Favor or oppose Michigan Legislature's proposal to ban smoking in restaurants?

The Michigan Legislature is considering whether to pass a law making it illegal for individuals to smoke in bars and restaurant. People seem to be divided on the issue.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm, D-Mich., says she will sign the bill into law if the Michigan House of Representives and Senate pass the measure to her desk.

State Rep. Tim Moore, R-Farwell, as reported in the Aug. 7 edition of The Clare Sentinel says that the Michigan Legislature has no business telling business people they cannot allow smokers to frequent their restaurants and bars. He says there are far more important issues for the state's politicians to be addressing than a smoking ban.

What do you think? And why?

Wrong to cut Michigan State Police patrol hours!

The governor's plan to cut patrol hours for Michigan State Police and to lay off a number troopers is wrong for two reasons:

1) It's a political ploy on her part to use as a bargaining chip, hoping it will force Republican legislators into caving in to tax hikes.

2) Michigan State Police has been understaffed for a number of years and will be further weakened by these reductions.

Should governments ban smoking in public places?

The Grand Rapids City Commission recently instituted a ban on smoking in all public places, including places of employment. Just recently, the Montcalm County Board of Commissioners has passed a similar ban for the county, which includes cities such as Greenville, Edmore, Howard City, Lakeview, Stanton.

Bans on public smoking do not affect two categories of public places, namely bars and restaurants, due to a piece of legislation passed many years ago that prohibits banning smoking in such places.

What do you think? Should smoking be banned from places of employment and/or from all other public places?

Would you oppose or support such a smoking ban in Clare County? Why or why not?

Closed doors meetings

The Clare City Commission and the Harrison Community Schools Board of Education, in unrelated cases, each convened in closed door session to discuss the possible sale of property that each entity owns, thinking that the Michigan Open Meetings Act allowed private discussions on this type of issue.

However, when each of the boards realized that its closed door sessions violated the Michigan Open Meetings Act, each acted to nullify any actions resulting from the sessions and met again later in open sessions to discuss the sale of property openly rather than privately.

While the Michigan Open Meetings Act allows publicly elected boards to go into closed session to talk about the purchase of property, any discussion of the sale of property must done in a public meeting.

Why do you think that neither the Clare City Commission nor the Harrison Community Schools Board of Education was aware of this law regarding what can and cannot be discussed in closed doors sessions?