Monday, September 20, 2010

Webb City, MO(near Joplin) puts smoking ban referendum on April 2011 ballot

The more I think about it, it makes sense, considering they weren't enthused about touching this issue. But if it gives local businesses(both smoking ones, and non-smoking businesses that still favor freedom of choice) a great chance to successfully organize and fight this proposal before it's too late, more power to Webb City's council(and a la Devil Lake, ND's recent decision to refer a ban proposal to the ballot, instead of approving it).

More people need to organize against the Joplin-area group that's leading all these local smoking ban coalitions in each Joplin-area community, called Clean Air Project(it's an umbrella group that leads all the other local ones, like Smoke-Free Webb City). I'm slightly surprised Carthage wasn't the first community to refer it to the ballot, since that was the first community around there where their council had a hearing on this issue....

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x797276092/Webb-City-smoking-ban-heads-to-voters

3 comments:

  1. This is surprising. Ballot measures are not encouraged. It's on page eight of the ban lobbyists instruction book. Here's their book.

    www.no-smoke.org/pdf/CIA_Fundamentals.pdf

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  2. Well, like I said in this post, the local politicians in Devils Lake, ND also weren't enthused about an anti coalition pressuring them to ban smoking, hence why I believe it was referred to the ballot there, and also in Webb City. And I have read that instruction booklet before, there's some very creepy instructions they tell anti-smoking groups to do, such as keep coming back to states with partial bans each year, till all exemptions are gone!

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  3. Be careful of the fine print on the ballot. The American Cancer Society tricked the voters of Ohio into voting for a ban with exemptions, only to have them removed AFTER they were voter approved. They are highly paid by Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer for smoking ban lobbying. (advocacy)

    http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?ia=143&id=14912

    If they got away with it once, you know they will do it again. The private vets clubs of Ohio who thought they were exempt according to the ballot has banned the ACS from most vets clubs in Ohio, and their estate plans.

    http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/04/30/smoking.html

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