Fairweather Smoking Bans

By Alicia Dorr in News on Jan 17, 2007 7:55PM

Oh, Illinois. You so crazy.

Like how one minute, a smoking ban is the most important thing in the world. You can't pass it fast enough. The very next moment, though, you're thinking, "Well, the Bears did just win...."

OK, maybe it's not fair to say that the reason Orland Park is now considering banning its smoking ban is strictly because of the Bears. Outraged businesses have been complaining to officials in Orland Park about the ban all along, saying it is threatening their livelihood to the point of shutting down altogether, citing all the new business other counties are getting from their former patrons. And the fact that officials are considering lifting the two-week old smoking ban — because the "intention was never to hurt businesses" — right now may just a coincidence. But that's no fun.

Either way, Bears fans and smokers and people who like to hang out in smoky bars may get their timbers back pretty darn soon. Same goes for Oak Forest, which also adopted a ban, only they are admitting that they hope it is lifted by this Sunday. Tinley Park residents and business community members are jumping on the smoke-wagon, too.

With Cook County's ban set to take effect in March, it kind of makes you wonder if the one county just has more smokers than the other. Or, more importantly, whether anyone in these communities even wanted it at all. It doesn't affect us directly, so we're not exactly worried one way or another, but it still causes us to ask: what's the deal?

Image via Nottokids.ca.