Boy, I had to laugh when I saw this on the front page of the Gargoyle today;
A group of liquor establishment owners took out a petition Tuesday to force the newly signed smoking ban to a public vote in 2010.
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Don Rose, co-owner of Shenanigan’s Pub in Sioux Falls, is one of four people listed on the petition. Others are Mark O’Neill, Licensed Beverage Dealers of South Dakota president from Henry; Pete Thompson of Tinner’s Bar and Grill and Tommy Jacks in Sioux Falls; and Mike Trucano of Deadwood.
Baahahahahahaha! Even if! Even if they get enough signatures the vote will go down in flames at least 70/30. Instead of wasting their time on a foolish effort they ought to get together and devise a way to attract new non-smoking customers. If I were a bar owner, I would eliminate smoking a month before the ban goes into affect to get a jump start on the new non-smoking clientele. I am amazed at how fearful business owners in this state are of change.
The group would need to collect 16,776 valid signatures by June 29. If successful, that will stop the smoking ban from taking effect July 1 and give bar owners 16 months to allow smoking in their establishments.
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If enough signatures are obtained, then state residents would vote on the ban in November 2010.
They will have to hire petitioners, or even buy signatures, because there is no way they will be able to get enough volunteers willing to ask for petition signatures to keep something legal that kills people. “Yeah, will you sign my petition, so bar owners can continue to have the right to poison their clientele and employees?”
An attempt to reach Larry Mann, who is assisting the coalition with the petition process, was unsuccessful Tuesday night.
He was out drinking and smoking I guess.
Shenanigan’s owner Rose said that one exception benefits only Tim Kant, owner of Stogeez cigar bar in Sioux Falls. His bar will be allowed to have smoking.
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“Now we have a monopoly, and his (liquor) license is more valuable than mine,” Rose said.
Because Mr. Rose, what Timmy wants – he gets. I suggest you tell the legislature to close the loophole next year. Trust me, we will be monitoring Mr. Kant and his supposed ‘Cigar Only’ policy.
I have to disagree with you on this one. I think it will be VERY easy to obtain the 16,776 signatures required. All they have to do is go around to the bars on the weekends – they might have that many in a couple of weeks.
Now I’ll admit that the eventual vote will be heavily lopsided and people will overwhelmingly support the ban, but this will effectively push the smoking ban out another year and a half, and that is what the bar owners really want.
I think the law should go into effect as planned because we all know it won’t be overturned.
Maybe someone else should go collect signatures to enact a smoking ban without any exceptions, and then include a clause that states if a bar willingly allows smoking on it’s premises it will be fined no less than $2500 per incident. I bet that would make them wish they would have just kept their mouths shut.
That’s what I don’t get, why prolong the inevitable? I’m a ‘pull the bandade off in one quick motion’ kind of guy.
I like your last idea. I have always said the $25 fine reduction was a joke. I guarantee the small town bars will not follow the ban.
I hope it does go on the ballot so these bar owners and VL casino coin collectors can see what “the people” actually think about the issue.
That’s just it, they don’t give a shit about ‘the people’ they only care about money.
Here is my thinking…if the petitioners get enough signatures to refer this, we should start an organized boycott of any bar/restaurant/bowling alley/casino that allows smoking. If enough non-smokers stay out of those establishments, maybe we can get a few of them to revise their policies before November 2010.
I’m not sure if it would work or not, but we need to show the “non-smoking” dollar is more valuable to the establishments than the smoking dollars.
Could work. I know a lot of people tell me they come down to Touch of Europe more and stay longer on the weekends since it went non-smoking. This is really about business owners not wanting government telling they what to do. They act like it is the Wild West or something. Business owners have had free reign for so long in South Dakota that when someone tells them differently they pout like little bratty kids. They don’t have time for logic.
I know I like Buffalo Wild Wings much better since they went non-smoking. Unfortunately, you can’t in there on the weekends anymore.
I’m not sure how to get the word out, Facebook perhaps, and a website that lists all the non-smoking establishments and boycotted smoking establishments. The first weekend a bar’s business drops by 50%, I think they would change pretty quick.
Just be sure to start with the bars owned by the people pushing for this vote.
The signatures will be easy to go get and don’t miss the point here — they are doing this just to buy themselves time. It’ll go on the ballot in November of 2010, meaning it wouldn’t take effect until July of 2011. That gives them 2 years.
Very good point Costner…Don Rose is a good friend of mine, but I will no longer frequent Shenanigan’s in the Empire Mall since he is one of the backers of this referendum, same goes for Tinner’s Bar and Grill.
No problem with the boycott here. I stopped going to smokey bars years ago – except for SD Fest.
I agree with Dude, I can handle it about once a month for an hour or so.
Ben- That’s what is so weird, what’s the point in buying a couple of years if it is inevitable? I kinda wonder if the VL and the Alchohol distributors are really the driving force behind this.
And if they are, did they stop to think about the real draw of their establishments?
I go to bars to drink. If I gambled, I’d go to a VL casino to plug quarters into a machine. Nobody goes to these places to smoke or because they’re allowed to smoke.
I’m not agreeing with them, but if you believe that a smoking ban will hurt your business, why wouldn’t you want to delay it two years?
Ben, not to nit-pick, if the ban goes to the ballot and the voters uphold the ban, it would go into effect upon certification of the ballot by the SOS, not July 2011..more like end of November 2010.
Most states that have had smoking bans have shown a ‘bounceback’ affect. In other words they lose business for a couple of months then it returns, sometimes stronger. So why not just jump off that cliff now and get it over with?