No more ifs, ands, or butts!
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
Even a blind squirrel can find an acorn once in a while.
It’s occasionally at least somewhat co mforting to know this simple truth: I’m not always wrong.
In the fall of 2006, in what would henceforth become the October of All Surprises for Ohio voters, I tried to warn you. Really, I did. But voters, swayed by special interests and false promises from nuts like ACORN (good riddance to that soon-to-be defunct group), didn’t listen.
Let’s recall that the November 2006 ballot in the Buckeye State was so chock full of garbage it wouldn’t fit in a supersize Rumpke Dumpster.
That was, of course, the ballot of the minimum wage hike (plus pork), the smoking ban (sans enforcement), gambling (no dice), and another state issue (No. 1), which was deemed unconstitutional before voters could pass that one, too.
For the record, I opposed all of the 2006 state ballot issues. And with double-digit unemployment across the state, the “yes” voters from almost four years ago are probably having second thoughts about now.
“By the time the Nov. 7 ballots are decided,” I predicted, “The prototypical Ohioan might just be a $6.85-an-hour worker, with a gambling compulsion who alternates his Wednesday nights between attending Smokers Anonymous meetings and buying cartons of Marlboros in Newport, Ky.”
Followed by, “Any manufacturer or other business torn between locating in Ohio or a neighboring, less-intrusive state, surely will choose the latter if Issue 2 passes. Raising Ohio’s minimum wage is fine. Adding the cumbersome mandates related to this proposal will only raise the unemployment rate.”
Fast forward a few years, and so it’s come to pass. No real surprise.
Just a small dose of common sense. Ohio has “progressed” from a 5.4-percent
unemployment rate four years ago (5.6 in Highland County), to a whopping
10.9-percent jobless rate (19.1 percent in Highland County).
Let’s recall, too, that at the same time these ballot issues were changing the state Constitution, Ohio was already the 47th-least tax friendly state in the nation.
But this isn’t so much about the obvious ill effects of the Ohio ballot in November 2006, as it is about the butt. (Or, more accurately, butts.)
Since I cannot recall ever beginning and end a sentence with but/butt, today seemed like a good time. Besides, “butts” are everywhere these days. All you have to do is glance down into the sidewalk cracks, look along the street curbs, or walk out the back door of almost any business in Ohio.
There are more butts from filter-tipped smokes on the ground than ants at a family picnic.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, when voters approved the indoor smoking ban in November 2006, they made Ohio the first Midwestern state and the first tobacco-growing state to enact such a ban.
The health department didn’t mention that the ban also made Ohio the largest outdoor ash tray in the Midwest. Sure, you can argue that it’s all the fault of smokers. I don’t buy that. The state regulates the sale of tobacco and the state profits from its sale. Obviously, the hypocritical state has a vested interest in selling tobacco products.
If the state does not encourage the use of tobacco, it doesn’t discourage it. If it did, why isn’t there serious enforcement of the 2006 ban? (For the record, I am a nonsmoker, but cigarette smoke has never bothered me. I breathed more second-hand smoke as a kid than the Chesterfield King.)
Anyway, why are many public places ignoring some or all aspects of the
smoking ban?
The easy answer is simple arithmetic: The health department estimates there are 280,000 public places and places of employment in Ohio that are covered by the ban. Or 3,182 places per county! Hoo-rah!
In other words, smoke if ya got ’em; because there’s not one Ohio county in 88 that can police 3,182 public places where some casual Camel casualty casts fire to the wind. For the majority of those 280,000 “public places and places of employment” that do try to comply with the law, there are other smoke signals.
For instance, now all “public places” and “places of employment” must remove all ash trays and other smoking receptacles, pursuant to ORC 3794.06(B).
That’s one brilliant law. With one minor exception: Just where are the employees and customers of those 280,000 “public places and places of employment” supposed to deposit their cigarette butts?
With no ash trays or “other smoking receptacles” available, the majority of smokers seem to have picked the local sidewalks, streets and alleys.
Who can blame them?
There are some courteous smokers who make attempts to properly discard their butts in a Dumpster or trash can. But even that can be tricky – and a potential fire hazard.
Thus, courtesy of www.cigarettelitter.org, we have statistics like this from the Texas Department of Transportation: “130 million cigarette butts will be tossed out in Texas alone this year.”
The Web site didn’t have an estimate for Ohio butts. But (sorry, couldn’t resist) since the Texas population is roughly 24 million and Ohio’s is close to 12 million, for the sake of argument let’s say there are 60 million butts tossed out in Ohio annually. That’s 681,000 per county, per year. Whether you are a smoker or a nonsmoker, that’s too much litter.
In an effort to curb this increasing problem, CigaretteLitter.Org has some useful information, including an offer of free personal ash trays. This is an “informal, non-profit organization dedicated to dramatically reducing cigarette litter across the United States.”
The group’s goal is to raise public awareness of the issue and educate communities about the facts regarding cigarette litter. For information, go to www.cigarettelitter.org.
It might be an enlightening experience.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
It’s occasionally at least somewhat co mforting to know this simple truth: I’m not always wrong.
In the fall of 2006, in what would henceforth become the October of All Surprises for Ohio voters, I tried to warn you. Really, I did. But voters, swayed by special interests and false promises from nuts like ACORN (good riddance to that soon-to-be defunct group), didn’t listen.
Let’s recall that the November 2006 ballot in the Buckeye State was so chock full of garbage it wouldn’t fit in a supersize Rumpke Dumpster.
That was, of course, the ballot of the minimum wage hike (plus pork), the smoking ban (sans enforcement), gambling (no dice), and another state issue (No. 1), which was deemed unconstitutional before voters could pass that one, too.
For the record, I opposed all of the 2006 state ballot issues. And with double-digit unemployment across the state, the “yes” voters from almost four years ago are probably having second thoughts about now.
“By the time the Nov. 7 ballots are decided,” I predicted, “The prototypical Ohioan might just be a $6.85-an-hour worker, with a gambling compulsion who alternates his Wednesday nights between attending Smokers Anonymous meetings and buying cartons of Marlboros in Newport, Ky.”
Followed by, “Any manufacturer or other business torn between locating in Ohio or a neighboring, less-intrusive state, surely will choose the latter if Issue 2 passes. Raising Ohio’s minimum wage is fine. Adding the cumbersome mandates related to this proposal will only raise the unemployment rate.”
Fast forward a few years, and so it’s come to pass. No real surprise.
Just a small dose of common sense. Ohio has “progressed” from a 5.4-percent
unemployment rate four years ago (5.6 in Highland County), to a whopping
10.9-percent jobless rate (19.1 percent in Highland County).
Let’s recall, too, that at the same time these ballot issues were changing the state Constitution, Ohio was already the 47th-least tax friendly state in the nation.
But this isn’t so much about the obvious ill effects of the Ohio ballot in November 2006, as it is about the butt. (Or, more accurately, butts.)
Since I cannot recall ever beginning and end a sentence with but/butt, today seemed like a good time. Besides, “butts” are everywhere these days. All you have to do is glance down into the sidewalk cracks, look along the street curbs, or walk out the back door of almost any business in Ohio.
There are more butts from filter-tipped smokes on the ground than ants at a family picnic.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, when voters approved the indoor smoking ban in November 2006, they made Ohio the first Midwestern state and the first tobacco-growing state to enact such a ban.
The health department didn’t mention that the ban also made Ohio the largest outdoor ash tray in the Midwest. Sure, you can argue that it’s all the fault of smokers. I don’t buy that. The state regulates the sale of tobacco and the state profits from its sale. Obviously, the hypocritical state has a vested interest in selling tobacco products.
If the state does not encourage the use of tobacco, it doesn’t discourage it. If it did, why isn’t there serious enforcement of the 2006 ban? (For the record, I am a nonsmoker, but cigarette smoke has never bothered me. I breathed more second-hand smoke as a kid than the Chesterfield King.)
Anyway, why are many public places ignoring some or all aspects of the
smoking ban?
The easy answer is simple arithmetic: The health department estimates there are 280,000 public places and places of employment in Ohio that are covered by the ban. Or 3,182 places per county! Hoo-rah!
In other words, smoke if ya got ’em; because there’s not one Ohio county in 88 that can police 3,182 public places where some casual Camel casualty casts fire to the wind. For the majority of those 280,000 “public places and places of employment” that do try to comply with the law, there are other smoke signals.
For instance, now all “public places” and “places of employment” must remove all ash trays and other smoking receptacles, pursuant to ORC 3794.06(B).
That’s one brilliant law. With one minor exception: Just where are the employees and customers of those 280,000 “public places and places of employment” supposed to deposit their cigarette butts?
With no ash trays or “other smoking receptacles” available, the majority of smokers seem to have picked the local sidewalks, streets and alleys.
Who can blame them?
There are some courteous smokers who make attempts to properly discard their butts in a Dumpster or trash can. But even that can be tricky – and a potential fire hazard.
Thus, courtesy of www.cigarettelitter.org, we have statistics like this from the Texas Department of Transportation: “130 million cigarette butts will be tossed out in Texas alone this year.”
The Web site didn’t have an estimate for Ohio butts. But (sorry, couldn’t resist) since the Texas population is roughly 24 million and Ohio’s is close to 12 million, for the sake of argument let’s say there are 60 million butts tossed out in Ohio annually. That’s 681,000 per county, per year. Whether you are a smoker or a nonsmoker, that’s too much litter.
In an effort to curb this increasing problem, CigaretteLitter.Org has some useful information, including an offer of free personal ash trays. This is an “informal, non-profit organization dedicated to dramatically reducing cigarette litter across the United States.”
The group’s goal is to raise public awareness of the issue and educate communities about the facts regarding cigarette litter. For information, go to www.cigarettelitter.org.
It might be an enlightening experience.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]