DeKalb County Hates Smokers (and those darn Fat People Too!)

Hot off the Presses Kids!

DeKalb County's very own Libertarian stalwart, David Montane, has penned  the following missive about the county's latest attempt to further restrict  it's citizens and denizens from having a bit of fun. Looks like our county overlords have been seized by a fit of knowing whats best for all and will soon enact legislation banning smoking in every nook and cranny of good ol' DeKalb County.


I know that most folks have a universally low opinion of smokers, hence the cheerfulness with which the body politic hammers smokers and makes their miserable lives just a bit more miserable. The only other group of Americans that are subject to this level of abuse are fat people and since so many Americans are fat, politicians aren't going to enact any eating bans. Yet.


I can categorically state that I'm not curtailing my tobacco related activities one iota based on a regulation passed by our County Commission. I might even check out these E-Cigs David's talking about but I'm still gonna carry a lighter every day of my life along with the Leatherman. 


Fire is our friend.


And now, Libertarian David Montane!

On June 14 the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners will be voting on legislation banning use of tobacco products in all public buildings in the county, including restaurants and bars.  Chances are HIGH that this legislation will pass.  This is similar to legislation that the City of Decatur passed a couple years ago.  However, DeKalb County's legislation includes ELECTRONIC CIGARETTES in the ban, which have no secondhand smoke because they are SMOKE-FREE!  Only about 15% of municipalities that legislate similar bans include e-cigarettes.

Please call and e-mail your two county commissioners - your district commissioner and your at-large commissioner - to tell them that you are one of their constituents and to request that references to electronic cigarettes be eliminated from the ban, or better yet, that they be specifically exempted from the restrictions.  Keep calling until you can actually speak with them.  E-mail them supportive, authoritative, short links or articles.  Also, we are looking for at least one person to actually go to the meeting at 9 AM on Tuesday the 14th, preferably "smoking" an e-cig, to show them and tell them that there is no harm to others and much less harm to yourself than smoking regular cigarettes.

To find your county commissioners' contact information, go tohttp://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/boc/pdf/districtMap.pdf  and find your district and super district on the map, then find their phone number and e-address at http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/boc/contact.html .

For more information about the safety of electronic cigarettes, read up on The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives Association's website at http://casaa.org.  Our contact there recommends we do not even try to argue with their ban on cigarettes, cigars and pipes, just try to get them to take e-cigarettes off their banned list.

If you smoke, I understand that by switching to e-cigarettes, you can not only increase your health and decrease your risks, but also can reduce your monthly cigarette bills by about 2/3.