It is abundantly clear from the statements of bar owners that concern for the health of their employees, in fact, for the very life and death of their employees, is not enough to get them to clear the air.
Fortunately, we have the courts, and public liability. I want the bar owners to think about life and death. And lawsuits. If we didn't have liability laws, we would have filthy air, filthy water, exploding gas tanks, rolling over vehicles, carcinogens in cleaning products, lead in paint and gasoline and childrens toys, investment brokers who cheat some clients to enrich others, child car seats that don't work, tires that blow up, mercury dumped in rivers, industrial solvents dumped in sewers, workers routinely killed and maimed on their jobs, burning rivers, coal miners (including children) digging in mines with no protection, e. coli in our beef, salmonella in our chicken, tobacco marketing to children, and pesticides that destroy eagles as well as cockroaches. None of that would have been cleaned up by well meaning business people. It is Laws and Courts and Lawyers that work to clean up all these dangers. Someone who suffers a heart attack after working in a smoky bar will sue. I think it is very likely that they will win, given the right case. We know, statistically, that people do die from exposure to second hand smoke. As for your point about product prices going up, I don't think they have gone up. People who remember the Ford Pinto may also remember that the reason Ford didn't want to fix the problem was that it cost an extra $10 per car. When I was sixteen, I paid about $45 for a nice portable phonograph. Today I can buy a portable CD player for $30. Cars are more expensive, yes, but I wouldn't want to go back to the days when windshields shattered into knifelike shards, when dashboards were curved steel, and no car had seat belts. If I can put the idea into someones mind to sue after a loss like this, I will be pleased to have done so. > However, remember this > slippery slope. First it was guns and lawsuits against manufacturers, > then cigarettes, now bars, what's next? McDonalds, Burger King? Already > under way. And we wonder why the cost of products is going up so fast. > > Tom Thompson > Como Park -- Bob Treumann, Saint Paul Please Note: Replies to this email address all go to the trash except where the subject line contains a recognized mailing list identifier, such as [TCMETRO],[StPaul], MP-N ... _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
