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NewslettersSnitches silent about county's 16-month-old smoking ban
Sat, 2008-05-10 23:09 — Anonymous
The writing is on the wall at the Fillin' Station -- "No smoking" -- but the ashtrays on the bar and casual smokers on the stools seem to send a different message. Read the story here.
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Mark Wolf operates a nice little establishment. You can go there anytime after 5pm on Friday nights and get one of the best steak dinners you have ever had for only $8. I would guess the steaks to be around 20 ounces and they come with great sides. You can cut the steak with a plastic fork! I love the place!
The Fillin Station is very indicitive of why government has no business dictating any such foolish laws. The subject at issue is free enterprise, and governement has no right to interfere with it. The patrons at the Fillin Station have for the most part been regulars there for years. I would venture to say that 95% or more of them are smokers, and the others don't care. It is their turf, and they have always been welcomed there. When the smoking ban first went into effect, the patrons there individually chose to face the $500 fine and continued to smoke as they had always done. They would use empty beer cans for ashtrays due to the fact that Mark had removed the ashtrays except on the patio. As time passed, the patrons carried the ashtrays back inside and the management finally gave up and left them there. After all, business owners and managers are not police officers, nor should they have to be. The people who support Mark's business made their own choice, and as stated in the article, nobody has complained. That folks is called freedom of choice! These people are not going to some place where they are not familiar and lighting up. They are being respectful and staying in a place they have called home for years with people who have similar behavior. They are leaving you alone, leave them alone. If someone wants a smoke free environment just don't go there, you probably wouldn't be welcomed by the patrons anyway.
The freedoms I spoke of earlier are very important for several reasons. But the most important one I can think of is that Mark is a highly decorated retired Marine. He fought for those and all other freedoms we share and enjoy. He and his wife depend upon the patrons they have developed a realtionship with over the years. They depend upon those patrons to keep their business alive and to survive on a personal level. None of us has any right to take that away from them, they earned what they have! If somebody decides that there should be legal enforcement of this ridiculously prejudicial ordinance, Mark's patrons will leave, and he will be bankrupted. What in God's name is right about any of that? I applaude his stand on all of this, he is behaving like any good Marine should, he is standing his ground at any cost! It's just too bad that more business owners can't seem to grow the gonads to stand up for what is just and right.
In closing I must say that I think this article was a low blow to someone who does not deserve it! But, what can you expect, this is McClatchy; defame or destroy anyone in an effort to sell another paper! A less desperate organization might allow sleeping dogs to lie! A major corporation by their own admission becomes the first to complain about this situation when it wasn't hurting anyone! And to use the word "Snitches" in the headline? How sensational! This isn't a criminal statute, it is a civil ordinance and punishable with only a fine. This article isn't news, it's a tabloid hatchet job! All for another quarter! Coming soon to your nearest checkstand....The Beaufort Gazette!
It's no wonder that the media no longer has the trust of their readers, listeners, and viewers like they once did.
It is a shame that there are those that don't appreciate the damage they are doing to themselves and how inconsiderate it is to others with their smoking! That said, for many years I was one of them and it didn't occur to me until I managed to break the habit how inconsiderate I was being toward those who don't smoke. Since that time whether smoking is legal or illegal, I recognize it is up to me to determine whether or not to expose myself, wife and children to smokey environments. One trip to The Station on a Friday night was all it took to make my decision that as good a value as the food is it is not where my wife and I chose to eat. The choice is mine---and yours. It does not need to be a legal issue.
I have been going to this place when it was a gas station and bait shop, long time huh? I do not smoke and frankly don"t care that some do. This is the only place in beaufort county left where everyone knows each other and have for lifetimes. Mark is the latest of many owners of that small bar. The docks behind it used to be shrimp boats. What else is left for people to bitch about and regulate? remember the driving range outback? I rest my case.
I totally agree with the comments concerning this article, the patrons that go to the Fillin Station are not just a bunch of dumb red necks at least not all of them. They are people from all walks of life. They know what they want and also what they are doing. They go to the Station to be with friends. These patrons have been going to the Station for years and I am sure that if Mark fully enforced the no smoking ordnance his patrons would still come. Mr. Wolfe provided a new deck which people can sit on if they don't like to be around smokers, but it is clear to see that inside you have smokers and non-smokers sitting next to each other. It should be up to the patron to decide if they want to go to a place that allows smokeing, not the city or country government. Mr. & Mrs. Wolfe bend over backwards to provide for their patrons only to have government pass an ordnance that treatens to take the food off of their table. Lastly let me say that on Friday nights with out a doubt the Fillin Station is the best place in town to go for a steak dinner you get what you pay for and some. Maybe if the government was concerned more about more important things like crime or even cutting the grass around the city and country streets we would have a better place to live. My hat is off to Mark & Rita, keep up the good work.
I'm glad to know that somethings never change. The Filin Station has always been a friendly place to stop in for a chat and drink. If you can't handle the smoke, your really missing out. Glad you let people make there own desicions, Beaufort can learn from you.
When laws become stupid and/or too intrusive, people start to ignore them. That's not the healiest way to go but this day-and-age of the Nanny State has brought it on. Three cheers for the good people of "God's Country" who ignore whiny children who can't choose for themselves which restaurant to patronize and/or can't handle a little tobacco smoke. After all of the damage that I read about these antismoking laws and attitudes, it's mighty good to read that some people still have good sense.
By the way, SHS/ETS is 98% water vapor. All this political fuss--all the damage to science, law, law enforcement, the economy, families, friendships, and even air quality--has been over banning....water vapor. All the fuss of a small minority of antismokers over....water vapor. Is this a crazy world we live in or what?
After reading all this about the Fillin Station, I'm gettin' a hankerin' for some good steak! :-)
I am not a smoker, and I dislike the smell of smoke, but If someone wants to smoke, that is his problem, and if a business owner wants to allow smoking at his establishment, that he owns, that he opened and that he runs with his own sweat and tears, I'm all for it. If he offers a good product, people will come, and those who won't come will find another place with an owner who caters to them.
Some self appointed protectors of all of us, have decided what is good for us without asking us. First, they ban smoking in bars and restaurants, then at stadiums and public places, then at government buildings and installations. Your house and your car are next. Don't believe me? It has already been tried. I read a story of a township about two years ago that tried to ban smoking in homes because one neighbor had complained that he could smell the smoke from his neighbor's house. Fortunatelly, it didn't become law, but if one nut tried it, more and more nuts will keep trying until they get their way. That's how these nut cases work. Remember the days nobody would have thought it was wrong to pray in school or say the pledge of allegiance or celebrate Christmass or Easter? I could go on. Don't get me started about global warming...haha.
Anti freedom nut jobs always get their way because all rational people ignore them because, after all, all the things they propose are just nuts. Until one day your child comes home in December to tell you that The Christmas Play (oops...I mean the Winter Fest Play) had been cancelled because it offended some people, but that there is an all week Kwanzaa celebration and he'll be learning all about it instead of learning math and writing.
There is a city in Southern California that did ban smoking anywhere in the city a few years ago...even in and outside of homes. I don't know if the law is still in effect, but it was. The way things are going, once these "protectors" run out of places to ban smoking they wil be installing cameras in our bedrooms to enforce social mores. The always need a cause.
Stoney, first off - great post. Hopefully you have gotten others "started". I also see numerous traditional names/events go by the wayside over the years because it/they have offended "those anti-American people". As thee old saying goes "if you don't like, don't let the door hit your bum on the way out the door" - maybe a slightly different version from the original so it does not get censored, LoL.
Anyway, back to the original thread-of-the-matter - great job Mark. And yes, the company is great, and Mark and Rita's steak dinners are quite tasty and filling.
This is crazy. Mark and his wife are upstanding citizens of this county. They run a successful business, and have for years in this county. When the smoking ban first went into effect, they played by the rules. They have always played by the rules. If you people don't like the smoke, stay out of the bar! Where's my steak Mark?
...because the smoke constricts your arteries and then the steak will block them off the rest of the way .
I think Beaufort and Ladys Island has room for places like that. Party on dude.
And on my baked potato I'll have lots of salt, pepper, about a half a stick of butter, sour cream and bacon bits. As long as I am narrowing my arteries with cigarettes and beef, I might as well raise my blood pressure with the salt. Oh and I like my tea sweet....really sweet.
...however, here is a little factoid from Dr. Oz.....
How long does it take food to digest?
Have you ever wondered what happens to the food you eat? First, it passes through the esophagus. It moves by a wave of muscle contractions that squeeze the food down at about two inches per second. When the food reaches the stomach, it falls into a churning pool of digestive juices. In the stomach, the food is broken down into easily absorbable ingredients: proteins, sugars and fats.
Then greenish brown bile produced in the liver is added to help the breakdown of these fats. By the time the food leaves your stomach and passes into the small intestine, it's unrecognizable. The walls of our intestines absorb the nutrients into our blood and that's how we get the energy we all need to live.
How long does this vital process take? It depends on what you're eating, Dr. Oz says. "A steak dinner can take you two, maybe three days to get out of your intestine. What that means is the way you digest it is basically to rot it in your intestines. On the other hand, if you eat vegetables and fruits, they're out of your system in less than 12 hours."
http://www2.oprah.com/health/yourbody/slide/slide_yourbody_embarrassing_101.jhtml
One caveat is that if you drink enough beer, then it's all kinda of a mute point because you won't care or remember.