Down in the coal fields of Pennsylvania, thousands of miners go to work each day under some of the most brutal conditions imaginable. It is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and the constant risk of a fire, flood or cave-in is equaled only by the probability that the miner will one day succumb to black lung disease.
At last count, at least nine journalists are dead or missing in Iraq. Being a war correspondent is another highly risky occupation, almost as risky as being, well, a soldier.
But for some reason, Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte and state Sens. Byron Brown and George Maziarz have zeroed in on protecting barmaids and bartenders, and joined with their colleagues earlier this month to ban smoking in saloons.
Politically speaking, bartenders and barmaids are a weak lot, and therefore easy prey for the politicians in Albany.
Traditionally, America has been a place where people have been allowed to make choices. Choices about where they want to live, where they want to work. Would our state legislature propose to ban mining, being a war correspondent or a soldier in the interest of "saving lives"?
The thought is laughable.
Would they ban snow skiing, mountain climbing, hunting, scuba diving or any other recreational activity that involves a level of danger? Again, the answer is no.
But they have no compunction about ruining small businesses throughout their districts and adding yet another unfunded mandate to the already cash-strapped county government with a virtually unenforceable law designed to save bartenders from the dubious dangers of second-hand smoke.
To the people who have actually put their own hard-earned money up to open a tavern and strongly believe the ban will hurt their businesses, DelMonte, Maziarz and Brown say, "Big Brother knows best."
It is the arrogance of power at its worst.
If our state legislators spent half the time working to improve the local economy that they do in acting as lifestyle police, perhaps we wouldn't be living in an area with some of the highest taxes, unemployment and infant mortality in the nation.
That the measure will save some bartenders' lives is highly debatable, to say the least. That it will add many bartenders to our already swollen unemployment lines is certain.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 8 2003 |