It wasn’t that long ago that the police were needing lots of overtime and help from the state police to handle violent hot spots in the City. But now it looks like they’ve got nothing better to do than conduct sting operations on people smoking in bars.
The Journal Star article says that “smoking violations [are] administrative in nature and not criminal,” and are adjudicated through “a complicated, quasi-judicial administrative system set up through the Illinois Department of Public Health.” So my question is, why are the police involved in the process at all? Why isn’t the health department sending inspectors into these bars like they do for restaurant inspections?
The health department has laid off workers, thanks to the anti-govt mania sweeping the state and nation. That leaves the police.
And let’s face it, what workers the health dept. has left should be protecting us from food poisoning.
Smoking is annoying, but a little bit in a bar likely won’t kill anyone. At least not right away.
You can also argue that on the upside, smokers pay Social Security taxes then die before collecting.
So is smoking ultimately good for the general welfare?
its revenue. violent crime prevention and prosecution costs money. brings none in. police i know do not like revenue details (like speeding, smoking, code violations, etc.).
but when our taxes go to support ‘economic development’ (what exactly does Heartland P’ship do??) police have to be modern tax collectors. they don’t like it. we dont like it. but it happens. so somewhere in there, things are getting screwy!
Don’t think the restaurants have been checked too often by the health dept either. Can’t understand why taco bell restaurants and other restaurants have employees that handle the food such as putting cheese on the tacos, etc and never have to wear rubber gloves. They don’t have to wear hairnets either and how many times at a restaurant have you found hair in your food. Just found several last week at Long John Silvers.
Damned bureaucrats!
Having police lurking in bars looking for smokers instead of on the streets where they belong…
cttsp5,
a) if the food handlers are washing their hands regularly then they are fine.
b) people don’t wash gloves, so newsflash… the hands are probably cleaner.
c) employees don’t have to wear hairnets, they do have to wear a hat of some sort.
What?!?!? Allowing the police to step in and enforce the law is a good thing. Or would you prefer to have to go online, print out a lengthy form, fill out a detailed complaint, mail it at your expense to the state health department, and wonder whether anything was done at all? Cut through the ineffective, bureaucratic paperwork. If the police make money by writing tickets, then God bless them.
Go smoke your cigarettes (and smoke your dope) with your scumbum friends in privacy of your tiny dumpy houses, and allow the rest of us to breathe clean air when we go out to eat.
cttsp5: Fast food restaurants are absolutely filthy. Boycott them as I do, and we will begin to see restaurant quality improve. Proper sanitation? Yeah, right. Talk to a few teenagers, and listen to the stories. When you eat at one, are you taking a break, or are you taking a chance?
Last taco I got at Taco Bell was one of their new giant tacos XL and it had a cat kibble in the middle of it with black cat hair attached. This was imbedded deep in the middle. The manager tried to tell me that it was overcooked chicken. Not as crunchy as that was and I think I know cat kibble when I see it. Also, the cat hair that was attached. I wonder how many others got similar things in their tacos. I’d rather have smoke than bite into some mystery in my food.
vote for cj!
more bull so city can give brides to business friends, no jobs now so they get rid of jobs to have money to give business that have no chance of success cause the bank would have given a loan if was really good thing
their is more crime than ever granted they are not always needed hang around in bars and kitchens, but when someone has put their hood up and pulls a gun on someone we want the police to stop them. isn’t that true
The woman was walking on North Wisconsin Avenue near East Arcadia Avenue about 11 p.m. when she was approached by a man armed with a gun.
The man grabbed the victim and pulled her into the alley, ordering her to hand over her purse. She did, and he stole a small amount of cash and fled the area.
YEP. Let’s see armed robbery or go after smokers? It’s the smokers. What a wacky way to run a police dept. I feel safer knowing that we will have smoke free bars but crime in the streets outside the bars. What is next incandescent light bulb sting operations? Police have better things to do ya think?
“allow the rest of us to breathe clean air when we go out to eat.”
You eat in bars, do you? You eat in casinos in front of the machines, do you?
“If the police make money by writing tickets, then God bless them.”
What a jackass. That isn’t their purpose.
the police 1st and foremost focus on revenue generators and then they handle the more serious crime after the fact. don’t believe me. walk a tough neighborhhod for 2 hours and see how mnany police officers you see and then tell me how many drug deals you see go down? On a better note the police wrote 100 speeding tickets in North Peoria and 60 tickets for seat belts and another 55 tickets for not using their turn signal!
Uniformed and armed tax collectors…
and you thought they were hated in Jesus’ day…
Did anyone actually read the article, or did we just see “smoking ban” and had a contest to get up on our high horses as soon as possible?
The article specifically states that these “sting operations” were prompted by establishments that have already had complaints about not complying with the smoking ban. Chief Settingsgaard came right out and said in the article that “There are establishments in Peoria that have blatantly and willfully disregarded the [smoking ban] law.”
If you want to smoke in a bar as part of some form of civil disobediance to protest the smoking ban, you have to be prepared to deal with the consequences.
In response to Charlie, there are bars downtown that serve food, and some pretty darn good food at that. Paradice also serves food, both snacks on the gaming floor and at restaurants dockside.
Besides, it seems like there’s always someone complaining about the crime and conditions in Peoria’s primary bar districts, like the 500 block of Main or the Farmington Road corridor, and now we’re complaining about more police presence in bars? We can’t have it both ways.
I am willing to bet that the number of ‘establishments’ that are not following the smoking ban is extremely low. Talking about using the police to enforce this code…and actually doing it are two different things. We have seen these ‘crackdowns’ before. You have to wonder if the amount of revenue actually generated by these little ‘sting-ops,’ even justifies the ‘cost.’
I have yet to frequent any establishment [bar, restaurant, etc], where the ban has not been adhered to… Can’t speak for the rest of you though…
“there are bars downtown that serve food, and some pretty darn good food at that. ”
Is that why people go to the bar? To eat, or do you go to drink alcohol? How is alcohol any better than cigarettes? I never heard of anyone being killed by a nicotined driver.
Keep your hypocritical morality to yourself.
People who want to drink, gamble and smoke should be free to in places where people who run establishments want to allow it. Those who don’t want to be around freedom loving people should stay home. Or frequent non-smoking/drinking/gambling establishments. My goodness, people, we are talking about a saloon!
Land o’ the free … or used to be.
What DO you like about Peoria?!? Because you aren’t happy unless you’re bitchin’ about something!
Kara — I like my neighbors. 🙂
@charlie – Check out the downtown bars during the lunch hour on a weekday. Hoops, the Whammy Bar, the Locker Room, Richard’s, Sully’s… all bars, all serving food, all frequented with the lunch crowd from CAT AB and the rest of the downtown office buildings.
While the late night bar scene tends to attract a different demographic for different purposes, your post implied that no one goes to the bars to eat, which is a falsehood I chose to point out.
While no one has been killed by a nicotined driver, I haven’t heard of anyone dying or developing cancer from being second-hand drunk either.
I fully agree that the smoking ban is too far-reaching (no smoking in parking decks, really?), but there is a raison d’etre for the smoking ban in bars and restaurants — not to regulate morality, but rather for public health purposes. Some of us enjoy the freedom of being able to voluntarily enjoy our vices of drinking and gaming without the involuntary tacked on vice of second-hand smoke… or the freedom of a working environment for bartenders and wait staff without dealing with cigarette smoke, a freedom most of us have and take for granted.
So I guess you’re right… people who don’t want to be around freedom-loving people like that should stay home.
“I haven’t heard of anyone dying or developing cancer from being second-hand drunk either.”
Neither have I ever heard of ANYONE getting lung cancer because they were casually around smokers… eating lunch for 30 minutes a day, for example.
But guess what, second hand drunk drivers and passengers are killed ALL THE TIME.
The police aren’t the problem here, the law is. Elaine, I consider myself to be a part of the anti-government wave that is sweeping the nation. I am tired of people in the government devoting resources, and ultimately my tax money, for stopping people from using a legal product in a private establishment. This nanny state government has grown too much, and is far too oppressive for my tastes.
The last time I checked, our Forefathers setup this nation to rely on citizens to make choices for themselves. This includes making choices that our nanny-like whiner citizens don’t like. It’s time to realize that having freedom means putting up with people doing things you don’t like. It is also time to realize a government that governs best, governs least.
Elaine, if you want to sing the praises for this style of government, go ahead. You will be small minority, and I will enjoy defeating your big government, money wasting, over-reaching bureaucracy at the ballot box!
Has anyone ever noticed the ones griping the loudest about smoking are ex smokers? Many that gripe also think nothing of getting in a car after a couple of drinks and driving. I’d rather meet a smoker on the road instead of a drunk. Many people that have lung cancer were never around smoke or smoked themselves. By the way I am an ex smoker and believe each to their own. I don’t discriminate against smokers just because I don’t smoke. I think there should be smoking restaurants and non smoking. If a non-smoker goes into a restaurant that allows smoking then that is their problem. Stay away if you don’t like it.
Thank the Lord for the smoking ban in public places.
The one place where I really appreciate the no smoking law is in bowling alleys. I am an ex-smoker, so I never feel justified in complaining. Now, however, bowling alleys are a good place for family fun now that children aren’t plagued by the smoke.
The Lord? Is that how you see your State Legislators? Ah yes, I forgot who wrote this. Another Republican pining for the feudal days…