Opinion
Bill would ‘fix’ mistake regarding smoking ban
Ever wish that you could go back in time and fix the mistakes you’ve made in your life?
While Marion County delegates haven’t developed a time machine to take us all back to last spring, they have introduced a bill that could “fix” a mistake that was made when a smoking ban was passed without any regard for public opinion.
And not only would it “fix” our mistake, it would prevent any other county in the state without a smoking ban from making the same mistake.
House Majority Whip Mike Caputo and Delegates Tim Manchin and Linda Longstreth, all D-Marion, have sponsored a bill that would require all smoking bans not yet in effect and all future bans to be approved by the state’s county commissions — not the county boards of health. If passed — the bill is now in the House’s Political Subdivisions Committee — that would means that Marion’s smoking ban questionably passed last year would have to be approved by the county commission before it goes into effect.
Last spring in Marion County, the five-member health board revised its 2005 smoking ban by prohibiting smoking in all public places, including bars, fraternal organizations (except at private functions) and limited video lottery parlors. But the health board shamefully never truly sought public comment for this measure.
The amended ordinance was passed March 28 without a public hearing. While the board asked for public comment on the new ordinance, it did so 24 weeks in advance of the vote. On Oct. 11, 2007, and two following days, the board ran 79-word newspaper legal ads about the revision. The ads drew only four comments from the public in response after they were published. Meanwhile, thousands of letters and public meetings were held on similar ordinances in Monongalia and Harrison counties.
Like the delegates who sponsored the bill, the Times West Virginian editorial board has never spoken out against the end result — a ban on smoking — but about about the process by which the ban was passed.
“Right now, it’s badly handled, and I just think that voters have a hard time accepting that a body that is not accountable to the public, to the electorate, can impose these regulations on the county,” Manchin said.
If HB 2932 passes, there would also be concrete notice requirements for public comment and public hearings, and if the county commission fails to act on a ban within a certain number of days, the regulation would become void.
If the bill passes, Marion County residents might actually get a say about the smoking ban — something they’ve been denied for the past year. With the county commission responsible for the ultimate decision, in the hands of the government body it should be open to public discourse instead of passed in the back room of a local restaurant.
- Opinion
-
-
Mine officials’ swift action may have saved lives
While it was hard to watch Patriot Coal Corp.’s Federal No. 2 Mine halt production a few times over the past month, we have to believe that swift action on the part of mine, union and federal officials may have saved lives.
Stopping mining at the operation means placing a financial burden on the miners who work there, we understand, but conditions were such that an explosion like the one that took the lives of 12 miners just four years ago in Sago was possible.
-
Voters: Scrap it and rewrite it
A few weeks.
A lot can happen in a few weeks. Just think, a few weeks ago, we were all lamenting the snow and poor road conditions. Now we’ve had enough spring-like weather over the past couple of days that the only snow left is the clumps in parking lots from the plows. And even those are melting faster than a Dairy Creme Corner ice cream cone on a hot July day.
-
Area women’s basketball programs have come long way
For many years, women’s basketball just seemed to many observers to be just something for young girls and women to do prior to the “real games” being played by boys and men. It took a long time before women’s games were even covered by the media — and that includes radio and television as well as newspapers.
Fortunately, opinions have changed over the years.
-
City must practice responsible fiscal policy
The employees of the City of Fairmont have a reason to celebrate.
For the first time in three years, since a water crisis crippled the city and its finances in the early months of 2007, employees will get one-time pay increases worth about $750.
-
Laws needed to regulate development of resources
The Marcellus shale formations, which extend throughout the Eastern United States, remain a largely untapped reserve of natural gas. And that makes it a prime target for energy development.
But local legislators want a little regulation when it comes to the extraction of the natural resource. Drillers tap millions of gallons of water from streams and rivers so as to bore into the rock formations that trap the state’s abundant reserves of natural gas.
-
Broadband access vital to state’s future
The Mountain State is receiving $126.3 million in federal stimulus funding for a proposed statewide broadband infrastructure project.
-
Here’s to dodging those potholes
There’s always this span of time when the snow melts and the beauty of the landscape suffers for it. Bare trees once frosted with snow are just bare again. The streets and sidewalks are covered with cinders and dust.
The brighter the sun shines, the uglier it looks.
-
Erin’s Law would enable families to get sense of justice after future tragedies
There came a point several months after the violent death of her daughter that Debbie Keener came to a very grave conclusion. The person responsible for the hit-and-run death of her daughter would face but one charge — leaving the scene of an accident causing death.
And that charge, if successfully prosecuted, would mean that the person responsible for the death of Erin Keener, a 21-year-old honors nursing student at West Virginia University, would serve up to three years in prison.
-
Hall of Fame would be fitting tribute to FSU legend Joe Retton
Has it really been almost 50 years since Joe Retton took over the reins of the Fairmont State basketball program that became such an important part of the West Virginia Conference Tournament for many years thereafter?
That it has. Forty-seven years, to be exact. And the West Virginia Conference Tournament is celebrating its 50th anniversary being held in Charleston this week.
-
Community generosity shines during ‘Gift of Love’
Did you ever see something that just made you feel good all over and that all is right with the world?
You probably have, at one time or another. But down at the Times West Virginian, we enjoyed that rare feeling Monday afternoon. That’s when a good portion of the food collected out in the county for the Gift of Love food drive arrived at our building for distribution today.
- More Opinion Headlines
-
Mine officials’ swift action may have saved lives
