Smoking ban proposed, smoking ban approved -- it's starting to seem inevitable isn't it? On occasion, though, there's a vote that goes against the trend:
Beech Grove will keep its smoke-filled bars for as long as possible.
The City Council voted 5-2 Monday night against a proposed smoking ban identical to those passed in Indianapolis and Lawrence. The council approved the ban on first reading July 23, said Mayor Dennis Buckley, but four bar owners speaking against the ban convinced the council Monday that a ban would hurt their business.
Buckley supported the ban, and at one time, he said, so did most of Beech Grove’s bar owners. Then smokers started congregating in the city.
“At the time Indianapolis imposed it, three bar owners here were ready to do the ban also,” Buckley said Tuesday. “But after the city of Indianapolis imposed the ban, these bars got busy. The bar owners had a change of heart and decided their financial worth was of much greater importance than the health of patrons.”
This wasn't any one-vote victory that could change the next time it comes up -- 5-2 is pretty decisive.
". . . their financial worth was of much greater importance than the health of patrons" -- that's just a little bit snippy, isn't it? These awful, rapacious whisky peddlers are actually making their evil money by providing a legal service to people who want it. The bastards!
