Pick on someone your own size, LaCrosse County

This is big bully government at its worst.  LaCrosse County Health and Human Services is imposing their will on small business owners in rural areas, knowing full-well that these mom and pop shops don’t have the power (or the time, for that matter) to fight these tyrants.
These small businesses are mere [...]

Update on our rebel heroes in Kanawha County, WV

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – With bottles of beer and cigarettes in hand, a group of Kanawha County bar owners vowed Monday to defy the county’s 2-month-old smoking ban and allow their customers to light up.
“We all need to stand together and let them smoke,” said Shila Pettry, owner of Dolly’s World bar in Pratt. “They can’t [...]

Bill Hannegan and Marth Brothers on the Radio

Bill Hannegan from Keep St. Louis Free! was on the McGraw Milhaven show on KTRS 550 out of St. Louis, and we have the audio:
First Segment
Second Segment
He was also joined by the Marth Brothers, who sell affordable, effective air purification units.
Make sure to check out the end of the second segment, where a caller (‘Fred’) [...]

Must-read article

A friend pointed me to a great article on Examiner.com (written by one J.D. Tuccille) that I wanted to share with our readers.  I’m going to post a few excerpts here, but please take the time to read the whole thing. The article centers around the taverns in Kanawha, West Virginia who are engaging in [...]

Madison’s Dirty Little Secret

MADISON, Wis. – The Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay areas do not meet tough new air quality standards designed to protect public health and may need additional regulations, federal regulators said Tuesday.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement drew criticism from a top state air official, who warned it could hurt economic development and do little to [...]

Kenosha: "Inside scoop"

Lisa Loring from The Daily Kenoshan was at the city council meeting last night, and here’s what she had to say:
Kudos to the 3 RESPONSIBLE AND CONSCIENTIOUS aldermen who voted to defer this proposal for 90 days; Kathy Carpenter,Steve Casey, and Jesse Downing. The lone dissenter was also a sponsor of the ordinance, Michael Orth, [...]

Deafening Silence

Pro-ban editorials written on behalf of newspaper editors have become commonplace in our Wisconsin papers.  For some reason, many of our news sources have decided that it’s their duty to grace us with their wisdom rather than simply reporting the news.
The latest sermonette comes to us from the Sheboygan Press.  Not only does this news [...]

Holy Smoke!

We here at BtBWI have joked a bit about creating our very own religion called “The Latter Day Church of Free Choice“, but apparently someone has beaten us to the punch…
The One True Universal Smokers’ Church of God

More Backlash

Bar owners in West Virgina aren’t happy about the smoking ban that’s killing their business… And they’re not going to sit and take it.
As always, the big question that I have is a very simple one: where in the hell are all of those people who are supposed to be coming out and filling those [...]

Slandering the Tavern League

From the Wausau Daily Herald:
Stopping the ban
The [Tavern] league’s clout was put to the test this year as health advocates and lawmakers launched the strongest effort to date to pass a smoking ban. The pro-ban movement, backed by radio ads and volunteer activists, has support among some key lawmakers and Gov. Jim Doyle.
The Tavern League [...]