The Dispatch
BREAKING NEWS: OC Council Votes 4-3 To Restrict Smoking On Beach, Boardwalk
After a presentation this afternoon at City Hall, the Ocean City Council voted 4-3 to move to ordinance form smoking regulations for the beach and Boardwalk. The plan would be to create designated smoking areas year-round starting May 1, 2015. Council members Brent Ashley, Mary Knight and Margaret Pillas voted to oppose, while Doug Cymek, Dennis Dare, Lloyd Martin and Joe Mitrecic were in favor. Ashley, Knight and Pillas were opposed because they wanted to ban smoking altogether on the Boardwalk. The public will have the opportunity to address this during the requisite two readings of the ordinance in the near future. Full story coming tomorrow.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
30 comments:
GOOD!!!!
More communist crap. It's an open area in public. Gives the police more nonsense to worry about and draws more funds through ticketing. Enough taxes.
While I am not a smoker-never been the anti smoking crowd amazes me especially the "parents."
These same concerned "parents" are shoveling into their children's mouths all kinds of harmful substances they call food. These same "parents" are more vigilant about what they put in their vehicles then what they are feeding their children.
What is called food now a days is loaded up with chemicals. This is what is causing all the childhood illnesses including cancer. When you start putting things that do not belong in the human body all kinds of molecular changes occur and they can and they will kill you, most often in the form of cancer.
Second hand smoke should be and is a non issue. The real problem is the food and this is just a distraction.
So many people can't see the forest through the trees. You and you children mean nothing to the government. People dying horrible deaths from cancer are just collateral damage to them. The government is there to protect big business=period.
People dying means nothing to them as the overall big picture is too great like campaign donations, insider trading tips, all the jobs created by big corps, etc.
People need to wise up and stop falling for the distractions and focus on what's really a problem.
Not a problem. If you wish to smoke put your cigs in a zip lock bag and go into the water ankle deep and smoke all you want!
No smoking on the baordwalk......hey but you can catch a pole dance while on the boardwalk no problem.
So nanny state wins again? Boy sure worried about that second hand smoke outside...and lack of enforcement of cig butt litering..keep cheering you frigging moronic libtarded fools...
Oc is really trying to turn into a retirement community. Their rules and regs are gonna kill tourism.
I'll be going to the beach less now and that means I'll not be spending money there. If I can't smoke an occasional cigarette on the boards or beach then I don't need to be there. Obviously these people don't want my business. Any smoker should do the same.., the only thing these socioterrorists understand is money. They've done nothing but irritate yet another group of people who spend money with the local businesses.., well not me OC. You've gone too far this time.
Ive now added OC to my boycott list...spend my money in an adult town..are their any left????..left my mommy decades ago
You must be an attorney 6:29 and if not you missed your calling.
To 7:01... See ya.
Unbelievable! With all the thuggery and intimidation going on all over the boardwalk all night long, every night...this is what the council prioritizes? Maybe the 20% drop in tourism due to the thugs will be offset by the 2% increase from the lefty non-smokers. Oh wait, I'm sure tourists will now make OC their destination because the boards are non-smoking. Yeah, right, and then they make the mistake of being on the boards after dark, where they'll be hassled all night long. These four guys on the city council are definitely trying to be noticed by Annapolis for future reference.
GREAT!! If I can't sit back, mind my business, and enjoy a beer in peace, why should anyone have to breath in your smoke and deal with your butts on the ground?
Because this is America you idiot. Don't enjoy a beer on the boardwalk, you'll get arrested. Personally I don't want to view your fat ass drinking a beer. It should be made illegal. Salt, sugar, spicy foods, fatty foods, should also be ban on the board walk.
You know 9:15 you've hit the nail on it's head. The foods on the Boardwalk and every where else are the major public health issue, nothing more. Americans by and large are fools and fall hook line and sinker for the distractions.
As a smoker I have to say I'm not surprised. It was inevitable. I always made sure that I smoked in a location that would not bother anyone in any way (and 'field-stripped' the butts for disposal), but many others didn't.
I will say that I sort of like the trend though, which is Ocean City legislating what is basically - I admit - an obnoxious nuisance to some people. (The second-hand smoke argument is a load of crap, by the way. You'll get more carcinogens sitting in your car in traffic - or riding your bike.)
So let's continue the trend, and ban:
1. Fat chicks in bikinis on the beach
2. Tattooed bodies anywhere.
3. Kids that scream in restaurants
4. Servers that don't speak English
5. Any guy wearing a wife-beater shirt
6. Woman that wear too much perfume
7. Drivers that don't utilize right turn on red
8. Loud cars
Damn... I could go on and on. But there just a few items for the Council to take up next time.
Keep up the trend - and OC will be a Paradise.
This is going to be the mayor and council that goes down as being the ruination of Ccean City.
I am not a smoker nor have I never been one. Smoking by people outdoors is a non issue. To worry about butts on the ground- ludicrous. Ban eating and drinking on the beach and boardwalk to make any measurable difference in the littering. Health issues-imbecilic. We're talking outside and not in an enclosed area.
You losers in OC aren't fooling anyone and losers you are. If you want to make a real difference in OC then stop bars from serving alcohol after 11 pm. The problem is not one of you have the guts. Nothing but a bunch of nothings who have their heads shoved up the butts of those that are contributing to the decline because they profit from the decline of OC.
Ocean City is done.
The boardwalk is full of individuals that have attitudes, rebellious attitudes; they wear ridiculous clothing pulled down around their hips; the young girls are trashy and come off as 'easy'; the have this trend of piercing everything on their bodies; drug and alcohol use is rampant; there is no respect for the police. Families are threatening to never come back to OC unless something is done to clean-up this mess of a town.
By the way: I'm talking about the '60's in Ocean City.
Fifty years ago.
Ocean City is NOT done.
The more things change, the more it stays the same.
Relax everybody.
10:37 Do not relax. The black crowd has taken over the boardwalk at night. There lies the problem but nobody has the balls to admit it.
I am all for banning smoking.
Set up a designated area where it's allowed.
I get what you are saying 10:37 but it is different today than it was 50 years ago.
It's the attitude of a lot of people and that's what makes today disturbing.
11:05:
The exact same thing was said about hippies.
No 7:43, your just older.
If smokers would learn that putting the butts in the sand is littering I personally wouldn't have an issue with them slowly killing themselves!
Clean Air Quality Law
It is hereby ordered that all things that generate chemical releases simular in nature to tobacco smoke are hereby OUTLAWED.
1. Automobiles and gas or diesel engines or any other contivance that emits chemcial releases. This savings equals to the public not being forced to inhale 100s of billions of cigarettes each day.
2. All plants are outlawed as they releases tons daily of the Carcinogen ISOPRENE. Equal in volumes of Millions of cigarettes each day.
3. Restaraunts will be outlawed from preparing any cooked foods as these release 100s of millions of equal cigarettes each day.
4. In home cooking is also outlawed as it produces upwards of 10s of thousands of equal cigarettes inside and outside the home.
5. Outdoor cookouts and fireworks are outlawed as they releases 100s of millions of equivalent cigarettes a day or on weekends in the yards and parks of our city.
6. Humans are hereby outlawed from existence insode the city limits as their own human breath contains hundreds of the same chemicals as found in tobacco smoke!
7. Nature itself is outlawed as it generates Billions of chemcial releases naturally into the atmosphere a day hense posing a threat to human life.
8. This Clean air law becomes effective Immediately.
9. Your preference of suicide is a personal choise,Police will write tickets and lock up any survivors after this law becomes effective. A grace period of 30 days will be in place to educate the public on its existence.
Signed into law by the GHOSTOWN ADMINISTRATION
Congratualtions to everyone who ever survived a single cookout! LOL
Barbecues poison the air with toxins and could cause cancer, research suggests.
A study by the French environmental campaigning group Robin des Bois found that a typical two-hour barbecue can release the same level of dioxins as up to 220,000 cigarettes.
Dioxins are a group of chemicals known to increase the likelihood of cancer.
The figures were based on grilling four large steaks, four turkey cuts and eight large sausages.”
Even the AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY has relay for life BBQ cook-offs..........oh the Hypocrisy of it all!
Perhaps they would rather just outlaw ourselves and all the other human carcinogen machines from even existing! Or the New Building VOC's that release constantly in new buildings that also can create a cancer risk. They should also want to ban Cooking,Campfires, Industrial output, Barbecuing,Breathing,having indoor plants that release constant Isoprene!
You see no matter the contempt and daily scares these folks toss out you will never escape natural elements and chemicals such as whats in tobacco smoke or the normal everyday air we all breathe and exhale.
We are all sources of the same thing these prohibitionists are trying to outlaw and criminalize!
NIH report on carcinogens
If you want to learn about which chemicals cause cancer, or just want to feel more paranoid about getting cancer, check out the 2012 NIH report on carcinogens.
One of the more exciting findings is that human beings themselves are possible carcinogens, by virtue of their natural emissions of isoprene:
Isoprene is formed endogenously in humans at a rate of 0.15 µmol/kg
of body weight per hour, equivalent to approximately 2 to 4 mg/kg per
day (Taalman 1996), and is the major hydrocarbon in human breath
(accounting for up to 70% of exhaled hydrocarbons)
Don’t breathe on me!
Human Exhaled Air Analytics…” Buszewski et al, Biomed. Chromatogr. 21: 553–566 (2007) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bmc.835/pdf
Natural occurrences[edit]
Isoprene is produced and emitted by many species of trees into the atmosphere (major producers are oaks, poplars, eucalyptus, and some legumes). The yearly production of isoprene emissions by vegetation is around 600 million tonnes, with half that coming from tropical broadleaf trees and the remainder coming from shrubs.[1] This is about equivalent to methane emission into the atmosphere and accounts for ~1/3 of all hydrocarbons released into the atmosphere.
On cig butt bio-degradability in beach locations
The filters are mainly made from a synthetic polymer called cellulose acetate. All sounds a bit scary, but not really. Acetic Acid (vinegar) is one of nature’s building blocks – life on earth needs it. Cellulose acetate is just lots of vinegar molecules joined together into a chain. Cellulose acetate is a short step away from cellulose (i.e. wood!). Most cigarette butts apparently still use natural cellulose acetate (i.e. tow from the wood pulp
Even if they do not, synthetic (i.e. man made) cellulose acetate is man’s copy of nature’s science. It is used all around you – wrapped a present with cellotape recently, kept any photographic film (pre digital!) – that’s all cellulose acetate.How fast cellulose acetate decays is directly related to the composting conditions – and principally the temperature of the heap (Q10 equation). You will often see quotes of 3,10 or 50 years as estimates for cigarette butt decomposition time. This is directly comparable the time it takes to decompose lignin (i.e. wood). Most of these tests are done outdoors (so an average of 10C is the temp for most tests). If you increase the decomposition temperature to 60C, you can divide this number by 32 and you’ll get the time it takes to hot compost it. So 10 years at 10C = 4 months at 60C (Again this is directly comparable to wood in an outdoor heap and wood in an IVC composting plant.
Beach sands normal range of temperature is at about 90-100 degrees during summer heat and penetrating down to about 6 inches.
The higher the temperature and the wetter the location cig s will bio-degreade rapidly in as short time as 3 months or less depending on conditions. The polymer you speak of is nothing more than VINEGAR!
So on the beach you have the best of both worlds for decomposition to happen wet and hot!
The unintended consequence of this law, is that it creates a major trespassing problem on to private property and public accommodations, which are areas like hotel and restaurant parking lots.
It seems not much forward thinking goes into much of what OC comes up with-relaxing the skate board ordinance comes to mind. They are skating now more than ever on private property.
Our bike rake at the condo building where we live, is moved several times a week by them so the skate boarders can ruin our wall.
Tell him Mrs. Obama
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