IS IT TRUE that if the City of Evansville’s 2012 Smoking Ordinance had contained a severability clause, the exemption allowing smoking on the Tropicana (Aztar) riverboat might very well have been the only provision in the City’s Smoking Ordinance to be declared unconstitutional by the Indiana Supreme Court?…severing that one exemption from the rest of the ordinance would have resulted leaving the rest of the City’s Ordinance prohibiting smoking in bars, taverns, restaurants, etc. in place?…if that one and only one unconstitutional provision had been stricken by the SCOI today Evansville and Vanderburgh County would both have the same smoking ordinance and Tropicana’s employees would enjoy the same protections from toxins that every other employee in the entire county had until this week?…the failure of the resolution to include a severability clause has caused us to be back to a situation where smoking may be permitted in some bars, taverns, and clubs in the City, but not in the County?

IS IT TRUE it is worth asking the question of the appropriate members and former members of the City Council, Mayor Winnecke, and the attorneys involved in drafting the resolution if the severability clause was left out intentionally?…as was confirmed in Kentucky before when Louisville tried to get by with an exemption to their smoking ordinance for Churchill Downs that such things are unconstitutional?…the Evansville City Council had this information and was even admonished by private citizens and organizations that the resolution would be struck down?…given all of these facts and the Supreme Court’s action, it is not at all out of the realm of possibilities that our leaders conspired to pass a “pig in a poke” knowing it would be overturned?…whether this was deliberate or just another instance of sloppiness this “pig in a poke” has come back to bite Evansville squarely on the backside creating a period of transition and analysis when an appraisal for a downtown convention hotel may just be depreciating during the loan qualification process?

IS IT TRUE that the American Medical Association has a total of 17 annual meetings scheduled and published on their website?…all 17 of these annual meetings are being held in cities that have comprehensive smoking bans?…all of the AMA medical student section annual and interim meetings with information on the AMA website were held in cities that have comprehensive smoking bans?…some might say the assertions that having “dirty air” from allowing smoking were just the musings of one man in Indianapolis, but the reality of the AMA’s choice of destinations just happens to confirm that assertion for the AMA?…it could all be coincidence but does that really make sense?…there has been much speculation about the prospects for medical conferences in downtown Evansville that are drawn by the IU Medical School, a new hotel, and a re-named Centre?…these opportunities if not gone are certainly diminished based on the recent venue choices of the AMA?

IS IT TRUE this all happens in the same week of February that Evansville is treated to an AIR QUALITY ALERT?…these things are of course not related at all, but as Alanis Morrisette sang “Isn’t it Ironic, Don’t you think?”

IS IT TRUE that the Race for the Cure is heading back to the Eastland Mall after a five year run of holding the event in downtown Evansville?…while both venues offered a good location for a morning run with over 10,000 participants, the Eastland Mall location causes less disruption and even is a safer race course due to the quality of the streets?…this was probably inevitable but the CCO encourages our readers to support the Race for the Cure wherever it may be?