EDITORIAL: The smoking ban

Publication Date: 2005-06-19

• Author:EDITORIAL
• Publication:Gainesville (FL) Sun

Before Sloppy Joe's lets its customers smoke, it should take note: Floridians strongly favor smoking bans in buildings.

Gov. Jeb Bush correctly put his veto stamp on a bill that would have allowed one establishment in Florida to ignore the statewide ban on smoking in restaurants.

The bill was passed by the Legislature for Sloppy Joe's, the Key West bar that bills itself as Ernest Hemingway's watering hole. . . .

"I am troubled by the precedent this sets," wrote Bush in his veto message. "I do not want to encourage a precedent for creating carve-outs to the current statewide smoking laws." . . .

Whether Sloppy Joe's is a bar with smoking serving limited items or a restaurant/bar with no smoking is Mullins' choice.

Before making the decision, he might consider that 71 percent of Florida voters approved the constitutional amendment that banned smoking in workplaces. There is widespread support for it.