Grand Forks council approves smoking restrictions
November 19, 2012 at 4:15 pm in Grand Forks Herald
Grand Forks’ public smoking laws will be stricter following a City Council vote Monday.
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Grand Forks council approves smoking restrictions
21 Comments
If this is going to be STATE law, why on earth do we need to change the local ordinance?
Prosecute based on state statute, not local.
I don’t understand the need to duplicate the state law locally. Seems to be promoted by the Department of Redundancy Department.
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There might be a state law that says local ordinances have to be in compliance with state law.
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“Butt cans have to be 20 feet away from the door,” council member Terry Bjerke said. “You know where those cigarette butts are going to go.”
He added that businesses may stop using ashtrays altogether if customers don’t use them in their new locations.
Council President Hal Gershman also expressed concern over the new mandate, noting it would probably exacerbate an existing litter problem.”
Smokers- not only do they smell awful, destroy their lungs, and ruin their ability to taste, they’re also slobs.
Good riddance to this dirty habit.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Congrats Dudly…you’ve let on concerning the TRUE motivations of these laws. CONTROL. Tobacco use, despite all its negative aspects, is still legal to use. Yet, there’s a constant bombardment concerning where it can be used. Anti-smoking zealots however have to mask their true motivations because they know the reaction they’d get. So they don’t talk about it being a filthy good for nothing habit…they describe as a health hazard…and get their way every time. Just keep in mind that I bet there’s something you like to do, that somebody out there is just waiting to take away from you because they see it as filthy. Eat meat much? How about drive an internal combustion driven conveyance? What happens when someone decides that anything with an engine doesn’t belong on any body of water in ND thats publicly owned? You chuckle…but there are millions being spent out there right now to do away with those very things.
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You know, the gum didn’t work, the patch didn’t work, the pills didn’t work, and although the e-cigs were working, now that I have to walk 20 feet… Hallelujah! Thanks to the voters, I do believe that I have been healed! Good work, do-gooders!
20 feet from doorways… So if I’m having a beer at Level 10 that means they want me to go… where, to the dike? Town Square? Seems legit. I don’t see anything wrong with a bunch of drunks crossing the street. I reckon I’ll bring a tape measure and chalk out Friday night just to be a smartass and draw legal circles of protection around downtown for us smokers.
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Next up…. Scales at the ice cream, pop, potato chip, candy isles, and McDonalds. Only fair. Afterall, now that the do gooders have snuffed out smoking, heart disease from obesity is now our #1 killer.
Please Please Please all you POS do gooders…. SAVE US FROM OURSELVES!!! (puke..puke…puke…)
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Actually I think that next big thing will be the old fashioned shackles and yokes to chain smokers to the public square. That way not only will they be forced to stop smoking, but the experience will be so humiliatied that they’ll begin fulfilling that emptyness with food…
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I dont know about other people, but I could care less if you smoke, I just dont want to have to breathe YOUR dirty habit. I have no intention of saving you from yourself…it’s called natural selection.
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Nitpicking. Always with the nitpicking on this or that. If the economy collapses tomorrow or a huge solar flare knocks out the entire electrical grid for months, even years, will it really matter how far away a smoker stands from a door, window, or ventilation system? Will we ever learn to just live and let live in peace?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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You’d think peace would be the logical conclusion….But it’s just not human nature. What you or I consider a comfort zone might be offensive to sombody else and then conflict breaks out…Just good old human nature. I’ve been around long enough to know tha while the concept of peace is great….The reality is that peace is fleeting because eventually conflict will occure. Generally the best we can do is make sure those conflicts don’t become an all out war beyond a war of words……Instead of worlds
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You guys and gals are going through the same BS that Dulluth went through. I don’t smoke or drink so I just stay away from it. Give a little bit of power to the do-gooders and all hell breaks loose. Nobody I know goes to a bar just to stay healthy.
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Be prepared, after the do-gooders win the war on smoking fatties are next. Ban that sugar!
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I will be voting yes on Sugar, Alcohol and ever other unhealthy item that comes up for a vote. I plan to start my own personal crusade on overweight people in the workplace and outlaw snack machines that contain anything with sugar or fat in its ingredient lists. I plan on putting McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King out of business.
I can’t have my smokes, by god I’m not paying for your flipping gastric bypass.
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maverick, that war on fatties has already begun. The powers that be want everybody looking like “stick people” that can only eat green things like grass and leaves. I quit smoking and gained 30 pounds I can’t seem to lose. So, I quit smoking and got fat. One health problem lost, one health problem gained.
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I guess I should have put /end sarcasm.. But you are right the war is starting.. And people like Chelsey Matters are on the front lines. I have said it before and I’ll say it again. The Helicopter moms won’t be happy until you live YOUR life THEIR way.
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Maverick,It sounds like your Chelsey Matters is alot like Dulluth’s Pat McKone. People like them consider it their OBLIGATION to make everybody a clone like them.
Give someone like them an inch and they’ll take a mile. On top of all that, they actually think their on a mission from God.
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There’s a huge difference between someone who you might not want to see that’s overweight and someone who is blowing smoke in your face. Don’t get it. Let me have an egg salad tuna fish sandwich with jalapeños, a side of my home made chili, and washed down with a soda, then give me about 45 min and I’ll walk around with you a while…..Then you might understand just how foul smoke is to non smokers. Having said that though. I think the measure went too far
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Tundrabeast, this is where the word compromise needs to come into play. Unfortunately that word is not recognized by the zealots who want things their way 100% I don’t smoke and I’m not anti smoking.
In Mn. even war veterans can’t smoke at the VFW club and I think that sucks.
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Dude. We already had a city ordinance that bans smoking within 15′ of doorways. I’m surprised I’m saying this, but Schurkey has it right this time. There was no need to adopt the additional 5′ in the state law at the local level. It’s not like a frickin’ state trooper is gonna cruise down 3rd street lookin’ for smokers, but now city cops are gonna have to decide whether to enforce this ridiculous law. Really? What, they’re gonna get out of their cruisers when its -10 to push some poor schmuck another 5 feet down the street? I’m sure those extra 5 feet are really gonna matter in parts per million of carcinogens inhaled by the non-smokers. Not a health issue; a superiority issue.
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If it’s sub zero I guess they could carry one of those super soaker water guns and blast the cigerratte or such as they’re trying to get a drag….A nice wet head in -10 will teach them eh? Like I said…As a non smoker I too think they went over board, but I guess the people spoke so we have to either live with it, try to change it, or those effected can either move or do the most dreaded act of all…..Quit smoking……Any of us who did that knows it’s tough, but it can be done…..
Anyone wh is considering quitting smoking and could use some pointers….Check out The American Cancer Society. I quit in 1982 and at that time I had info sent to me, but I’m guessing it’s available on line. They had some very good tips way back then and probably many more by now (Like it helps to take a shower every few hours because nicotine comes out through your pours and that helps the craving) They really helped me…..Here’s a personal tip I discovered because I was battling Strep Throat at the time…Nasty tasting Halls (The stronger the better) really help squelch the craving whenever you want to light up……
Quitting is tough, but what the hell…So is smoking in todays world. It’s boggling why anyone wants to continue at todays prices. When I quite a pack was eighty cents, and I thought that was getting way to expensive….Today depending on the state $5 to $10 per pack for something that doesn’t even get you high…..Ooooof Da
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Good comment. I quit smoking about that same year. Grand Forks really didn’t do anything wrong here. Actually, it’s just housekeeping. They’re being proactive in getting their ordinance in compliance. It’s actually staff doing a good job. I’m surprised this debate still has legs.
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