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911: Nine one one, what’s your emergency?
OKC resident: There’s someone smoking a cigarette in Bluff Creek Park!
911: We’ll get a squad car out there right away.
This may sound silly, but if Oklahoma CIty Ward 4 Councilman Pete White has his way, this could happen - calling the cops to stop a smoker in a public park! On December 8, Councilman White will propose an new ordinance for Oklahoma City making it illegal to smoke tobacco on all city property, including parks! Councilman White makes an exception for city golf courses and sidewalks. The reason for the exemption on golf courses is golfers tend to be affluent and prefer cigars. And sidewalks will be exempt as it’s difficult to enforce for sidewalks.
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| Councilman Pete White |
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| Councilman Ed Shadid |
This is what America has come to - banning smoking outdoors as well as indoors? Can Councilman White explain to me or anyone the dangers of secondhand smoke in the open air? Of course he cannot because he has no evidence. Councilman White just doesn’t like smoking and he’s using his petty post to promote his agenda. Ward 2 Councilman Ed Shadid doesn’t think White’s proposal goes far enough, he wants it extended to golf courses but White believes these regulations must be made, “a step at a time.” Source The Oklahoman, November 24, 2015
A mere 20 years ago any public official proposing a ban on tobacco use outdoors would be laughed at and not by Big Tobacco; they’d be laughed at by any sane citizen. But America has lost her way and her mind in so many different ways.
