Duluth police say nonsmoking ordinance will improve life on Lakewalk
September 11, 2012 at 7:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
Duluth police believe the resolution passed by the City Council on Monday forbidding smoking along the Lakewalk and adjacent parks will give them another tool to deal with those who create a public nuisance there.
Continue Reading
Here’s the situation after today.
If you are visiting Duluth and light a cigarette on the lakewalk, a man with a gun may approach you and force you to put it out and may demand the contents of your wallet.
And the DNT says that is a good start.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
35 
13
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
9 
32
1. Keep it civil and stay on topic.
Like or Dislike:
18 
6
… and the tourists still get to freely walk Superior St through the throngs of smokers outside the buildings-
Like or Dislike:
10 
14
Make them smoke in the middle of the street. Would you be happy with that? If you mix the smoke with the car exhaust you won’t be able to tell the difference.
Like or Dislike:
18 
9
Or they could stay in their cars and keep driving.
Like or Dislike:
10 
5
So now the police will be hanging out on the Lakewalk to arrest smokers? Stupid! No, beyond stupid!
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
31 
12
How about telling that to the kid who got beat by a few crap bags? Oh wait…they might not have been smoking, it’s ok.
You have a PD that actually puts out ads at local businesses screaming there’s no money, they’re understaffed, yet there’s tons of money to go bust the devil weed and now this. Hmmm.
Like or Dislike:
19 
9
We all know that…..this IS going to cost ( collateral damage costs )…..they are going to have to hire a few more police……and of course pay the extra wages AND benefits of union officers to handle the extra responsibilities of trying to enforce this thing! So….bottom line, this is going to raise taxes to pay for this…..guaranteed…..only in Duluth, would they dream up this stuff! Duluth is the land of 10,000 taxes and fees…..and totally ridicuous laws! We need new and different representation around here…..NOT the same polititions…..over and over and over again…..with the City of Duluth just spinning it’s wheels, and getting nowhere! Enough is enough!
Like or Dislike:
16 
9
What a bunch of donkey clowns…the council and now the chief. Just keep taking fundamental rights away from us.
It’s the end if the world as we know it, and I feel fine.
Like or Dislike:
21 
7
Next, mandatory showers twice daily viewed by the police to verify….to combat the problem of BO.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
23 
7
mandatory weigh-ins daily, measurement of body fat, check to see if you washed behind your ears.
Like or Dislike:
21 
8
Don’t forget to check your oil.
Like or Dislike:
11 
7
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
7 
30
But what about tolerance?
Like or Dislike:
18 
4
Life is short. Get yours while you can.
Like or Dislike:
8 
10
Well, when all those ‘less than savory’ people stop smoking and all the revenue generated from the cigarette tax is gone bye=bye where is the $$ going to come from to keep the lakewalk and parks up to snuf?
Like or Dislike:
18 
4
It is okay to lick the skin flute, but no weed on the Lakewalk.
Like or Dislike:
10 
12
That is an interesting situation you mention Bob. I guess it is in fact legal to have sexual relations on a publically owned property, as long as you don’t smoke afterwards. We do indeed have an interesting way of looking at things.
There will be no smoking on the lakewalk…..not if we could only get rid of the places that serve alcohol near the lakewalk that potentially supply a few inebriated people walking the lakewalk later in the evening…….we’d probably be nearing a utopian environment. Maybe a breathalyzer test for smokers and/or drinkers could be done at random points at random times on the lakewalk to catch these scowfflaws who present a serious risk to our enjoyment of the Lakewalk.
Or….alternatively, we could maybe just enforce the current rules/laws we already have about litter (cigarette butts are litter…no ?) and public drunkeness or public consumption, but that would be far to easy. It’s far better to pass another level of laws so we have “additional tools” to stop about anything at any time if we so choose to use laws selectively and possibly by adding several together and maybe we can run up the charge.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
19 
1
Im
Like or Dislike:
1 
4
I’m not too familiar with the law, but I’m pretty sure you’d get more than a $50 fine for having sex on the lakewalk.
But I can’t even figure out how to post a comment correctly, so what do I know?
Like or Dislike:
9 
2
I want the city counsel to tell that tourist who rents a motel room for 159 dollars a night, thhat he can’t get up at 6am, grab a cup of coffee and goes out to the lake wake and sits on a beach, lights a cigarette and enjoys the view of the lake, that he now faces a 50 dollar fine. See if he comes back next year. This is something I also like to do. Now see if that tourist or myself ever rents a room downtown again.
Oh yeah, people complain about waking through a cloud of smoke, what about the people who releaves themselves when they have gas. Can they get a ticket also?
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
23 
6
Don’t you think the price of gas is high enough?
Like or Dislike:
8 
8
So Police used money from Homeland Security to spend a million on surveillance camera’s because claimed were just unable to properly patrol Lakewalk and prevent real crimes like theft, muggings, etc and heralded the camera’s as great tool to keep Lakewalk safe.
Now Police are heralding this smoking ban because they’ll really be able to focus on the nuiscance trouble makers on the Lakewalk? But I thought the Police weren’t able to properly police the Lakewalk which why needed surveillance camera’s? Muggings, purse snatchings…not cause enough to have more patrols and enforcement, but folks smoking cigarettes …forgawdsakes…bring out the calvary and go get those dayum trouble makers?
Ahhh, so I get it… essentially will be using Homeland Security surveillance camera’s to make this a safer place by nabbing folks that are now the scourge of society that want a smoke on their walk OUTDOORS.
“We’ve met the enemy, and he be us”…Pogo
Like or Dislike:
11 
0
glad to see the duluth police now have the means (and time) to deal with people smoking on the lakewalk because last month when my driver’s side window was smashed and a bunch of my property was stolen, they didn’t seem to have the time to deal with that.
Like or Dislike:
10 
1
The police were busy getting their story straight about the Gauthier cover up.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0