I do keep hearing “convenience for the customer” as the reason the Muni keeps selling cigarettes.

Surely that’s not enough of a reason, as otherwise, why not sell them at the hospital for the convenience of both staff and patients who smoke. And the library. And city hall.

The additional rationale has to be that the City believes alcohol and tobacco use are linked for enough of its customers that it should make them available.

OH wait. That was your point, I think. See how much more interesting it was when it came in the form of satire?

Fake news: Hospital, virginity, geese, gays, parking
http://locallygrownnorthfield.org/archives/284/

And I’ve added the prefix “fake news” to this blog post’s headline, as well as the previous 4 that I’ve done.

Tyson: no funny papers, funny man.

Sean: I do think alcohol can be good for you and I don’t think there’s harm in experiencing its mood-altering properties in moderation.

City Councillor Jim Pokorney: Good to have you here, Jim. You wrote:

Why are you concerned about the city selling cigarettes in a liquor store without being equally concerned about the city selling liquor in a liquor store?

I think tobacco is unique among all legal products sold in this country. It’s the only one when, used as directed, still harms you every time you use it and still kills you when used in moderation. I think it’s a bad idea for a governmental entity to be making money from a product that it knows will always cause harm to the person who buys it, and as we now know, very likely causes harm to those who happen to be around the person when it’s being smoked.

The association between alcohol and tobacco use has been around forever but I don’t think they are inextricably linked anymore — Northfield already has at least two non-smoking bars/restaurants.

Should the City be in the liquor business at all, competing with private industry? I think there are good arguments on both sides of that issue which probably would be better to discuss separately, as it’s not really the focus here. I’m currently in favor of city-owned munis so that cities can put the profits to public use. My wife and I buy at least one bottle of wine a week from our muni and are members of its wine club.

S Cade: My spoof wasn’t about driving traffic to the site, though every blogger likes to have an ever-larger audience. I hope you can see that this is a real issue that I care about as a citizen.

Wirerivet: I’m not sure that making anyone look foolish is the purpose of satire. I’m more partial to the wikipedia definition.

Nick: I also loved the movie Thank you for smoking.

Scott Neal: Good to have a City Manager’s input. (full disclosure: Scott is a blogger client of mine.) I’m sure the revenue the City of Northfield gets from cigarette sales at the Muni is very minor. And I’d guess that the staff there would say that the only reason they have them on sale is for the convenience of their customers.

To all: Why did I pick on the hospital for my spoof? Because, like the Muni, they’re part of the City of Northfield, and since their mission is all about physical health and prevention of illness, I think they should pressure their sister organization to quit selling cigarettes. Like Scott said, I think it’s hypocritical for one arm of the organization to be preaching tobacco’s hazards and another arm to be enabling/profiting from its sale.

Sean Hayford O’Leary: “All laws are a balance between rights and the influence those rights would have.”

What is a “right,” by the way?

What about in foreign situations– non-democracy situations? Some of those laws regarding the behavior aren’t a balance between rights and influence. No balance, anyway.

Balance… Between freedom and responsibility, perhaps?

It just doesn’t work for me to have a wonderful discussion about death and dying and then throw this up there a couple of days later.

Look nfld elected this denison character instead of good old vic, so although many are on the intelligent side of things, some of us are not. And might, as John said, think this was true…

In the end, I guess it doesn’t matter. With 16 comments, this probably got locally grown it’s biggest response ever and i know how much i like getting responses on my website (and hits). So in the end it worked!

Your story is a weird way to start a discussion.

Is the fact that the city sells a legal product a News Flash?

Why are you concerned about the city selling cigarettes in a liqour store without being equally concerned about the city selling liquor in a liquor store?

Why does the city sell liquor - can’t a private company do the same?

What is the public purpose?

Can I attend an upcoming Hospital board meeting to ask that the board adopt a resolution of some kind against the practice, urging the City Council to make a change?

Well you’re at it, why not ask them to try to get the city to stop selling liquor at the liquor store? In your David Bly interview this past Monday, you claim that it is more tolerable for the city to sell alcohol than cigarettes because alcohol can be used safely. But let’s face it, with little exception, alcohol — albeit not as harmful as cigarettes — is never really good for you. But that shouldn’t matter.

All laws are a balance between rights and the influence those rights would have. Murder is not a legal right because of the negative societal influence it has. And we as a country — and even a global community — have decided that cigarettes are not sufficiently harmful to make them illegal. So this legal, accepted, and yes — somewhat harmful activity is a right but not one we want our city to condone? I guess what I’m saying is if it were really so bad we’re in utter digust with our municipal stores for selling it, shouldn’t it be illegal?

Your comparison is somewhat off in that a hospital is concerned only with the health of a patient, but a city is concerned with the whole citizen — including their right to harm their body on some level, if that’s their choice. And if Northfield can make some money in promoting that right of choice, why not?

However, before John says “I told you so,” please note that there is no such person on the hospital board named “Brett Schlichting.”

Contact page:
http://northfieldhospital.org/contact/index.htm

Admin page:
http://northfieldhospital.org/about/administrators.htm

Board page:
http://northfieldhospital.org/about/board.htm

The only real person person I can contact via email is poor Scott Richardson. You’re not going to make me use a phone, are you?

Please direct your request to Bobbi Jenkins at the hospital administration office for processing with the administration. I assume they will respond to you. Of course, the board considers all set agenda items.

You are always welcome to attend board meetings.

When we have City Administrator Al Roder on our podcast show next Monday, I’ll raise the issue of the Muni selling cigs with him.

I’ll attend an upcoming City Council meeting to ask the Councillors to review the Muni’s policy.

1. Can I attend an upcoming Hospital board meeting to ask that the board adopt a resolution of some kind against the practice, urging the City Council to make a change?

2. Would you support the such a resolution?

I really enjoy pointed, humorous satire, political and otherwise. However, I feel that your article, whether or not it causes anyone to ‘call and complain’, causes a negative relection on the hospital. The article is not clear that it’s a shot at the City for selling cigarettes to citizens. The hospital mission includes healthy community initiatives.

The community trusts the hospital’s role and I think we need to be sensitive to not compromise that trust, even though unintentional.

Thanks again for your clarification.