Glenn Nielsen Weblog

Missouri LP State Chair - What I did on my summer vacation

I didn't have a vacation this summer from my day job or from my position as State Chair of the Missouri Libertarian Party.

What I did do (outside of my day job) was continue all my libertarian activism locally in Boone County, work on statewide issues and travel the state attending libertarian and other events.

I write this to acknowledge the hard work of libertarians across the state and to encourage others to get more involved. These are just the activities I participated in. There were many more libertarian events and booths across the state during the summer. Thanks to all those who helped organize and staff those events even if they aren't listed below. There is a calendar on the Missouri LP website where you can keep up on current events. If you are planning an event please submit it to our calendar so that visitors to the Missouri LP website can find out about it.

May 21st, 2007 - Spoke at Columbia City Council Meeting

I attended the May 21st, 2007 Columbia City Council Meeting to speak out against using eminent domain to acquire private property for expansion of a failing airport. The three property owners under threat of eminent domain spoke at the Columbia City Council meeting in opposition to taking their land and questioning whether they would receive just compensation. I waited until they had an opportunity to speak, then spoke in their defense. I was the only other person to speak. As I walked back to my seat I could see they appreciated my standing up for them. Later out in the hall I spoke with them and gave them my Missouri LP business card.

June 9th, 2007 - Boone County LP Booth at Mid-Missouri Pride Fest

The Boone County LP staffed an Operation Politically Homeless (OPH) booth at the Mid-Missouri Pride Fest held in Columbia's Stephens Lake Park. We staffed the booth all day giving the World's Smallest Political Quiz and gathering signatures for the Missouri Citizens for Property Rights petitions to amend the Missouri Constitution to prevent government from taking your home or business for private development. This was the third year in a row the BCLP had a booth at this event. Thanks to John Schultz, Boone County LP Chair, for organizing this event and helping staff it.

July 21st, 2007 - St Louis Area Libertarian Picnic

The St. Louis Are Libertarian Party Meetup held a picnic July 21st, 2007 at the Watson Trails Park in Sunset Hills, MO. Sunset Hills, MO is known recently as the place where over a hundred home owners were threatened with taking of their homes by eminent domain. I wrote about this here, Eminent Domain Abuse - Sunset Hills, MO - A story of hollow homes and lives left in limbo, and later about how Sunset Hills, MO City Government Voted Out for Eminent Domain Abuse. It was nice to meet and socialize with over 40 libertarians at the picnic. Pictures can be found here. Thanks to Michael, the meetup organizer, for putting this event together.

July 23rd-29th, 2007 - Boone County LP Boone County Fair Booth

The Boone County LP for the first time ever paid for and staffed a booth at the Boone County fair. We gave the World's Smallest Political Quiz to hundreds of people and once again gathered more signatures for the MO-CPR Eminent Domain petitions. One evening while manning the booth I had a young man approach the booth, state he just moved to Columbia from Tennessee, that he was a libertarian and he was planning on running for City Council. He found out about our booth at the fair from the on the Missouri LP website. If your local LP organization is planning an event please make sure you submit the event to the Missouri LP Calendar. Thanks to Boone County LP Chair John Schultz for organizing this booth and to the Boone County Libertarians who contributed to make it happen. The Boone County LP almost spent enough money that a campaign finance report had to be filed.

July 30th - Columbia Police Citizen Review Board Meeting

Pressure is being put on the City of Columbia to form a Police Citizen Review Board. I attended a meeting at the Columbia Public Library where a representative of the Department of Justice gave an overview of how Citizen Review Boards can work. Prior to the meeting I was interviewed by the local ABC/FOX affiliate and had one short quote aired on the 10PM news. The TV reporter recognized me from when she interviewed me the day of the final hearing on the Columbia Smoking Ban. I have become very interested in recent years in police abuse and violations of our 4th Amendment rights. Radley Balko, former policy analyst for CATO where he authored Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America, now a Senior Editor for Reason has a great blog documenting police abuse at The Agitator.

August 4th, 2007 - Property Rights Conference in Cabool

I left Columbia at 6AM for the two and a half hour drive down to Cabool Missouri for the Property Rights Conference hosted by the Ozarks Chapter of the Property Rights Congress. John Williams, Texas County LP Chair, invited me down to attend this gathering of over 150 people who defend property rights in southern rural Missouri.

Ron Calzone, Chairman of Missouri Citizens for Property Rights, presented the first session on his effort to amend the Missouri Constitution to prevent eminent domain from being used for private development. Jane Carpenter of Ozark Missouri closed his session with an emotional appeal regarding her fight to keep her home when it was threatened with condemnation by the Ozark city government.

The big issue at the conference was the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). I met several State Representatives and a State Senator. Senator Claire McCaskill even sent a member of her staff. I met both Bob Parker and Doreen Hannes who have had articles published on the Missouri LP NAIS issue page.

August 4th - Met with Tony Messenger, Keith Rodgers and Phil Horras in Springfield

I left the Property Rights Conference after lunch so I could drive over an hour to Springfield for a late afternoon lunch at the Springfield Brewery. There I met up with Tony Messenger, the editor of the Springfield News Leader editorial page, Keith Rodgers, Greene County LP Chair and Phil Horras, 2000 Missouri LP Lieutenant Governor candidate.

I got to know Tony Messenger when he was a columnist for the Columbia Daily Tribune and drive time host on KFRU radio. Tony was a great ally in our fight to stop the smoking ban in Columbia and is very open to hearing from libertarians on issues.

It was a nice lunch with good food, refreshments and interesting discussions about politics and sports.

August 4th - Greene County LP meeting - Doug Burlison Award

I left the Springfield Brewery at 5:30PM to drive over to the Greene County LP meeting. There I met up with Ron Calzone of MO-CPR for the second time that day. He was there to encourage libertarians in Springfield to help petition for eminent domain reform.

During the meeting I presented Doug Burlison, former GCLP Chair and recently elected to the Springfield City Council, with a Missouri LP Champion of Freedom award. Doug was selected for this award prior to winning his seat on the city council for all the hard work he did which lead to his winning election. Most notably, he led the petition effort in Springfield to force a state audit of the Springfield City finances.

After 400 miles on the road and 19 hours I finally made it home. What a busy day!

August 7th, 2007 - Jefferson City Election Day Petitioning for MO-CPR

Once again I teamed up with Ron Calzone of MO-CPR and John Schultz, Boone County LP Chair to petition all day at Jefferson City polling places during the August 7th election.

August 8th, 2007 - Contacted by National CBS Early Show for interview

The National CBS Early Show was hosted in Kansas City Friday August 10th. They like to have a short segment on local issues and had picked smoking bans. On August 8th they contacted the Boone Liberty Coalition to see if we had someone who could be a guest on their show to speak on why we opposed the Columbia smoking ban.

I ended up being the BLC member who could make the interview. I was very excited and nervous. Excited that all the hard work the Boone Liberty Coalition did had risen to the level where we were noticed by a national tv show. Nervous because I would be on national TV.

The day before the interview I finally spoke with staff from the show and did a short phone interview. In the end I wasn't selected to be on the show. They decided to only have a government health employee from Kansas City on.

That was disappointing but just being asked was a validation of all the hard work the BLC did over almost two years fighting the Columbia smoking ban. Thanks to all the hard work of the Boone Liberty Coalition, especially John Dupuy, John Schultz and Greg Rennier.

August 9th-19th, 2007 - Missouri LP Booth at Missouri State Fair

The Missouri LP had a booth at the Missouri State Fair. At the booth we have libertarian literature and give the World's Smallest Political Quiz. Many libertarians staffing the booth also gathered signatures for the MO-CPR eminent domain petition.

I staffed the booth for three six hour shifts and heard many positive comments about our work to get eminent domain reform on the ballot. State Representative Belinda Harris (D) from Jefferson County stopped by the booth and brought others with her to sign the petition. She introduced the same language for the petition in the 2007 State Legislative Session. We had a nice conversation about eminent domain and other issues of good government.

Thanks to all those who helped staff our State Fair booth. Special thanks to Randy Langkraehr, Missouri LP Treasurer, for coordinating the State Fair booth for the fourth year in a row.

August 24th, 2007 - St. Charles County LP Ten Year Anniversary Dinner

I attended a dinner celebrating the St. Charles County LP ten year anniversary. It was nice relaxing over dinner and meeting some St. Charles area libertarians for the first time. Thanks to Bob Sullentrup, St. Charles County LP Chair and National Libertarian Party Secretary for organizing this event. Here is a picture from the dinner.

September 8th, 2007 - Bob Barr BBQ in St. Louis

The Libertarian Coalition for Responsibility hosted a Bob Barr-B-Q and fund raiser at Greensfelder Park. Bob Barr, former member of the US House from Georgia and now a member of the Libertarian Party National Committee, was the keynote speaker. Shane Corey, Libertarian Party National Committee Executive Director was in attendance. Michael Ferguson, winner of the Libertarian Coalition for Responsibility 2007 Leadership award also spoke. Several dozen people attended on a rainy day to help raise funds for libertarian candidates. Thanks to Bob Sullentrup for organizing the event. Here are some pictures from the event.

In addition there were monthly meetings of my local Boone County LP, Missouri LP Executive Committee and Missouri LP Strategic Planning Committee meetings.

What a busy summer!

Columbia's answer for failing airport - spend more tax dollars and take private property

The Columbia City Council at its 5/21/2007 meeting voted unanimously to acquire 61 acres of land adjacent to the Columbia Regional Airport for expanding runways. They authorized spending up to $300,000.00 for three parcels of land. The city will be reimbursed for 95% of the cost by the Federal Aviation Administration resulting in a net expense of $15,000.00 for the city. Use of eminent domain to acquire the land if the city can't come to terms with the property owners was authorized.

The three property owners spoke before the council. Their main points were that:

• The city did not inform the property owners about this pending action.
• The property owners have plans to develop their property.
• If the city takes the property it would increase their costs to develop it
• Concern that they will not receive just compensation for the value of their property.
• Finally, that they were not interested in selling.

This is the first step for implementing the 2002 Airport Master Plan. A quick review of the master plan and recent news reports tell the story of a failing airport.

• Ailing airport wants new name
• City strengthens plan to acquire airport land - Eminent domain a possible avenue

The entire airport expansion plan will cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Only 5% of that will come from the city with 95% coming from the Federal Aviation Administration. Regardless of who pays, it is all our tax dollars and our airline user fees.

Here are some graphs showing the historical airport usage and projected use from 2000 through 2020. I took the liberty of plotting actual usage on the projected usage graph.

Only government could justify spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a major airport expansion for an airport which is clearly failing!

Of course government bureaucrats and elected officials answer for any failed government program or project is to just spend more money.

Here are my public comments regarding airport expansion at the 5/21/2007 Columbia City Council Meeting:

I am speaking in opposition to the acquisition of additional
land to support future airport expansion.

I have flown out of our airport just once.  My return flight
was delayed for hours. I sat there thinking to myself that I
could be home now if I had just driven to St. Louis.  On my
return, I found my luggage stained with hydraulic fluid.

That was eight years ago. Since then I have used the private
airport shuttle service or driven myself. This is an example
of how the free market provides better service to air travelers
-- at a profit -- than the heavily subsidized commuter airline
paid for with my tax dollars.

According to newspaper reports, this land acquisition is part
of the 2003 airport master plan -- which is anticipating
additional needs through 2020.

According to historical data in the master plan, general
aviation and cargo have been relatively flat. Commercial
boardings have been in a steady decline since their peak
in 1978 of 67,588.

In 2006, boardings reached an all time low of 13,673. A May
12th Columbia Daily Tribune story predicts that boardings this
year may not reach 10,000. Yet the master plan projects over
70,000 boardings for this year.

The master plan projections are completely disconnected from
historic usage trends.

How can this performance justify expanding the airport at
this time, especially through the property-seizing power of
eminent domain?

Thank You

My first ten days as Missouri Libertarian Party Chair

My first ten days as Missouri Libertarian Party Chair have been very busy. The picture to the left is a new portrait I had made which was needed by the Missouri Secretary of State for publishing the Blue Book which contains information about political parties. I won't bore you with all the other administrative things I have been doing. Here are some of the highlights from the first ten days.

May 13th - Mike Ferguson Online Interview
May 14th - Political Round Table Radio Show on The Eagle 93.9FM in Columbia (follow link to listen to the podcast)
May 14th - Press Release: Missouri Libertarian Party Elects New Officers At May 5th State Convention
May 15th - Springfield News Leader Editor Tony Messenger Blog Post - A strong Libertarian voice

Recently it was reported in the news that Warrensburg Missouri, home of the University of Central Missouri, is considering a restaurant and bar smoking ban. Fortunately, libertarians in Johnson County are following the lead of the Boone Liberty Coalition and have formed the Johnson Liberty Coalition to organize opposition to the smoking ban. Thanks to Randy Langkraehr, Ben Casebolt and Bill Wayne in Johnson County for getting this started.

Clayton Eminent Domain Overturned - Case Goes to Missouri Supreme Court

Clayton Missouri property owners have won an appeal to prevent their property from being taken for the Centene Corporation commercial development.

This case is similar to the Kelo vs New London Development Corporation US Supreme Court case which upheld the right of municipalities to take private property for commercial development. Those in the majority claimed this was a states rights issue. The Missouri State Legislature passed eminent domain reform in 2006 but it did nothing to prevent taking of property for commercial development.

The case will now go to the Missouri Supreme Court.

Now we will see if the Missouri Supreme Court does a better job than our elected representatives.

Here are links to several stories about the Clayton eminent domain court decision:

• http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2007/04/23/daily22.html
• http://www.showmedaily.org/2007/04/centen_corp_hea.html
• http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/1F3818449BE60640862572C800131CDD?OpenDocument

NAIS Action Alert: Tuesday May 1st 8:30AM

Here is a National Animal Identification System (NAIS) Missouri State Legislature action alert for May 1st 8:30AM. Thanks to Doreen Hannes for getting this out.

• What? NAIS in Missouri
• Where? Jefferson City Capitol Building
• When? May 1st, Tuesday at 8:30am
• Why? Because Chairman Quinn will not allow SB428 out of committee as it passed the Senate 29-2.....If you care at all, now is the time to take action.

On Tuesday morning, May 1st we absolutely must be in Jefferson City to hit every reps office with a simple, solid message regarding NAIS. That message is:

"We need No NAIS in the state of Missouri. No "voluntary", no mandatory and definitely no "State" NAIS. Bring Senate Bill 428 to the floor as it passed the Senate 29-2 and let the people be represented."

Here is the plan...We will meet in the basement Hearing Room area at 8:30 am and will have a brief meeting and split up the offices of the reps between those who show up. Then we will meet with every rep possible face toface and let them see that we are serious about this and do not want anything to do with it. Your rep is only one of those who makes laws that affect you. Every representative is your representative.

We must let them see that people are concerned enough about this to show up. Every single person represents many times themselves. Please show up. You can't have anything better to do than to fight for your own ability to feed yourselves. Remember less than 2% of the national population is involved in agriculture and this will take care of all but corporate ag, which will then quickly go south of the border in search of cheap labor.

I look forward to seeing all of you there on Tuesday.

God bless,

Doreen Hannes

Missouri moving towards opting out of national ID (REAL ID)

Missouri along with 31 other states is moving towards passing legislation to opt out of implementing national identification mandated by the federal government by the REAL ID act of 2005.

Representative Jim Guest, Missouri 5th District, is leading the effort in Missouri and is encouraging legislators in other states to do the same.

Representative Guest sponsored HCR 20 which prohibits the state from participating in any national identification system using driver's license records as required in the federal REAL ID Act of 2005. The bill passed in the Missouri House by a vote of 146-4 on March 15th and is now under consideration by the Missouri Senate.

Here is an interview with Representative Guest on The Eagle, 93.9FM in Columbia about REAL ID.

Representative Guest will be participating (remotely) May 1st from 12 noon - 4:00PM CST in a town hall meeting organized by the Department of Homeland Security and the California Department of Motor Vehicles to address questions about the REAL ID. The town hall meeting will be held in Freeborn Hall on the University of California, Davis campus.

Here is a message from Representative Guest regarding this meeting:

Silencing The Peoples Voice

While the local attention is on legislation here in the State Capitol in Jefferson City a major all-out-effort is taking place in California to stop the states efforts to stop the Real ID Act. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is holding a televised Town Hall meeting in California to promote their Real ID Act or the National ID Card. The Real ID Act would require all Americans to carry a National ID Card and your personal data would be shared with all other states. This will be an expansion of identity theft.

Their last attempt to derail our effort to stop the Real ID Act was unsuccessful when DHS sent two individuals to testify against the bill. This time, to avoid their debate with me, they have chosen California realizing we are still in session and I couldnt attend in person. I was not notified of the Town Hall meeting by DHS, however many groups around the country contacted my office urging me to voice my opinion and refute DHS.

It is scary that the Federal Government would go to such lengths to stop Americans from having their voices heard. It is time for the American people to contact their federal officials and protest this action. This is the link to get involved with asking questions.

Homeland Security Real ID Town Hall website.

Legislators Against Real ID website.

Missourian heart health story recycling anti-smoking propaganda

In a story titled "Will less smoke make Columbia more heart-healthy?" today in the Columbia Missourian (a newspaper of the MU School of Journalism), the same old junk science propaganda of the anti-smoking zealots was published without question. Only one side of the story was told and it is doubtful that the reporter did any research to determine whether any questions had been raised about how valid the studies cited are.

Here are some links to articles published by Dr. Michael Siegel on his blog which tell the rest of the story:

• New Study Casts Doubt on Claim that Smoking Bans Substantially Reduce Heart Attack Admissions
• Helena Claim of 40% Drop in Heart Attacks is Mathematically Impossible
• Pueblo Study Concludes that Smoking Ban Reduced Heart Attacks by 27%; Conclusion is Premature and Based on Shoddy Science
• Piedmont Italy Study Becomes the Latest in a String of Junk Science Papers on Effects of Smoking Bans on Heart Attack Admissions

U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Eminent Domain Extortion Case

On January 16th, 2007 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an Eminent Domain case which involved a city approved developer trying to extort money from a property owner. When the property owner refused he was served with condemnation papers by the city the very next day.

We now know that even with the appointment by President Bush of two new "conservative" Supreme Court Justices since the Kelo vs New London Development decision, the Kelo decision will not be overturned.

Not only can your property be taken by eminent domain and given to a private developer, that private develper is now sanctioned to try and extort money from you if you want to keep your own property.

Here is a link to the story on the Institute For Justice website:

U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Eminent Domain Extortion Case

The Institute For Justice is the public interest law firm which brought both this case and the Kelo case before the Supreme Court. They have been referred to as a "Merry band of libertarian litigators".

In Missouri there is an ongoing Eminent Domain Abuse case in St. Louis:

St. Louis Salvage Yard a Precious Gem - A true fighter is forced to move from her own property

The Missouri Legislature passed Eminent Domain Reform in 2006 which was signed by Governor Matt Blunt. The legislation did help limit eminent domain abuse for farmers but did very little for home owners, business owners and churches who can still have thier "blighted" property condemned by eminent domain and given over to private developers. Here is a link to the Institute For Justice's evaluation of the Missouri Eminent Domain Reform:

Missouri Eminent Domain Reform Small Step in Right Direction - Legislature Still Needs to Close “Blight” Loophole

The Missouri Libertarian Party has a strong position on Property Rights and Eminent Domain. From our platform:

• End the practice of using eminent domain powers to seize property for the benefit of private developers.
• Repeal the ability of local governments to turn over condemnation authority to independent parties.
• Eliminate the use of "blight" as a rationale for using eminent domain to seize private property.

Darla Maloney, Chair of The Missouri Libertarian Party has been working with state legislators on resolutions which will be submitted to the state legislature within the next few weeks. These resolutions would put Amendments to the Missouri Constitution on the Nov 2008 ballot which would end Eminent Domain Abuse in Missouri.

Columbia City Council Smoking Ban Public Hearing October 9th 7PM

The Columbia City Council will hold a public hearing 7PM Monday October 9th on the proposed smoking ordinance which would ban smoking in bars, restaurants, bingo halls, bowling alleys, hotels except for smoking rooms and most private membership clubs.

The proposed ordinance even bans smoking in bar and restaurant outdoor patios!

The Boone Liberty Coalition has been working hard for almost two years to stop the smoking ban.

Time is growing short. The Columbia City Council will vote on the proposed smoking ban within the next few weeks.

The Boone Liberty Coalition needs your help to stop the smoking ban.

Here is a link to more information on how you can Help Stop The Smoking Ban.

Buffalo Missouri - Casket seller wins fight with state board over home funerals
Another story from the Springfield News Leader:

The state board sought a permanent injunction against Gegner, seeking to stop him from selling caskets, directing funerals or helping individuals plan private burials. But in May, Circuit Judge John Sims ruled that the state can't prohibit Gegner from either selling caskets or telling people how to conduct private burials.

Read the News Leader Article.

The Institute For Justice", a public interest law firm which I support helped defend Mr. Gegner from the injuction sought by the State of Missouri on behalf of the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors.

A victory for less regulation in Missouri!

Springfield Missouri - Raid on home turns up no meth lab but leaves two injured
From the Springfield Missouri News Leader:

Patricia Durr-Pojar has a gash beneath her right eye, with stitches and a bandage over it.

Her son, Curtis Pojar, has bruises on his back and a contusion under his left eye. Durr-Pojar spent Thursday and Friday nights in a local emergency room — first, to have the cut under her eye treated, for a CT scan of her head and X-rays on her knees. The next night she went back to get a knee splint and crutches.

"I've had lots of knee surgery, and they slammed me down so hard on my knees," she said.

"They" are members of COMET — the Combined Ozark Multi-Jurisdictional Enforcement Team — who broke into her home Thursday night to execute a search warrant for a reported meth lab.

They found none after breaking windows, doors and screens and knocking Durr-Pojar and Pojar to the floor and handcuffing both of them.

Read the Article from the News Leader.

This is an example of how local police forces have become militarized and use excessive force while performing a no-knock-raid.

I recently ran across the great work Radley Balko of the CATO Institute had done documenting the abuse of military tactics by local SWAT teams.

The War On Drugs has been a dismal failure:

• The war on drugs has done little to reduce drug usage.
• It along with the War On Terror have been the excuses used to further infringe on our civil liberties.
• The harm to society from crime due to the black market in drugs causes more damage than the tragedy of individuals who abuse drugs.
• It leads to corruption of some police.
• We have the highest percentage of our citizens in prison of any western nation.
• Law abiding citizens have been harmed and sometimes killed during these SWAT raids.
• Laws for fighting the drug war allow police to seize property without due process of law.

This insane war on drugs must be stopped and those who end up causing harm to society from their abuse of drugs treated humanely with drug treatment while making restitution for any harm they may have caused.

Sunset Hills, MO City Government Voted Out for Eminent Domain Abuse

From the St. Louis Post Dispatch:

On Tuesday, in what amounted to a sweeping condemnation of city officials' handling of the Sunset Manor redevelopment project, more than half of Sunset Hills' leadership was voted out of office.

Next Tuesday, Mayor Jim Hobbs will step down, along with Aldermen John Tipton, John Smith, Robert Brockhaus and A. Ron Kaemmerer. Taking their places will be Mayor-elect John Hunzeker and Aldermen-elect Franklin Hardy, Thomas Hrastich, Lynn Flowers and Frank Gregory.

The challengers ran on a platform that focused on eminent domain abuse and targeted the failed plan for a $184 million shopping center in Sunset Manor.

Congratulations to the residents of Sunset Hills, MO for voting out those responsible for the abuse of Eminent Domain which completely disrupted their lives. This does little to repair the damage wrought by the former city government but sends a strong message that local politicians will be held accountable.

Oakland Jr High students used as political activists by government

From March 2005 through December 2005 commercials ran on the The Eagle - 93.9FM which were produced by students at Oakland Junior High. These ads mention the chemicals in Second Hand Smoke then close with the tagline "Take it outside".

Is it just a coincidence that these radio ads are running while the City of Columbia is being lobbied to implement a strict smoking ordinance?

The answer is NO!

The November/December 2004 (pdf) DHSS Tobacco Use Prevention Newsletter has an article about a program called Smokebusters (pdf). Smokebusters is a program for middle schools which was created by Northeastern Missouri University. It has three phases.

• The first phase is educational to try and keep children from smoking.
• The second phase focuses on working with the mass media; learning how to tailor a message for the mass media include print, radio, and tv; then use these skills to reach community leaders and effect policy changes.

The program is funded by a combination of sources including local, state and federal funds from the Chronic Disease Primary Prevention and the Department of Health and Senior Services, as well as non-profit funds from the American Lung Association.

Preventing children from smoking is good and necessary.

Using our tax dollars to turn them into political activists crosses the line.

Here is a news article from the Daily Dunkin Democrat about the program - Smokebusters influence teens to be smoke free.

Kevin Goodwin's eloquent statement opposing the smoking ban
Kevin Goodwin, owner of Tinder Box/Vino 100 spoke eloquently at the March 7th Board of Health Public Hearing on the proposed anti-choice smoking law. He also spoke at the public hearing June 30th, 2005. If another hearing is scheduled I would encourage others to attend just to hear Kevin speak to the issues of freedom, liberty, and property rights. Thanks Kevin for allowing me to post your remarks here:

I come here this evening saddened that I must again take time away from running my shop and serving my customers to remind this body of the principles, rights and ideals upon which this nation was founded. Among these rights and ideals;

• We have the right to own private property.
• We have the right to freedom of association
• We have the right to engage in peaceful commerce.

The proponents of this un-American ordinance seem to have forgotten these rights and ideals in their rush to social engineer public policy.

We mom & pop, small business owners own our property. We own it and we are the ones who are responsible for it's operation. Every day we are required to make many decisions that will affect our business and those decisions will determine whether or not we will be successful and stay in business. We have invested our money, our time and our dreams into our property. The decision to allow or not to allow smoking in our places of business, our property, is just one of those decisions, but it is our decision to make. We should not have our property rights trampled upon by those who have no investment of any kind in our businesses. It's not their property; it should not be their decision.

As Americans we have the right to choose whom we associate with. Not a single person is forced to patronize any business nor accept any offer of employment with any business. These are decisions made by each individual according to their own free will. The proponents of this un-American ordinance are free to choose or not to choose, to patronize any business and to accept or reject any offer of employment of their own free will. By what right do they deny other Americans those same choices?

As small business owners, the backbone of America, we engage in peaceful commerce. The fruits of our long hours of labor are that we attempt to provide a living for our families and our employees, while contributing to the public treasury.

Small business owners are not coming before the halls of government asking for laws, ordinances and regulations designed to force free citizens to patronize their establishments. We seek to attract customers in the free market through peaceful, non-coercive means.

Conversely, the supporters of this ordinance wish to use the power of government to force their social agenda upon the rest of society. Remember, the terminal outcome for disobedience of any regulation, ordinance or law is that a government agent, armed with a badge and a gun will be authorized to use deadly force to enforce compliance. Taken literally, supporters of the smoking ordinance are willing to deprive American citizens of their property rights and deny the existence and inherent responsibility of free will in order to enforce their social agenda at the barrel of a gun.

The difference between the supporters of our inalienable American rights and ideals and the proponents of this policy of social engineering could not be laid more stark.

It is my fervent hope that we as Americans still retain our most basic of rights and liberties. By your votes, you will either uphold our rights to private property and our ideals of peaceful interaction or continue this Republics slide into regulatory malaise.

I therefore call upon the members of this board to uphold our property rights as American citizens by rejecting this misguided attempt to social engineer private property through public legislation.

Thank you for your consideration.

Kevin Goodwin, Owner
Tinder Box/Vino 100
2703 East Broadway, Suite 135
Columbia, MO 65201
(573) 256-5363
(573) 256-5350 fax
http://www.tinderboxcolumbia.com

My Board of Health Smoking Ordinance Public Hearing Statement

I will be addressing the issue of federal regulations regarding worker safety.

The Dept. of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) is the primary federal agency responsible for worker safety.

From OSHA's mission statement: "OSHA's mission is to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards;"

OSHA in 29CFR (Code of Federal Regulations), Part 1910 - Occupational Safety and Health Standards, Subpart Z - Toxic and Hazardous Substances, Standard 1000 - Air contaminants; regulates exposure by employees to hazardous substances in the air.

I am familiar with OSHA standards for air contaminants. At one time I was responsible for worker safety in an industrial environment and was trained in Industrial Hygiene.

OSHA sets standards for the Permissible Exposure Levels to chemical contaminants in air.

OSHA has never set standards for Second Hand Smoke. In a landmark near-court case, the Action on Smoking and Health group sued OSHA to ban all smoking in workplaces. When they learned the best OSHA could do would be to set permissible levels, they dropped the case as this would have been harmful to anti-smoking efforts.

OSHA has, however, established PELs (Permissible Exposure Levels) for all the measurable chemicals, including the 40 carcinogens, in secondhand smoke. The bottom line -- you would have to be exposed to an extreme level of secondhand smoke to surpass these PELs, and without the benefit of doors or air-exchange systems.

This chart is adapted from the Littlewood & Fennel "Toxic Toxicology" study, a study commissioned by the government.

Permissible Exposure Levels are often expressed as a Threshold Limit Value.

A Threshold Limit Value (TLV) is the concentration of an airborne substance to which an average person can be repeatedly exposed without adverse effects. TLV's are usually expressed as a Time weighted average (TLV-TWA), based on an allowable exposure averaged over a normal 8-hour workday or 40-hour work-week.

This chart shows how many cigarettes would be needed to exceed Threshold Limit Values for those chemcials which are measurable in Environmental Tobacco Smoke. The figures for ETS yields per cigarette come directly from the EPA. Then the number of cigarettes that would be required to reach the lowest published threshold for each of these substances was calculated.

• 222,000 cigarettes to surpass Benzopyrene
• 118,000 for Acetone
• 50,000 packs to surpass Toluene
• 14,000 cigarettes for Acetaldehyde or Hydrazine
• 1250 for Hydroquinone (the low end of the scale)

For a room the size of the City Council Chambers it would require over 8000 people smoking four cigarettes per hour to reach the most restrictive permissible level. Without any ventilation.

Many of the chemicals in second hand smoke are common byproducts of combustion which can be found in car exhaust and are produced by fireplaces and burning candles.

Those who advocate for a strict anti-choice smoking ordinance claim they are doing it for the employees. But does the risk rise to the level of requiring government regulation?

OSHA doesn't think so.

Littlewood & Fennel in their study concluded that "Inadequate ventilation, not ETS, is the danger" and "It is entirely possible that buildings ventilated to a level to comfortably accomodate smokers would promote higher indoor air quality overall."