Protect Private Property Rights in Michigan proves what we knew all along...

Yep, that smoking bans greatly hurt the business of the few catering to smokers. And gosh, why would a dumb ALA lobbyist like Shelly Kiser give a crap if a very limited number of businesses want to cater to smokers. There already were a LOT of bars and restaurants that voluntarily went 100% no smoking indoors to cater to customer demand before Michigan's ban in May 2010, shouldn't that have been more than sufficient to the lunatic anti-smokers? Just feel bad it took me longer than I wanted to to repost this article here(found it on NKY Choice's facebook group), but better late than never.

I know in Indianapolis-Marion County(where a ban was passed exempting just businesses that are 18 and over at all hours of operation, and applies everywhere but like 3-4 independent communities within Marion County, IN, and at least 2 of them chose to pass bans that exempted bars), Save Indiana Bars(formerly Save Indianapolis Bars) already proved in a study that JUST 1% of all types of businesses throughout that county still allowed smoking, with many adult-only businesses banning it on their own in the last few years! Same thing has been occurring in the Northern Kentucky area(just south of Cincinnati), where NKY Choice found that over 2/3rds of restaurants and other businesses banned smoking on their own, WITHOUT any government-mandated ban necessary. That percentage must be closer to 75% by now, if NKY Choice hasn't already updated the study they posted on their site, and onto Twitter and Youtube. I need to check their site again, to see if they've done a new survey on this since. And for the record, Campbell County repealed a total ban their fiscal court passed, and Kenton's fiscal court only passed a partial ban exempting adult-only businesses, and 'split shift' businesses that allow smoking only during certain hours. It's too bad Kenton hasn't repealed their ban, since I know it greatly hurt the business of one bowling alley not too far away from Boone County and Florence, KY.

smoking ban debate strikes Northwest Indiana, specifically Lowell

It's funny to think deep down myself years ago, I thought other communities in Northwest Indiana would debate a smoking ban LONG before Lowell, Indiana, such as Munster or Chesterton. Some communities from this region actually have wisely chosen to pass on pursuing a local ban in the past, such as Hobart and Michigan City. I believe someone on Munster's city council once wanted to debate a local ban there, but it was never officially debated, as their city website once said the smoking ban issue would be brought up in a future city council agenda, but never was. There was a story in the Northwest Indiana Times paper right after the latest 2010 proposal from Indiana State Senator Charlie Brown for a statewide smoking ban died, that Gary City Council member was gonna introduce a citywide smoking ban proposal. Unfortunately, I'm having a lot of trouble finding the article as of right now, even doing a search on the Northwest Indiana Times website. If I do find the article on the Gary smoking ban, I'll post it later.

Anyway, here are some articles on Lowell's current proposal, and as much as I prefer Lowell not pass a local ban, it is ONLY fair that any adopted local ban should mirror Crown Point's ban which gave private businesses(including what 1 restaurant, and 1 bowling alley within Crown Point opted to do) the option to enclose a small area of their business with separate ventilation for smoking, and for adult-only establishments to choose to be smoking throughout if they want. Starting with this blog post, I will introduce labels/tags for all posts here on out, and I will soon do it with my past blog posts.

Latest articles on Lowell's proposed ban:
(from smug anti-smoking writer favoring it) http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/mark-kiesling/article_e20c5e6c-f6e8-53dc-a5bb-42f2f9967fca.html
(1st reading of ban approved, and a commenter mentioned a Crown Point bowling alley chose to enclose their bar and make it an indoor smoking area, and the bowling lanes non-smoking. seems very fair to me) http://www.post-trib.com/news/2492192,locouncil0713.article
(article mentions a Crown Point restaurant owner got permission to enclose a room for smoking, written when CP's ban took effect in 2008): http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/article_7a90d450-ea32-5e6e-b8a9-15a1a56f3973.html

(edit) Luckily, I finally realized I posted the Gary article on the Smokers Club forum, since the original website(turns out it wasn't Northwest Indiana Times, but the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana) has deleted the article:
http://www.smokersclubinternational.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=9918