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Hello TUFFers!
Do you remember way down here in
Fayetteville, Arkansas,
how our city council bowed to the anti's pressure and passed the smoking ban
(excluding stand-alone bars) on Sept. 2?
And do you also remember that we had 31
days to get 2,982 signatures of registered voters to send the issue to a
referendum and that we got nearly 4,000 only to have the city clerk throw them
all out on the very petty technicality that we did not have a complete
three-page copy of the ordinance attached to each one-page, ten-signature
petition (which, by the way, had a paragraph version of the ordinance that made
it clear what the people were signing)? The city clerk "generously" gave us
another 20 days to start from scratch and do it all over again. The deadline
was yesterday, October 30.
Well, we got them again!!!!! Nearly
4,000! (Actually, 3,900). And we wasted a few trees to make sure they had
ordinances attached. We couldn't believe it. This ban - and the way it was
shoved down everyone's throats - really energized people this time.
People were especially pissed off that
their own government would stand between them and the ballot box and deprive
them of their right to vote the first round. We didn't even know who had
petitions. At
7:00 Wednesday evening, we could only account
for 2,300. People came pouring in Thursday morning to turn in their petitions
to us. One guy, who has MS, got 400 signatures himself, by hanging out in front
of the establishments on our main drag and in front of the post office. A true
grass roots effort!
So, now we wait to see what curve gets
thrown our way next. One of the antis' spokeswomen was interviewed on the local
news and said she wasn't worried because 2,000 would get thrown out anyway. (I'm
sure that went over real well with the people who were watching. The more they
spout off, the more they piss people off.) We'll just have to see. If over
1,000 get thrown out again, there may be rioting in the streets. (One can dream,
can't one?)
We still have our lawsuit against the city
for the way they invalidated the first petitions. We got a copy of a six-page
memo sent by the city attorney to the city clerk telling her what she needed to
do by law "to determine the suffiency of the petitions". Nothing remarkable
about that except the date - Oct. 3 - the day of the deadline! All along,
whenever we asked the city attorney or city clerk for clarification, we were
told they didn't know or weren't sure or that would be for the courts to
decide. Suddenly, on the last day, they got very clear. Part of our suit is
nonfeasance. We also have a separate suit citing preemption - i.e., the city
not being able to pass a law more strict than the state. I guess city bans in
Iowa and Ohio got thrown out because of that.
And I'm putting my name on a complaint to the Arkansas Ethics Committee next
week about the local smoke-free coalition's misuse of the tobacco settlement
money. That's been one of the biggest gripes I've ha
d, especially when they are hypocritical
enough to claim we're being funded by tobacco companies.
I still don't like the idea of a public
vote on private business practices, and this could make the ban all but
permanent if we lose the vote because the city council would be powerless to
overturn its earlier, stupid decision. But, it's a risk the owners want to
take....so, we're going to have to make sure those 3,900+ get registered and to
the polls early next year. I think the publc is on our side. I keep hearing
from people how disgusted they are with the antis' smug attitude, especially
after our original petitions were thrown out. Also, if the antis are the
majority, as they claim here, then why are they so afraid of a vote?
We still got a rough road ahead of us, but
we certainly won a moral victory by getting nearly 4,000 people to sign on to
say NO to the ban, not once but twice! They see this not as a smoking issue or
health issue, but as a rights issue and the limits of government.
Also, the city council in the little town
of
Bryant, Arkansas, turned down the ban last week
- 6 to 2. The only ones to vote for it were the sponsors. They said they
didn't want to go through what Fayetteville has gone through these past months.
Whatever happens here, I think we at least put a real damper on their state
initiative.
It's a gut feeling, but I think the tide is
turning nationwide against this sweeping anti-smoking hysteria.
That's all the news that's fit to print
from the Arkansas Front.
Can the Ban!
Richard Maynard
FREE CHOICE
FAYETTEVILLE
Fayetteville, Arkansas
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