Restaurants are also prohibited from distributing match books because they promote cigarette smoking

[The Straight Story]

Calif. beach town tightens smoking restrictions


A Southern California beach town has tightened its already strict smoking restrictions.

There are now very few public places for cigarette smokers to light up in Hermosa Beach.

The Torrance Daily Breeze says the latest ordinance bans smoking in outdoor dining areas, on the Hermosa Beach Pier, public parks and greenbelt areas, public parking lots and within five feet of a city building.

Restaurants are also prohibited from distributing match books because they promote cigarette smoking.

The new ordinance, which includes fines up to $500, is expected to take effect in March.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/10/27/state/n062310D20.DTL

[meegbear]

1. Maybe they should also stop serving greasy food since that promotes heart disease ...

or no booze cuz it promotes drinking and driving

[RagAss]

2. Are they allowed to place food down in front of obese people?

[ixion]

3. They can serve lard-laden 'food' product filled with poison

but, fire bad. :eyes:

This is why I refer to the anti-smoking crowd as extremist.

[sarge43]

4. So, no more candle lit dinners?

:banghead:

[Cirque du So-What]

5. Get back to me

when diner patrons place a portion of their servings in a device that vaporizes the food and spews the fumes of burnt food into the air for all & sundry to 'enjoy.' Unless I'm mistaken, greasy food doesn't get into anyone's body except the one consuming it, so the greasy food = cigarette smoke falls flat on its fanny.

[joeglow3]

7. Matches = smoking falls equally flat on its face

And yet, there apparently are more than enough idiots out there to make that leap.

[Cirque du So-What]

8. That part is confusing to me

Perhaps I just haven't been paying attention, but for many years I don't recall seeing restaurants having packs of matches to give away. For the record, I don't support a prohibition against dispensing matches, and I don't suggest that matches = smoking. I'd hate to get called an 'idiot' before lunchtime.

[Erose999]

32. Any restaurant that has a bar probably has matches. When I worked at one, a the local cab companies

and bail bondsmen would give us boxes and boxes of matchbooks with their logos to give out.

[taught_me_patience]

26. It's stupid, but smokers are still smoking on the pier

If they were'nt doing that, these new regulations wouldn't have to be put in place.

[joeglow3]

34. You think this ban on matches will stop that?

If so, I have a GREAT investment fund for you to sink your savings in...

[taught_me_patience]

36. It's just escalation

The article also said they are raising the fines to $500. That's the real punishment. Like I said... the match ban is pretty stupid.

[The Straight Story]

10. Get back to me when someone makes you go to a bar/food joint that allows smoking(nt)

[Cirque du So-What]

14. Not many years ago

you couldn't go into any bar or restaurant without facing the possibility that the slob sitting nearby could fire up a big, fat, brown turd and blow the smoke from that stinking motherfucker right in your face - like it or lump it. There was considerable consternation on their part when some elected to create 'non-smoking areas' in restaurants - *as if* those stinking motherfuckers didn't travel to the noses of patrons who didn't want the aroma of stinking motherfucker with their beef bourguignon anyway, so I can only imagine the balling of tiny fists of fury and stamping of tiny feet when some bars & restaurants elected to go completely smoke-free. I am familiar with the apoplexy some suffer concerning the decision by some states and municipalities to actually make laws forbidding the right of louts to light up stinking motherfuckers whenever they goddam well please - other people be damned!

Nobody has *made* me go into a bar or restaurant where smokers can pollute the air I breathe with their stinking motherfuckers, but I sympathize the plight of the aggrieved who lament the days when they could *make* everyone get a snootful of their stinking motherfuckers, whether they wanted it or not. Boo fucking hoo!

[The Straight Story]

17. Well, people could have started their own non-smoking places (Wendy's did years ago)

If I didn't like it, I went somewhere else.

Choices are good, which is why I am pro-choice.

[joeglow3]

18. I agree with this post

Before our city passed their ban, there were a couple sports bars that opened up that were smoke-free and the THRIVED. Clearly, the market was moving that way without having to pass laws. Where I have to shake my head is when the supporters go completely overboard and it is clear, in many cases, they are not worried about their health as much as they are worried about simply punishing someone for smoking. An example is when they literally FOUGHT to have an exception removed that allowed people to smoke in tobacco shops.

[Cirque du So-What]

19. As I see it

the right to freedom *from* something trumps the right of freedom *to* when those freedoms affect anyone else in any way. That holds true whether it's smoking or religion...not that I'm trying to compare smokers to religious nuts or anything.

[The Straight Story]

20. Well by that standard

"when those freedoms affect anyone else in any way"

One could say abortion can affect the man in the relationship (or the fetus) psychologically.

Also, ban cars from parks (the stuff coming out of them affects others).

I dunno, freedom used to be something I thought people on the left were for, but I guess both sides have controlling puritans.

[LanternWaste]

22. I want the freedom to burn my backyard to a cinder.

I want the freedom to burn my backyard to a cinder. It would be a choice too.

Unless of course, we realize that every freedom has concomitant restrictions also. But as I don't have an absolutist dogma, I'm probably not very clever about these things..

[Cirque du So-What]

23. 'Controlling puritans'?!?

I'll let that one slide. I thought you were above such things. Please don't prove me wrong about you.

[RobinA]

29. I Like Your Reasoning

I hereby ban children and dogs from my space, as my right to be free from whining and barking trumps peoples freedom to bring their dogs and children where they can bother me.

[AsahinaKimi]

6. Gonna be hard to light those CANDLES at the Dinner table...

So much for ROMANTIC DINNERS.

[The Straight Story]

13. I think they will probably give you sticks to rub together :) (nt)

[hifiguy]

9. Right, if I can get a pack of matches in a restaurant the

first thing I am gonna do is go out and fire up a Camel even though I've never smoked cigs in my life. Loopy bullshit. :crazy:

[WinkyDink]

11. WTH? I use matchbooks to light candles!

[SOS]

12. In 2010, 2,065 Americans were murdered with knives.

Ban silverware at restaurants!
Access to a steak knife promotes homicide.

[RobinA]

30. Don't Forget Choking

All restaurant food to be pureed for safety.

[slackmaster]

15. I get mine from the office of San Diego's most famous bail bondsman

[frylock]

21. one of my most prized possessions is a glow-in-the-dark fridge magnet..

with a beatific image of our lord jesus christ on it. compliments of the King, not that i've ever used his services.

[slackmaster]

24. The late George Stahlman was a stand-up guy

He helped a lot of people in a lot of ways, way beyond his bail bond business.

[frylock]

27. agreed

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. Good Grief. A nanny state!

That is just ridiculous.

[taught_me_patience]

25. They are doing this because smokers are not following the rules

They're still smoking on the pier.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

28. Another crybaby smoking thread.

[Erose999]

31. They should do all they can to discourage smoking near the beach. I was at Panama City Beach last

year, first time I had seen the ocean since I was a young'un.

There were so many cigg butts in the sand it was like sitting in an ashtray. Nasty. Not what I had hoped for at all.

Mexico Beach, across the bay, was much nicer.

[Xithras]

33. That wouldn't survive court challenge.

"Restaurants are also prohibited from distributing match books because they promote cigarette smoking."

Speech issue. The restaurant owners can promote anything they want. They just can't allow it to actually happen on their premises.

[Jack Sprat]

35. This really sucks for matchbood collectors

It was a favorite hobby of mine to collect matchbooks at memorable restaurants and dining rooms. Mostly the ones collected on vacations and road trips. They were great memorabilia. Sometimes things get taken to disgusting extremes.