A Couple of Things

I heard a couple of things today that really struck a chord with me.

Scientific American has reported that the number of smokers in the New York City boroughs has declined by an average of 25% since the taxes went way up and smoking was banned in most public places. Only 17% of NYC adults smoke. That is a far cry from the 1950s when the percentage was 50. This got me to thinking about developments in our our fair city and state.

In our state May 1st marked the beginning of the end of life as we know it, at least according to bar owners. May 1st was the day that the smoking ban voted in by the people last fall, went into effect. The business owners in our state, having waited what they think is an appropriate length of time, are now unleashing stories about how the ban has caused a 10 to 15% decline in their business. In the short term smokers may being going home to drink rather than hitting the bars. I don't believe it, but then I don't hang in bars too much. That not withstanding, I think these stories are a crock.

May marks the exodus of the students at our local colleges, along with anyone affluent enough to flee the heat, so maybe May and June is not the best sample period to measure the effects of the ban. And never mind that the Centers for Disease Control has studied these bans all over the country and report that they don't cause the loss of business for bars and restaurants. When the news is about fairness and feeling, facts just get in the way of the story.

One fellow in our city was interviewed by the newspaper to illustrate the hardship that the smoking ban was creating for bar owners. His business was way down, no one showing up, blah, blah, blah. Almost as an aside this fellow also mentioned that the franchiser of his business and the city had ordered him to spend 100K to bring his building up to code or shut down. Could be a factor.

My blog friends who live in NYC can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the bars and restaurants have all closed there, and I'm sure we will survive this just fine.

This is anecdotal, but I have noticed that the number of smokers behind our building is way down since the ban took effect. I think a lot of people figured it wasn't worth the trouble anymore and are kicking the habit, which is good for them and us.

Here's the other thing. When I was in high school I had two friends, John and Gary, from Dothan, Alabama. I didn't know anything about Dothan, except that it was somewhere in Alabama and these two guys both claimed it as home.

Gary's father was a closet racist. He was nice enough in public, but in the confines of his home he was quick to use the N-word or to ascribe human failings to race. Gary would say odd things that belied what he believed about African-Americans, but he wasn't openly offensive. He once regaled us with his recollection of seeing tar paper shacks with Cadillacs parked in front of them in the black neighborhoods of Dothan. If you are not old enough to recall, one of the stereotypes of black men in the 50s and 60s is that they wanted a Caddy more than anything, even decent housing.

When I was listening to The Story radio program today, there was a story about two guys, one black and one white, who were trying to organize a 30th-year reunion for their high school class...an integrated reunion. It seems that the class of 1977 from Dothan High has had separate reunions, one for whites and one for blacks, every 5 years since 1977. It isn't so much that the whites didn't like the blacks or visa versa, they were more like two neighbors who had a fight years ago and neither side would take the first step toward reconciliation.

What I learned today was that until about 1972, Dothan High School was not integrated. That is unbelievable. I don't mean to sound preachy, but how is that possible? Brown vs The Board of Education was decided in 1954 for goodness sake. I graduated from high school in 1968 and I thought all schools had been integrated by then.

My friends John and Gary and I grew up as the children of military men. The military is segregated on the basis of rank, not race, so we never experienced racial segregation in the way many of our contemporaries in the civilian world did. I guess we were sheltered in that respect. The high school in central California where I knew Gary and John was predominantly African American and we didn't give that fact much thought really. Racism seems to me to be like a genetic defect that parents pass on to their kids.

Anyway, Dick Gordon's story about the Dothan High class of 1977 was an eye-opener for me.


Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky


Tag: Daily Life
Personal Finance
Humor