Geneva Woolsey
Craig Grove
Ricardo Longoria
Balbina Sandoval
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Public Comment on the Proposed Smoking Ban~City Commission, 7/3/12
81 year old Geneva Woolsey, a non-smoker, views the proposed ban as an infringement on personal freedoms, the right to do what one wishes in "God's air." Craig Grove wants to enjoy the right of smoke-free environment, having personally witnessed the health damage from cigarette smoke in his own family. Bar customer Jose Velez sees the ban as a detriment to business as does Bartendar Balbina Sandoval and a C.C. Wings manager.
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Geneva Woolsey's position isn't even noble, and she is wrong by positing the concern as an infringement of personal freedoms, i.e. abusing "God's air." It is no more God's air than it is El Carpintero's air. I, for one, wish people would stop characterizing God as some sort of Cosmic Bellboy for whom we can press a button to get things done. Grove is equally mesmerized by the abstract. Why should those who oppose smoking get more of an inch in the fight than those who would prefer smoking? They shouldn't, of course. Man, and I include women here, is flawed. The infamy of his nature is well-documented. Let them light-up at will! And those who oppose it, well, let them shy away. As for the bar employees, Jesus, why are they in the fray? Smoking interferes not one whit with drinking. I, myself, find uneducated waitresses more annoying, worse than a long drag of a cheap Bugler.
ReplyDeleteAnon
Craig, it is your mother's decision to smoke. She died because she smoked. The government didn't force her to put the cigarette in her mouth. It is not the job of government to force everyone else to not smoke because your mother died of a habit she should have stopped on her own. It is personal responsibility and the job of her family to urge her to stop. There is no scientific proof that people get cancer from second hand cigarette smoke.
ReplyDelete[There is no scientific proof that people get cancer from second hand cigarette smoke.]
DeleteOh, yes there is. Ask any first-year medical student. Air is shared. Perhaps that has escaped your grasp. You and the person next to you breathe the same air. And smoke is a bitch of a problem for the lungs. Once more, you argue with your foot in your mouth. Try withdrawing it and perhaps the obstruction that you have lapped on your brain will ease your thinking. As for your point on the elder Grove, well, you do have a point. She smoked and she is dead, perhaps because of it. But my feeling is that Mssr. Grove is playing to your human emotions and not your government ties. He is simply wishing the world would be a world to his liking. Good luck with that pipedream, is what I say. Life grants you no pass from stupidity. And if a cigarette maker entices you to smoke, then you should pay the price. It's the same with liquor and matrimony.
Anon
(Oh, yes there is. Ask any first-year medical student. Air is shared. Perhaps that has escaped your grasp.)
DeleteErrrrr wrong! The smoke out of a smoker's mouth is practically water vapor, putz.
From The University of Minnesota:
DeleteSecondhand smoke, also known as passive or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a combination of:
Mainstream smoke: exhaled by smokers
Sidestream smoke: given off by the burning end of a cigarette, cigar, or pipe
Between 70% and 90% of non-smokers in the American population, children and adults, are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke. It is estimated that only 15% of cigarette smoke gets inhaled by the smoker. The remaining 85% lingers in the air for everyone to breathe. If a person spends more than two hours in a room where someone is smoking, the nonsmoker inhales the equivalent of four cigarettes.
Secondhand smoke is the third leading preventable cause of disability and early death (after active smoking and alcohol) in the United States. For every eight smokers who die from smoking, one innocent bystander dies from secondhand smoke.
Secondhand smoke contains over 4000 chemicals including more than 40 cancer causing agents and 200 known poisons.
Secondhand smoke has been classified by the EPA as a Class A carcinogen - a substance known to cause cancer in humans.
Secondhand smoke contains twice as much tar and nicotine per unit volume as does smoke inhaled from a cigarette. It contains 3X as much cancer-causing benzpyrene, 5X as much carbon monoxide, and 50X as much ammonia. Secondhand smoke from pipes and cigars is equally as harmful, if not more so (Mayo Clinic release, Aug 97).
Over the past two decades, medical research has shown that non-smokers suffer many of the diseases of active smoking when they breathe secondhand smoke.
Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer and contributes to the development of heart disease. Never smoking women who live with a smoker have a 91% greater risk of heart disease. They also have twice the risk of dying from lung cancer.
Never-smoking spouses who are exposed to secondhand smoke have about 20% higher death rates for both lung cancer and heart disease.
Secondhand smoke increases heart rate and shortens time to exhaustion. Repeated exposure causes thickening of the walls of the carotid arteries (accelerates atherosclerosis) and damages the lining of these arteries.
When a pregnant woman is exposed to secondhand smoke, the nicotine she ingests is passed on to her unborn baby.
Women who smoke or are exposed to secondhand smoke during pregnancy:
have a higher rate of miscarriges and stillbirths
have an increased risk of low birthweight infants
have children born with decreased lung function
have children with greater risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
Children exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely to experience increased frequency of:
asthma, colds, bronchitis, pneumonia, and other lung diseases
middle ear infections
sinus infections
caries in deciduous teeth
Ventilation systems and designated smoking sections do not protect patrons from ETS.
Current estimates of how smoking increases the risk of various diseases are dramatically underestimated because the ill effects of secondhand smoke inhalation are not taken into account.
Individual rights STOP when they infringe on another person; it doesnt matter if the person is the smoker or the non smoker. If you are my friend, you know not to smoke in front of me; we both respect our individual spaces. Bars, or places where smokers "hang out" have the right to decide who can or cannot smoke in THEIR establishments. That is the same right I have an a NON smoker to NOT visit or consume in any of those places.
ReplyDeleteAll this comes from AGENDA 21, which is a blue print and action plan to inventory and control, to control all land,all water, all plants, all minerals, all construction, all animals, all means of production, all energy,all information and all human beings in the world.It is a completely comprehensive plan, it is Global and it is implemented locally in every single town in the United States.To shut down society.A Global plan implemented locally,this is a regional government that is being imposed through planning, telling you that if you want to compete regionally in a economic sense that you have to join with the other cities,counties, and states,and you have to erase your jurisdictional boundaries.This is a lie ,this is a way to take control of your government by mega corporations and non profit ,non governmental groups that will then control what happens locally by using money .They use federal dollars.You know this was a plan that came down through the Presidents Council of sustainable development right in to every federal agency in the United States back in 1993 and they all changed their policies ,their administrative policies and they are using money ,they are using grants and using restrictions on transportation dollars to control what happens in OUR town.So if Brownsville wants any of that money they have to play ball, that means build smart growth .Smart growth is the future hard scape for our poverty , this is high density urban development with no possibility for you to move freely or determine where you are gonna live and work.I remember when they asked the Citizens to give them ideas on what we wanted Brownsville to become in the future they really don't care what we say or think they merely want to give the impression that they are getting our opinion so that they can impose restrictions on us and say that it was "our plan,our ideas" and it was a lie.What WE need to do is to take over those meetings WE want to re-call those elected officials that are on those regional boards.This are metropolitan planning organizations and councils of government.WE want to get rid of those groups and re-call those officials.They want to use up our resources and restrict our ability to be independent .This is a plan to create total dependence on the government ,so that WE are not able to speak out because we have no voice .WE do not want to allow it to get to that point.This is a hijacking of the environmental movement WE are being USED.There is no truth in the Green Movement.It is a way to take OUR money and manipulate us by restricting OUR ability to live free.This is a TOTALITARIAN TAKEOVER more and more Restrictions it is a takeover from the inside.WAKE UP!!
ReplyDeleteMaria Flores is crazy...CRAZY!!!
DeleteThere are better conspiracies to get behind. Go offer that kool-aid elsewhere, loser.
Maria Flores go to the Government online site USA.gov search AGENDA 21 and read, the PDF and INFORM yourself! You do know how to read? THEN CALL ME WHAT YOU WANT. WAKE UP!!
ReplyDeleteThe woman in your top video is not Geneva Woolsey.
ReplyDeleteWHAT???? Not Woolsey! Is it Ma Barker? Maybe Ana Nicole Smith? Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Border mirage? LOL!!!
DeleteI realize not everyone agrees and in most cases I would agree with the right of the business owner. However, having seen the damage inflicted by smoking to my mother and step-father and my own respiratory system, it is hard for me to omit that personal experience. I realize my normal ideology is being clouded by personal experience and I realize it was my parent's choice to smoke and subject those around them to smoke. However, that realization only further enforces my support of this issue. I believe that smoking is beyond a personal choice, it is an addiction that clouds the judgement of those in it's grasp.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I feel that the non-smoking employee and customer also has rights and they are being forced to partake in the habit. Regardless, I respect both sides of this argument and certainly both sides have merit on many levels. It just so happens, I agree with the proposed ordinance, with the exclusion of the 20 foot component. I am hopeful that can be adjusted so that establishments can at least provide an option on their patio. - Craig G.
Ok Craig, so what about alcohol? It can also be an addiction and can kill (by means of drunk driver) like smoking. I am with you on the issue of non smoking on a personal basis. I am a non smoker that despises smoke. However, it is just wrong and ignorant for either of us to judge and implement our standards on smokers period. Where do we draw the line? Nationaly we have about a 20% smoker index, because Mexican Nationals have a much higher rate coupled with the fact we treat our bodies like sewers here, I believe our rate to be closer to 30%. This could relate to a 20-30% decrease in income and tax dollars.
DeleteAs a tax paying business owner this will have great impact on myself and most other business owners. If the city leaders want to protect us from ourselfs then lets address diabetes. CC has the highest diabetes rate per capita in the entire country. No more greasy taquitos, no more tripitas, no more flour tortillas, etc, etc, etc.
I have spoken with several other business owners and we have decided to move any new business to Hidalgo County.
Totoally different issue but it is mind defyingly difficult to procure a permit to have something built in Cameron County. The inspectors under Judge Cascos are beyond ignorant and REALLY impeed growth here. It's a shame, I voted for Cascos but his arrogance is almost as mind boggling as his inspectors ignorance.
I'd really like to continue to try to support Brownsville because its my home town but Brownsville and CC (stands for Cameron County and
Carlos Cascos) have driven me to Hidalgo County. Nice job guys!!!
(However, that realization only further enforces my support of this issue.)
DeleteSo you believe government needs to dictate to parents to not smoke in the home too? Where is the line, Craig? Some parents are stupid. I get that. But, I wouldn't want Big Brother doing a Parent-ready IQ test on every one before they have sex.
I would! Just because it's their right to be stupid doesn't mean I should be subjected to them and their idiot kids. The stress of that alone will take years off my life due to increased blood pressure and heart rate. It's absolute face that a huge majority of all deaths ever recorded were in people who had at one point or another in their lives interacted with stupid children. We need to eradicate this horrible influence on our health!
DeleteFuck smoking and drinking alcohol... drinking tap water should be banned in this town.
ReplyDeleteEvery industrial runoff from up north USA dumped into a stream, raw sewage, every pesticide laden farm's runoff, industrial manufacturing waste from across the nation, illegal dumping of chemicals and trash, motor oil, gasoline, tar and toxic synthetics that are washed into a gutter, biological waste from hospitals in other states which goes into streams which feed the Rio grande... yes it all flows down the river which is OUR water. Is it improbable that nuclear waste from some other state, pesticides and herbicides and cancer agents from fracking, thousands of farms and utility plants are dumping discreetly into a nearby lake or stream heading south rather than reporting to the EPA? Due to the force of gravity Brownsville is the last stop before all of this shit is dumped in the ocean and THIS is our tap water. Let's hope PUB has installed God-level pollution and radiation filters but friends don't let friends drink out of the tap. Not even my cat. Please. Regulating smoking? all those Brownsville babies born without brains a few years ago. Not cause of smoking, it was the Rio Grande and the maquiladora chemicals dumped in the water, people.
And they propose to monitor smoking distance from doorways but cut funding for a group that monitors abused children. total asshats!!
It's always easy to regulate other's when you are not the one being regulated. Smoking is legal in the United States of America. Adults have the right to make Free choices. If there is smoke in that bar and it bothers you, don't go in. We don't go to bars in Brownsville for that very reason and I am a smoker.
ReplyDeleteAs a smoker I grew up in a era where smoking was acceptable, yet came with manners. You always asked if it was alright to light up in mixed company, you don't smoke while other's are eating, etc. Manners evidently are a thing of the past. Now it is acceptable to tell people off when you see them with cigarette in hand...This has happened to me by a stranger. Get over yourselves people...You have no right to be in my face in an open space. I will respond accordingly. It won't be pretty.
Furthermore, employee's can find work elsewhere if they don't want to breath cigarette smoke, just like you don't have to work in a coal mine, if you would rather not breath in soot. Additionally, you don't become a police officer or border patrol agent without knowing full well you may get shot during the line of duty...will you sue your employer for the criminals bad behavior causing you to have been shot? I would hope not.
Don't want to breath smoke, don't work in a bar or club. Open your own non-smoking club or bar. Create jobs don't destroy someone else's livilyhood.
Mexican car petrol fumes pollute our downtown environment a hundred times worse than any ten cigarettes. Ban Mexican cars from crossing unless they meet our EPA standards. Otherwise this is just a simple way for some to feel better about themselves and accomplishes nothing, but to alienate an entire segment of our city population,visitors and negatively impact business owners, but seperatist don't care as long as they get their way.
Until smoking a cigarette is illegal in the eyes of the Federal Government I will continue to smoke on and off as I choose as it is my right in a free society. I respect the individuals right not to breath my smoke, by them not standing next to me nor I them out of respect for each others individual rights.
I'm sure there will be amnesty for all the violator's just as there is every year for drunk drivers, speeders, deadbeat parents, pretty much all violators in the valley. Just wait it out and it all goes away in front of the judge...as is the norm for decades in this region.
You can have all the enclosed places to yourselves, but you do not control our free space.
Teresa
Unfortunately, I find myself agreeing with Teresa because I'm not a hypocrite. I am also a non smoker, I've seen Ms. Zamora out at bars all the time while I'm enjoying my cool aid. I say we ban her from drinking, having sex, passing judgement, and pretending to be intelligent! Why does she get to choose the vice that's no longer acceptable in Brownsville? Because we voted for the the lesser of 2evils and voted Charlie out. That doesn't mean we wanted you, it means we didnt want him! Same with Cascos! People were tired of Gilbert's shit and voted him in. Now the party is FUCKED with him at the wheel. Jesus give me the captain of the fucking Titanic or that fucking Italian cruise ship to be my party leader. Personally I've already been to Academy to buy my life jackets and pray for divine rescue.
ReplyDelete