Department of Big Brother _Is_ Watching -- and taking notes

[jhetley]

Our beloved and forward-thinking City Council has enacted, after debate and with a fair-sized majority, an ordinance making it illegal to smoke in your own car if anyone under 18 is incarcerated therein.

Okay, I don't smoke and I don't have anyone under 18 available to poison anyway, so this doesn't affect me. But the civil rights issue bugs the hell out of me. Next thing, you can't smoke in your own _home_ if you have children?

Plus, they made it a primary offense, which means the cops can stop you on suspicion.

I bet they'd have more positive effect on infant and child mortality by outlawing cell phone use in cars....

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Do you have any highways running through town carrying out of town traffic? This looks like a potential moneymaker to me. The folks in town will know not to smoke in their cars, but people driving through won't. Kind of like the old Arizona law that required travelers to carry at least a gallon of water with them... Anyone driving in Arizona with out of state plates could bet on being pulled over in every small town.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

That thought had passed through my mind, having grown up in the age when South Georgia cops had thumb-switch control on traffic lights...

Yeah, we have an Interstate and two US highways in town. About half the summer Bar Harbor traffic passes through here.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

If the town cops don't already print up their tickets on envelopes conveniently addressed to the local judge, I'm thinking they should start doing so. Quite a revenue enhancer you've got there.