input. You can reach me at althea.peterson@tulsaworld.com
Thanks!