Dallas Bars and Pool Halls Go Non-Smoking

i say THANK YOU!

This is the best decision to come out of city hall in over a decade.


I'm amazed at the response and the ignorant statements I've been hearing this week from super chain-smokers that I play with.

People should not be forced to choose between their health and their hobbies. It is an indisputable fact that second hand smoke is a dangerous health hazard.

Since I have begun playing pool about 1.5 years ago I have developed a killer cough, a sinus infection that will not go away despite a 2 month run of heavy antibiotics, and a hell of a water bill washing my jeans from the awful stench.

There is no reason that businesses cannot still cater to smokers and keep their indoor facility non-smoking. Outside areas with heaters/fans, separate ventilated smoking rooms, etc.

I have absolutely no qualms with smokers, I've smoked before and I used to smoke quite a bit years ago. I have plenty of vices that affect my health, but NONE OF THEM affect other people around me without their consent.

I am quite certain that if I operated a bar and I told all my patrons that I will give them beer at a fair price but that beer contains a single drop containing a mix of arsenic, cyanide, DDT, Acetone, Ammonia, benzene, and 3990 other chemical compounds that my patrons would immediately leave and I would be shut down in 24 hours or less.

Obviously this is an extreme case, but not as extreme as some may think.

We all incur inconveniences in our daily lives every day to be able to enjoy the things we enjoy. It is about personal responsibility with regards to how you treat other people and the spaces we all live in. Sure, I could throw candy wrappers and fast food bags out of my car window every day... it sure is a lot easier... but I choose not to because I feel a personal responsibility to maintain the city which I live in that I share with others.

this is a touchy subject for me, because my big drop in health the last year or so has forced me to reevaluate where I play, with whom I play, and how often I play... I shouldn't have to do that because someone else doesn't want to walk outside for 5 minutes or less.
 
these laws are ridiculous. It should be left up to the individual business. these type of gestapo laws have much further implications than just the issue of smoking. Hypothetically if I wanted to open a private club catering to smokers,which by the way is not against the law, why should there be a law against it? The sterility of this culture is much more poisoning to the spirit than cigarette smoke!
 
rackmsuckr said:
Oregon is following suit January 1st and I am thrilled. I have always said that having a smoking section in a restaurant was like having a peeing section in a swimming pool. ;) :p
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That's the funniest comment I have heard in a long time :D

I have never smoked in my life and over here in Europe the total ban of smoking has been around for a long time. Everybody said it would hurt the pubs and the likes, but it has actually been going pretty good.

Of course some places went down the drain, but do believe me - playing in a non smoking pool hall is something I would expect all of us would enjoy. Smokers usually go outside the entrance smoking and then going back in to play. This is the case also in pubs.

I was in a pub in Denmark 2 years ago and there they still smoked inside. Even my smoking friend had to go out to catch some fresh air - the air was like a heavy carpet of smoke.

Not to mention, playing pool in a nonsmoking hall gives the opportunity to use contact lenses without getting problems. I like it a lot.

K
 
cueandcushion said:
Actually it is EXACTLY like that. Second hand smoke is no different than drinking watered down pee.
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And I'm glad I live around 100's of clean fresh lakes to swim in. :thumbup:
 
After second thought, I am getting excited and can't wait for this to happen.
Went to the pool hall last night with my wife and all I could think about was, how in the near future I will not have to put up with the smell, the smoke following me everywhere and someone blowing their bad breath in my direction. I guess this has been an eye opening expierence for me. Being around this enviroment for years now, I became accustomed to my surroundings.
 
These laws are ridiculous

I am a non-smoker, and I prefer a no-smoke environment, but these laws are ridiculous.

As long as smoking is legal, it should be legal to smoke anywhere.

The most stringent law I would support is a requirement for restaurants and bars to openly declare themselves "fully smoking areas" or "fully non-smoking areas," then no one can complain.

We should not take this BS from our legislators. Smoking ban laws can be repealed. Let them know what you think. Organize.
 
Shaft said:
I am a non-smoker, and I prefer a no-smoke environment, but these laws are ridiculous.

As long as smoking is legal, it should be legal to smoke anywhere.

The most stringent law I would support is a requirement for restaurants and bars to openly declare themselves "fully smoking areas" or "fully non-smoking areas," then no one can complain.

We should not take this BS from our legislators. Smoking ban laws can be repealed. Let them know what you think. Organize.
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Been a non-smoker all my life, but hey if it is legal get these damn law makers out of my arse :eek:
Kennan
 
Shaft said:
I am a non-smoker, and I prefer a no-smoke environment, but these laws are ridiculous.

As long as smoking is legal, it should be legal to smoke anywhere.

The most stringent law I would support is a requirement for restaurants and bars to openly declare themselves "fully smoking areas" or "fully non-smoking areas," then no one can complain.

We should not take this BS from our legislators. Smoking ban laws can be repealed. Let them know what you think. Organize.
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Smoking has been established as "cool thing" and the mobsters running
these companies has for so many years been debating that -
"Smoke don't increase the possibility of cancer".

We know these day's that smoking increases the chances
a lot and this also includes passive smokers.

For me it's pretty obvious that if a smoker is going to increase
his chances to get cancer, please let him do so, but I don't like
the person to gamble with my chances on this horrible thing called cancer.
I have my right to protect my self, and if some one would like to smoke inside,
well put them in their own room where they could enjoy them self while
leaving the rest of us out of it.

We have had lawsuits (locally) where people have put their lawyers on the fact that
they had developed cancer by working in a pub where smoking was
allowed and of course every body was exposed. With you're lawyers fighting
each other to go to court I would be surprised if there would not be a boom
in these lawsuits in you're end as well.

I'm still glad we have the smokers band locally and I think this would be
more and more common around the world.

Kent - which have lost 3 family members due to cancer
 
We banned smoking here in CA 10 years ago, almost to the day. It effected my business right away, about 10 per cent, and slowly the business came back again. I was really upset when it happened, but I began to realize that, even though I don't smoke, I've been in this environment for 40 years or so, and when is the second hand smoke going to finally get to me?

My clothes don't smell any more, the room doesn't constantly stink of cigarette smoke and I don't smell constantly of smoke, all day long.

I believe they implimented the rules for the wrong reason, but it's turned out better for everyone.
 
Danny Kuykendal said:
We banned smoking here in CA 10 years ago, almost to the day. It effected my business right away, about 10 per cent, and slowly the business came back again. I was really upset when it happened, but I began to realize that, even though I don't smoke, I've been in this environment for 40 years or so, and when is the second hand smoke going to finally get to me?

My clothes don't smell any more, the room doesn't constantly stink of cigarette smoke and I don't smell constantly of smoke, all day long.

I believe they implimented the rules for the wrong reason, but it's turned out better for everyone.
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Glad to hear that you feel the life has become easier and it's for sure something workers in the smoking environment must feel makes a difference.
WRT business, I think many over here did the same experience as you and now life is as normal and the smokers just go outside.

K
 
I just read a statistic the other day that smokers are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease.

This just shows how misleading stats can be. The reason they are less likely to develop it is because they die before they are old enough to get it.

~rc
 
sixpack said:
I just read a statistic the other day that smokers are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease.

This just shows how misleading stats can be. The reason they are less likely to develop it is because they die before they are old enough to get it.

~rc
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Ho ho ho, you had me laughing there :)

K
 
daniel said:
these laws are ridiculous. It should be left up to the individual business. these type of gestapo laws have much further implications than just the issue of smoking. Hypothetically if I wanted to open a private club catering to smokers,which by the way is not against the law, why should there be a law against it? The sterility of this culture is much more poisoning to the spirit than cigarette smoke!
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this is a unique case with cigarette smoke, it shouldn't have any implications to your other freedoms whatsoever.

The government is obligated to step in here because business owners would be forced to make a bad business decision for public health if left up to them... no different than the government making factories implement stringent environmental practices that are insanely costly.
 
Bad Decision by the Dallas City Council

For so many reasons I am against the smoking ban in Dallas. I think for Dallas, it was a bad decision at this time without the a decision by the surrounding communities to follow suit or even the state to pass a smoking ban at this time.

It is a waste of the taxpayer money and police enforcement to try and uphold this kind of law without other cities in tow. They are most likely going to lose some current tax revenue with this decision. First, light smokers may decide it's time to quit (less cigarette taxes) and heavy smokers will migrate to a bar they can smoke in on the outskirts (less alcohol revenue). The City of Dallas should have bigger fish to fry then the smoking issue at this time...I believe not that many months ago that they laid off more than a few teachers because they were short on funds.

Second, this decision is going to hurt the local Dallas bar business in some ways until the other cities follow suit. Take Clicks Marsh for example, they are right on the edge of the Dallas city line. As a smoking pool player, if I had the same drive between Clicks and Billiard Den in Richardson, I am going to choose the Den. Even if I lived a little further, I would still drive to the Den over Clicks. Yes, there may be some non-smokers that drive a little further to play at Clicks but I hate to say it, statistically, smokers also tend to be heavier drinkers.

Third, they are taking a bar owners decision to set the rules for their business. As long as smoking is legal and they continue to take our money for taxes on cigarettes, business owners should have the right to decide whether to allow that behavior in their establishment. Obviously bar owners to this point do not think that a non-smoking bar/pool hall would be a profitable establishment or we would see more non-smoking rooms. I was reading a statistic on the vote day for Dallas that only 20% of the population smokes, but the general age for bar patrons in 21-35 and smoking ratio is closer to 70%. There are exceptions for pool rooms as you tend to see a larger age diversity, but keep in mind, most pool rooms stay in business from their bar sales, not their table time.

I know that eventually that you will not be able to smoke anywhere but inside your house (unless you have children present, then you will go to jail), but until it is universal, I think the Dallas City Council made a very ignorant decision last week.
 
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pooljunkie4ever said:
Effective May of next year, all Bars and Pool halls will become non-smoking.
I know there has been a bunch of threads about this subject, but this was voted on yesterday and the people that think they are suppose to save everyone voted YES. Me being a non-smoker, I don't really care either way.
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Looks like I won't be visiting Dallas anytime soon. :rolleyes: Keep the government hands off my body!:thumbup:

-Kyle
 
Firecracker said:
For so many reasons I am against the smoking ban in Dallas. I think for Dallas, it was a bad decision at this time without the a decision by the surrounding communities to follow suit or even the state to pass a smoking ban at this time.
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Even if the ban is all the metro communities or even the entire state, any business in a state that has Indian casinos or other tribal enterprises will feel an impact because those won't be included. In Oklahoma, a lot of the bars and pool halls have been impacted by the casinos close to the cities.
 
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