A puff of sanity

Pay attention, Jerry. Looks like going smoke-free might actually work. From Thursday's News-Gazette:
Enforcement plan in place for smoking ban:

"URBANA -- With only 11 days to go before Urbana restaurants must become smoke-free, the city and the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District have reached a tentative agreement on how they'll jointly enforce the smoking ban.

The biggest emphasis will be on education, with several city officials planning to fan out across the city next week to visit 53 Urbana restaurants to explain the smoking ban in detail to restaurant owners and managers.

A copy of the city's smoke-free ordinance, brochures explaining the law and signs advising that a table or business is smoke-free also will be provided.

Well, Jerry, since you indicated that enforcement would be the biggest problem to going smokeless (other than you having to step outside of Carmons about every 15 minutes) you might check out how your neighbors are handling it.

It looks like it might actually work, don't you think?

The article continues with more common sense:

The public health district and Urbana have a tentative enforcement plan worked out... Under the plan, people who witness illegal smoking can file a complaint with the public health district by telephone or complain in person at the Urbana Police Department.

If a serious complaint is filed, where people are seen smoking or ashtrays are out, the public health district will send an employee within three business days to investigate the complaint. The visit will be educational, with the employee giving the restaurant manager information about the city's smoke-free ordinance and their role in enforcing it, said Diana Yates, the public health district's director of health promotion.
If more complaints about a particular establishment are filed, those will be passed along to the city, Yates said.
....
The public health department won't write tickets for violations, but will be able to serve as a credible witness -- "enough for the city to issue a citation," Yates said.

How about that? A plan that actually makes sense. One that sounds like it'll work. (Can't wait until the smoking busibodies begin their predictable spin).

I wonder what the next pro-pollution excuse will be?

And so it goes.