Fall Harvest: First Bar Cut Down by Smoking Ban

I sit here on one of the last days of fall before the hard frost hits, listening to Hacienda, a San Antonio, TX based band that I saw earlier this year when they passed through with the Heartless Bastards (one of the best creations since sliced bread).

I dug up the potatoes and laid a few tobacco leaves out to wilt in the sun before curing. There's also a nice little bouquet of sweet peas on the kitchen table. And the Hobo spiders are on the move -- trying to move into my residence. Those damn Hobos force me to move every piece of furniture and get behind and under every dark place where they hibernate. I've looked at the photos of Hobo spider bites and they look horrifying and devastating.

The first bar in town to close as a result of the state smoking ban closed this weekend. I haven't patronized them for a couple years, but I used to go with a friend. It was on the edge of town and pretty rough. It was a dive and the people weren't too pretty. It was a wild and dark place, and even dangerous at closing time with all of the police and fights. I always took the back way out. And nearly every patron smoked tobacco. It was one of the smokingest establishments in town.

I'm sure that many will say such a dive closing is a good thing and will clean up the town and keep the trash off the streets. I'm sure a high percentage of the money made from DUIs came as a result of that business, particularly since it wasn't near enough to a residential district to walk to.

Fewer dollars made from DUI, a graveyard janitor out of an account, several bartenders out of work, less money spent on gas, less beer delivered, fewer calls for a taxi, less money spent by the girls on clothes and beauty products for going out, fewer babysitters called, less ice machines, less glass bottle production, less work for maintenance and repair people, a DJ out of work, less music bought, less sound systems bought, fewer chairs and tables bought, fewer bouncers needed.... less taxes paid as a result of the loss of all the previous items. That's what a smoking ban does.

Each business closed as a result of a smoking ban harms the entire economy in a slow and insidious way.

And I've got my eye on another bar with wide open doors and an increasingly empty parking lot. I've peeked in and the row of pool tables are empty on Friday nights. No one goes in if they can't shoot pool and hang around the edges with their friends. It's sad to see the pool sticks laying across the tables that used to be some of the busiest in town. This was the place that catered to the after work crowd, especially off-duty paramedics, police officers, and construction workers. The working people came in early and left before 10:00 when they college kids would take over the late shift. It was a humming place. Now, it has no atmosphere or joy and is dull and I won't have a drink there.

I hear that smoking is still permitted in Texas. One of these days I may have to take my money and patronize that state and remember the Old Ways as I hunt out the musical joys of Hacienda and the Heartless Bastards in a warmer and more hospitable climate.

I wonder if tourism decreases after a smoking ban is implemented? I wonder if tourism has increased in the friendly states not yet taken over by the foreign pharma phascists?