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Hot over smoking ban bill
The headline on this weeks "Unicameral Update" declares "Smoking ban bill ignites debate."
All you need to do is talk to local restaurateurs to find out just how much debate it's generating.
One local restaurant owner I talked to made a point of explaining (with emphasis) that if the state of Nebraska wants to pay for the $50,000 of improvements he's put into his business, he'll be happy to let it dictate what's going to happen in his building. Otherwise, he said, if non-smokers don't like the smoke, they can find somewhere else to eat.
According to the article in the legislative magazine, several supporters of the ban say employees should not be subjected to a smoke-filled restaurant for eight hours a day.
Have you ever driven past a hog operation? For four years, my family and I drove past a small unit north of McCook nearly every day. The smell of that unit, when the wind was blowing in the right direction, was overwhelming. I vowed then that I would never work in nor live near a hog operation. I kept that promise.
I made a choice to go into a different line of work. I made the decision not to subject myself to the stench of that hog operation. Workers and restaurant eaters have that same option. They can always find a non-smoking restaurant where they can enjoy their dining or their career.
Supporters of the smoking ban are saying if people insist on smoking while eating, they should stay home. In fact, in a recent e-mail, a reader informed me in some not so nice terms that I should stay home and quit polluting her air. I say that door swings both directions.
In the Unicameral magazine a Lincoln resident pointed out that non-smokers have the same option as smokers. There are already smoke-free restaurants that asthmatics and others with lung disease can go to, he is reported to have told the Nebraska Legislator's Health and Human Services Committee. "They're the ones who should be staying at home."
The fact is, this bill not only takes away the smoker's privileges, but it takes away the restaurant owner's right to free enterprise.
Any restaurant in Nebraska has the right to ban smoking from the premises. That decision should remain in the hands of the people who work and sweat to build their business.
Now onto other legislative issues. Gov. Mike Johanns has decided to throw his support behind the "pay-for-play" bill introduced by Sen. Ernie Chambers.
LB688 would require the state of Nebraska to pay its football players a "stipend" for playing for the Huskers.
The bill would require three other teams in the Big 12 Conference to enact the same rule, which would lead to some pretty stiff competition to get the biggest and the best. Can we say multi-million dollar contracts?
Some may argue that the players should be paid since they are making several million dollars a year for the college. But consider the fact that we are giving them a free education. Granted, that may be only a small fraction of what they are bringing in, but -- excuse me if I'm wrong -- they are playing sports as an extracurricular activity for an educational facility. If they want to get paid for playing their game, maybe they should check out the pros.
In all fairness, if we're going to pay the football players, we need to throw a few other's into the group. Of course there are the more common activities like basketball, wrestling. gymnastics, swimming, golf, softball, baseball, track, pogo stick jumping and jump rope, but we must also consider journalism students, year book students, and anyone involved in any kind of school club.
Boy if this works out, I might be able to make a career out of college education.
The fact that the governor would throw his support behind this bill shouldn't surprise anyone. After all, the state government is thinking about cutting 10 percent of its support from K-12 funding, taking from the Highway Trust Fund to increase general revenues, shutting down every rural agency it can possibly get its hands on and totally revamping the Medicaid system to pull itself out of a more than $600 million deficit.
In order to fund the "pay for play" bill, perhaps the governor can look at disbanding the Nebraska State Patrol, closing the state's penal facilities, or permanently shutting down the city of Lincoln. After all, we all know he's not raising taxes.