Every once and a while I get out of town and am quickly reminded of why I live in and love north Texas. I spent last weekend in Las Vegas in an intense briefing for the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. NBC-5’s Kristi Nelson and Steve MacLaughlin joined me and a couple hundred of our friends from around the country to brush up on our Telethon skills and learn about the latest developments in the fight against the 40 plus diseases we call Muscular Dystrophy.
The conference was very helpful, well organized and a good “pep-me-up” for the job coming Labor Day here on NBC-5. But, Las Vegas is another matter. Is there a more cigarette smoke filled place on the face of this earth? When you go to Vegas, you should know up front, that you will face a nicotine laden fog of second hand smoke literally every place you go. My body does not tolerate cigarette smoke very well; it is unpleasant, clogs up my throat and lungs and stinks up my clothes, so I try to avoid any place where I would encounter cigarette, cigar or pipe smoke.
But, in Vegas, you have no choice! The hotels force you to walk through their fog filled poorly ventilated casinos to access any meeting room, restaurant or rest room. You have no choice but to suck in that nasty cigarette filled air. After three days of breathing that putrid air, I am struggling with a hacking cough that would lead someone to believe I smoke 3 packs a day. Let me make it clear, I have never smoked, never wanted to, both my parents did smoke and maybe that’s why I dislike it so. I hope the hacking will soon purge my lungs and nasal cavities of the nasty stuff I was forced to breathe.
That brings me to the anti-smoking ordinance just approved by the Fort Worth City Council, and the similar ordinance approved earlier by the city of Dallas. I have always been against government, be it local, state or national, sticking its nose in my business and trying to control my freedoms. But, where cigarette smoke is concerned, I am all for government intervention. Many smokers, for whatever reason, find it difficult to control themselves and think their right to fill the air with that putrid fog of nicotine filled puffery trumps the rights of those of us who don’t want to breathe that smoke. The Anti-Smoking ordinances passed by Dallas, Fort Worth and many other cities are a recognition of the notion that the right to smoke in a public place ends when it fogs up the air others must breathe.
I appreciate the courage of city leaders who endure the wrath of smokers who bash them at council meetings, and then go ahead and approve anti-smoking ordinances for restaurants and other public places. That is one of the reasons I love living here, leaders who are willing to lead.
Oh sure, there are those who will argue, “today cigarettes, tomorrow the portion size of your meal,” or some other mythical notion that big brother is taking over and diminishing your natural freedoms. Nonsense. We have speed limits and stop signs to prevent people from killing themselves on the roads. While they don’t always work, imagine driving in a place without those rules. We have rules about where alcohol is served and to whom. Those rules don’t always work either, but imagine a place where any child can buy alcohol or have it served from a cart near an elementary school.
It takes collective wisdom and courage to regulate something that is both considered recreational and a hazard. I thank my lucky stars that I live in a place that tries to strike a balance between those rights. Las Vegas is an exciting town, a great place to visit, but a greater place to leave in the smoke of those who puff away their lungs while feeding a slot machine exercising their right to gamble.
