Irate bar owners paid a visit to the capitol today to protest the Senate's inaction on legislation to overturn the ruinous ban on smoking in all state bars. Organizers of the rally on the front steps of the capitol are demanding that Senator John Burton, Senate Leader, honor his promise to give a fair hearing to legislation written to overturn the ban which went into effect in 1998. The Assembly overwhelmingly voted to overturn the ban.

Jeff Williams, a Republican candidate for governor, opened the rally with a promise to restore the rights of Californians to run their businesses without the excessive taxation and regulations that are driving so many small businesses out of the state or into financial ruin. Seat-belt and helmet laws, assaults on the Second Amendment, cell phone etiquette laws and laws prohibiting raw eggs on Caesar Salads are a few examples of the avalanche of legislation burying the state.

"California is the only state in the union in which smoking tobacco is a crime", Williams said as he pledged to lead the repeal of the state's ban on smoking in private property.

"Smoke 'em if you got 'em," he finished to enthusiastic applause.

Tom Muller, President of FORCES-Los Angeles, brought the crowd down to earth by noting that the smoking ban is the product of the big lie technique as practiced by totalitarian regimes. Although ill effects from secondhand smoke are nonexistent, the constant reiteration of its supposed hazards have convinced cowardly politicians it is more expedient to bow before the health establishment than examine the evidence.

The big lie, Muller reported, is on its death bed as word of the World Health Organization's massive study on secondhand smoke devastates the rationale for heavy-handed smoking bans such as California's. The news that the anti-smoking World Health Organization has determined that secondhand smoke poses an insignificant health risk is bad news for the anti-smoking industry and good news for those devoted to personal liberty and responsibility.

He cautioned that the media will fight the truth every step of the way due to the financial interest it has in the anti-smoking agenda.

"The media used to get big ad revenue from the cigarette industry. Now they are salivating over the ad revenue to come from the anti-smokers cashing in on the tobacco settlement," Muller pointed out.

Chris Killip, owner of the Bluebird bar, expressed the sentiment of the bar owners present by stating: "If I choose to operate a smoking bar, what business is it of the state?"

She noted that bar owners are firing workers they can no longer afford. Some businesses have lost 50 per-cent of their businesses since the smoking ban went into effect. One bar owner backs up that contention by reporting she paid sales taxes of $500 to $600 per month during 1997. Her sales tax for January and February of this year was $257. For March it had dropped to $237.

Bill Ostrander of the Almond Tree in Auburn, expressed outrage that he, a veteran of World War II, who fought to preserve the liberties of all Americans, is a criminal for allowing smoking in his own bar. He also expressed disgust that one Senator, Diane Watson of Los Angeles, has the power to kill the bill that would overturn the smoking ban. Diane Watson, chair of the Senate committee where the bill languishes, has vowed to keep it from reaching the Senate floor.

"I've fought for this country and to have one senator not allow my senator to even vote on this law is an outrage. I pay my taxes but I wouldn't have any taxes to pay if I don't let my customers enjoy themselves in my bar," he said to ringing applause.

Suzy Thompson, a bartender, whose hard work and determination made the Sacramento rally possible, vowed to continue the fight to make the legislature responsible to the citizens instead of the anti-smoking special interests. She urged those attending the rally to keep up the pressure on the politicians and not give up the fight.

Despite some heckling by an anti-smoking school teacher hiding behind her students, the rally was peaceful and those who attended left the capitol with a renewed determination to bring the anti-smoking law to an end.