Smoking Ban: A Flaw in the Law

Imagine my surprise when I showed up at the Rock Nightclub on Saturday night to discover that the bar was filled with nasty-ass cigarette smoke and a ton of people were blatantly smoking......WTF? MN banned smoking in public places as of Oct. 1, 2007.

Even though I am not a regular bar-goer, I do go to clubs quite often to see concerts.  It has been wonderful that they have all gone smoke-free.  Of course not everyone thinks so...many bar owners say the new law is killing their business.  Some how someone (a lawyer) discovered a little loophole in the smoking ban.....apparently actors in a performance are still given the right to smoke.

So guess what the Rock and a few other bars are doing now to allow customers to smoke?  They have turned a few regular events into "performances".  This is the play program that they posted and handed out:

This had my friends and I in an absolute uproar...are you kidding me??!! How can they get away with this?  Anyone who wanted to smoke was charged $1 to get a button that identified them as one of the "actors".
Heather gave me a pair of earplugs and I told her I was going to wear them as noseplugs instead!  Here is a staged photo of me demonstrating how much I love smoke:
The show itself was decent and many of my friends came out to see Richie play.  Too bad we didn't do much but bitch about the smoke the whole time!

So despite how much I hated being at the Rock on Saturday night because of the smoke, I got talked into going back there on Sunday night to see Drowning Pool and Saliva.  I could care less about either of these bands, but a friend of mine is the promoter for their national tour.  Hard to beat free tickets! PS Smoking was NOT allowed on Sunday :) 

I can't believe I went out three nights in a row and got very little sleep...I hope this week goes fast!

Comments

[Jessica]

That is seriously messed up!!!

[Mary]

Kristi, you animal you, going out three nights in a row! Woo hoo!
That smoking thing is messed up! I've never heard of such a thing! No Smoking means No Smoking! I would have been very annoyed too.

[Jessica]

NO WAY! no way! no waynowaynoway NO WAY! that is ridiculous. and you ARE a party animal.

[Heath]

Kritter ~ we never would have gotten to see ear plugs in your nose without all of the nasty ass smoke so, I don't know, it may have been worth it (ha ha).

[Lina]

I cannot believe they can get away w/ that! I can't stand the smell of smoke & I am an ex-smoker! A nasty habit I kicked a long time ago, so I have earned the right to stand on my soap box with you :)

[adrienne]

Are you SERIOUS!?

[jenny]

i fricken read that about the loophole in the paper last week. what a JOKE! i hate smoke so i would have been bitching about it all night too!

i have to go there - saliva - love them! god you are a damn social butterfly! :)

I read about this about a month ago. I think one guy quoted, "I'm participating in this because I have seen my friends from the lodge suffering because of this law". Seriously, no smoking is suffering? Try lifesaving! What a bunch of morons! I doubt this "movement" will last long, I'm sure the loop hole will be eliminated in time. People will go to all lengths to smoke, what does that say about society? Ewwww.

Glad you had fun anyway. I can't wait to "party" again! It's so close, yet soooo far away!

[michelle sauer]

I read about this about a month ago. I think one guy quoted, "I'm participating in this because I have seen my friends from the lodge suffering because of this law". Seriously, no smoking is suffering? Try lifesaving! What a bunch of morons! I doubt this "movement" will last long, I'm sure the loop hole will be eliminated in time. People will go to all lengths to smoke, what does that say about society? Ewwww.

Glad you had fun anyway. I can't wait to "party" again! It's so close, yet soooo far away!

[zoe]

and here i though mn was so progressive! glad you otherwise had a good night!

[leslie]

i must say...how attractive of you in that photo! LOL That's how I feel in smoky places though too.

[Leslie]

Love the pic of you with the nose plug. I had some catching up to do on your blog...My bloglines hasn't been updating it for some reason? Maybe because of the password. I don't know.

[simone]

you were magically deleted from my bloglines since you added the password...wtf??
I hope no one catches wind of this here because everyone will be having performances every weekend and I was just starting to enjoy going to bars again!

[Kim Airhart]

Holy CRAP!!! Blast from the past and you know who I am talking about!!