The summary description of the Smoking Ban Legislation that was on the ballot and the voters approved contained “Private Clubs would be exempt”.  The fine print in the entire legislation, the part that did not make it on the summary description on the ballot, reads “private clubs would be exempt if they have non-paid employees”.

So in the immortal words of The Captain “What we have here is a failure to communicate”

In essence, a part of the voting public that voted for the ban thought that their private clubs would be exempt from this law.  The 3 Senators, Cates, Seitz and Schuler are willing to right this wrong.  They are not trying to take fundamental rights away from non-smokers, they are not trying to repeal the smoking ban ordinance, they are simply trying to restore the rights of smokers and private business owners who were mislead at the polls by the way this legislation was presented by the summary description on the ballot. They deserve a big hand of applause for standing up for the rights of all of their constituents, especially on such a controversial issue such as smoking.

I am the President of Middletown Eagles Aerie# 528.  We have complied with the smoking ban.  We built a smoking area outside of our club, we forced our smoking members outside to smoke all winter.  We lost many members to other private clubs that did not comply with the law.  We did not see ANY upturn of business from the non-smoking members who were supposed to flock to a smoke free environment.  All we have seen from the smoking ban, is a loss of revenue, loss of members and our employees have seen their hours cut because of the lack of business. 

There comes a time when the good intentions of our Legislators need to be reviewed and corrected.  That is why the laws that govern the State of Ohio are called “The Ohio Revised Code”.  This law needs revision and it needs it now. 

It does not matter what the issue is, If we as citizens allow the Legislators to summarize a pending law one way on the ballot, and the true meaning of the law is contradictory to the summary presented to the voting masses, we are truly and deeply in trouble.

I noticed a new blog post today from the President of the local Eagles.

You can find that blog post on www.billschiering.com and it is entitled “The Ohio Smoking Ban Needs To Be Revised”

The problem is each year the idiot who promises the most "government intrusion" gets the most votes. But you see they don't call it that. They call it assistance, regulation, necessary oversight, and some have even gained office on the promise of being "A kindler gentler leader".

When we elect those who promise to do the most for us we should not be surprised when they do the most to us.