| Letter to the Editor: Trip Pittman fights state wide health initiative |
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Montrose Senator Tripp Pittman unilaterally fights state wide health initiative, bucks trend of similar initiatives passed in his own county Letter to Editor, March 5, 2008 Fairhope was one of the first cities in Baldwin County to ban smoking from restaurants and workplaces. Since that time, Orange Beach, Foley, and now Daphne, have all followed suit. This is because 9 out of 10 people polled in Alabama on the smoking issue agree that smoking should be banned from workplaces. In addition, polls also show that nearly 80 percent of Alabamians don't smoke. It would seem then that our Baldwin County senators and representatives would follow the wishes of the people they represent. Unfortunately, it appears that at least one, does not. Senator Trip Pittman, of Montrose, was recently highlighted as the sole opponent of the state wide ban on smoking in restaurants and other public spaces. Mr. Pittman was quoted as saying that people should be able to "vote with their feet," which presumeably means that a patron should simply go to another restaurant that voluntarily bans smoking if the issue is that important to them. Mr. Pittman’s reasoning is questionable at best. The children dining with their parents do not get to vote with their feet. They eat where their parents take them. What about the entire industry of restaurant bartenders, waitstaff and hosts? They have to breathe the documented carcinogen every minute they are on the clock. Imagine 40 hours a week of breathing second hand smoke multiplied by an entire career. But Mr. Pittman says that they can just work somewhere else right - just "vote with their feet." If smoking were permitted on the house or senate floor in the Alabama State capital, Mr. Pittman could just "vote with his feet," right? According to his reasoning, in the absence of a smoking ban, Mr. Pittman would just walk out and give up being a Senator if he did not want to be exposed to second hand smoke as part of his job, since he is purportedly a nonsmoker. But wait a minute, Pittman doesn’t have to put up with second hand smoke on the job does he? This is because he gets the benefit of a smoke free workplace at the state capitol. Why should Mr. Pittman and other legislators be granted an exemption from smoke in the workplace while others in different occupations, such as the restaurant industry, be treated differently? We can all agree on a couple things. People should be treated equally. Representatives should fulfill the wishes of their electorate. Simple things like that make sense, but Mr. Pittman's position does not. James Dorgan, Fairhope, Alabama |
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