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A tale of two smoking bans.  This from the Muscatine Journal:

Compliance with the state’s public smoking ban forced Wilton bar owner Brian Froehlich to lay off all his employees and run his establishment single-handedly for about two weeks, Froehlich said during testimony at a hearing on Thursday.

Froehlich’s establishment, Fro’s Pub ’n Grub, could lose its liquor license for alleged smoking ban violations after the Iowa Attorney General’s Office filed a complaint in August that law enforcement officials had observed patrons smoking in the bar and the presence of ashtrays on tables.

Froehlich said during the hearing at the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division that his business went into a freefall after he started telling customers to go outside to smoke around Labor Day, which led to his decision on Nov. 3 to let go around a dozen employees and work almost around the clock by himself to keep the business running. He said he started to allow patrons to smoke in the bar after dismissing his employees because he claimed the intent of the ban was to protect workers from secondhand smoke.

“I have no employees to protect. I’m exempt,” he said during his testimony.

Judge Margaret LaMarche says that she would have a ruling within 30 days after written arguments are presented in December.

Froehlich is among several plaintiffs seeking to overturn the public smoking ban on the grounds that it puts unconstitutional restrictions on business owners. No court date has been set for the lawsuit.

The smoking ban has been said to have hurt businesses that previously allowed smoking as well as bars that were already smoke free.  Iowa Department of Revenues public information officer has said the ban appears to have no effect on cigarette sales and that the ban was intended to protect employees from second hand smoke, although he admits that there is no way to measure that impact.  Of course, the former employees from shuttered businesses should feel very well protected from second hand smoke.  The silver lining in this cloud is that those out of work will find a smoke free environment at the unemployment office as well.

The smoking ban has been a savior for one industry: casinos.  According to the Las Vegas Review Journal smoking bans are hurting casino profits in Colorado and Illinois.  But Iowa’s unexplainable casino exemption has insulated Iowa casinos from this trend.  This makes the Iowa Smoke Free Air Act the biggest gift to Iowa casinos since the legislature pulled the rug from under the Iowa Lottery’s Touchplay program, a move that cost the state over $5 million in legal settlements in addition to the approximate $120 million annual revenue.  Regardless of one’s stand on gambling in Iowa, the handling of the Touchplay program was an unmitigated disaster.

On a related note, Iowa’s First Lady, Mari Culver, has admitted violating the state clean air act by smoking in a state-owned vehicle while in the presence of a state trooper.  According to the Register:

Culver’s admission came a day after a Des Moines Register reporter noticed her openly smoking in a Chevrolet Tahoe that the state provides to her family. The black sport-utility vehicle was stopped at a stoplight in downtown Des Moines about 8:45 a.m. Culver was sitting in the passenger seat with the window rolled down and a cigarette in her hand. A state trooper was driving. Numerous pedestrians and motorists passed by the scene.

No word yet on whether the first lady will be issued a $50 citation.

Update: $50 citation issued and paid on Friday according to Omaha World Herald.

Tags: cedar, iowa, muscatine, polk, smoking ban

From the Register:

Cindy and James Dacus should know by early December the outcome of their months-long fight to restrict elementary students’ access to a book about two male penguins that raise a chick together.

Officials at Ankeny’s East Elementary School, where in late February the couple’s kindergartner found the book, “And Tango Makes Three,” denied the couple’s request to remove the book or move it to a parents-only section. The couple’s appeal to the school board is expected to be acted on next month.

“And Tango Makes Three” topped the American Library Association’s list of the 10 most challenged books in 2006 and 2007.

Point:

Nate Monson is project coordinator for Iowa Safe Schools, which promotes safe learning environments for all children, especially those who are gay, lesbian or transgender, as well as those whose parents are gay or lesbian couples.

Monson said putting a book such as “And Tango Makes Three” in a restricted area sends students the wrong message – that homosexuality is different and not OK. “Libraries are a place of diverse discussion, of all viewpoints,” he said. “That’s why we have libraries. It’s important to have literature such as this on the shelf.” [Emphasis added.]

It should go without saying that kindergarten is probably not the best place to have “diverse discussions,”  but apparently it actually needs to be said.    I’m not sure when Mr. Monson was last in a kindergarten classroom but he may be surprised to learn that these are not sophisticated houses of Socratic dialog.  Kindergartners are more interested in construction paper and Elmer’s glue than the big social injustices of the day.  And rightly so.

This, of course, is not an isolated incident.  For many nervous observers, the public school system seems more interested in creating activists rather than creating knowledge.  Its not difficult to find school policies that are explicitly hostile to traditional family values in the name of diversity.

Counterpoint:

Chuck Hurley, president of the Iowa Family Policy Center, which opposes gay marriage, said educators should heed parents’ concerns over what their children are exposed to in schools.

“If not, the parent needs to look for a school setting where the parents’ worldview will be respected,” he said.

“Thank God there’s some parents who have the care and love of their children to such a degree that they would stick their neck out in a PC world and ask that this agenda not be promoted in their child’s school,” he said.

Tags: culture, education, polk