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Notice to Visitors, It is still legal to smoke cigarettes in the USVI. The Airports have designated areas, the restaurants have designated areas, Taxi's don't allow it etc.But you can smoke on the beach. I was at the beach yesterday, there was a young man smoking within ear shot away from me. A women approached him and demanded he put his cigarette out and lectured him on second hand smoke, she said if he was in New Jersey he would get a summons and pay a fine on the first offense and jail time on the second. He politely put his cigarette out, got his things together and left. This women was upwind of him so the smoke was not going in her direction. I don't smoke anymore, however I don't feel I should play cop and tell people how they should live their life. Not to be rude, but I hope the women goes back to New Jersey soon.
So many arguments, so many opinions but still a basic thread of sanity prevails. Well, pretty much!
I would say this though, rotorhead (because if you came into MY restaurant and, rather than going into the non-smoking air-conditioned Cozy dining room but sprayed Lysol around anywhere, I would kick you out) the few comments made about helicopters as nuisance health hazards are well justified.
Over many years, many homeowners in the Virgin Islands have been highly disturbed by low-flying 'copters buzzing around. I know many residents over the years who have complained to the FAA but recourse takes a long time when dealing with any bureaucratic entity, Everything has to be filed in triplicate and forwarded to a bunch of other agencies and also in triplicate. Investigations are tardy to say the least. A few went the mile in their protestations and prevailed.
Helicopters may well not be hazardous to health per se, but when your house is located on a mountainside over which helicopters fly and those helicopters are flying BELOW the mandated fly limit, the stress caused by this continual whop-whop-whop is, as Teresa said, "just long enough to wake up the baby, blow over my antenae and generally annoy all the wildlife around me." And stress is as much of a killer as anything else.
On that note, the lady who was ticked off at the smoker on the beach and made such a fuss - which I believe was the start of this thread? Bet that lady will pass on sooner than the smoker... Cheers, all!
STT Resident,
If I wasn't forced to breath secondhand smoke I would not have a reason to use Lysol. I have only used Lysol on three occasions and it was Lysol air freshener not the disinfectant. That was when I was younger and more militant about smoking.
Helicopters are not considered a health hazard. Some people dislike the noise and others like it. There are places in the States where they have passed noise ordinances which force aircraft to fly higher than the FARs(Federal Aviation Regulations) normally require. The VI Senate just passed new noise nuisance regulations last month, it was in the local papers. They specifically excluded aircraft from the new regulations.
I am very much aware of the FAA complaint and investigation process. I have been flying on STX for 7 years. During that time I have been investigated 4 times. On each occasion the result was that no violation was filed. I was not violating the regulations. Most non-pilots are not aware of what the regulations really are. You mention flying below the mandated flight level, do you know what that is. I'll help you find it.
You don't know me and have no idea how I fly but have decided to attack me about helicopter noise instead of talking about the dangers of secondhand smoke. Do you think that the CDC is lying to us about the dangers of smoking.
BTW, when I am flying under orders from the Coast Guard, the above regulation is waived.
Roto, You are a seriously dangerous and deranged person. I hope you get some help before you harm someone.
Oh Lord, there you go again, rotorhead and obviously whatever I say is going to be twisted.
No, I DON'T know how you fly and maybe you're a really good guy where helicopter flying is concerned. I just don't know.
I was simply trying to do a simple offset by offering input from what I've heard over the years from residents on STT about helicopters flying low and creating stressful situatiions. I wasn't pointing a finger at you, just making a general statement.
Your defensiveness is a bit off kilter, if I may be so bold as to say so, You say that you were, "investigated 4 times. On each occasion the result was that no violation was filed. I was not violating the regulations. Most non-pilots are not aware of what the regulations really are. You mention flying below the mandated flight level, do you know what that is. I'll help you find it. "
Given that the process of filing an official complaint with the FAA is so knotted up in bureaucracy, my inclination to go to the site you cited means very little but it might mean something long-time.
If you indeed re-read my post, on this thread, I think it was pretty clear that the STT (not STX) residents, went through a bunch of helicopter nonsense over many years and then some STX residents started experiencing the same nonsense.
What this has to do with smoking in the USVI is toadally beyond me for true. Cheers and goodnight!
Patriot,
There you go name-calling again. Or is that a professional opinion and you're trying to help me?
STT Resident,
My apologies if you were not attacking me. I took it that way because we had been talking about smoking and all of a sudden the topic switched to stress caused by helicopter noise nuisance. As far as I am aware, I am the only helicopter pilot on this thread, I had already been called a jerk by Patriot on his first post because of my flying. I do get defensive at times. My apologies.
I also must apologize to the group. I sometimes come on strong on topics about which I am passionate. I consider this a discussion and I have no ill feelings toward anyone on this thread. Quite the contrary, I appreciate the opportunity to discuss issues.
BTW, the process of filing a complaint with the FAA is really quite simple. You must do it in writing because phone complaints go nowhere. Once they receive the complaint they will call and interview you. Then call and interview the pilot. They will then talk to any witnesses or passengers. Filing a false complaint is a crime so be careful. The investigation usually starts within 2 weeks and the longest of my investigations took 2 months.
I heavily edited this post so it probably reads pretty choppy.
Teresa
Teresa wrote:
>I don't care what you do to your own body, and really no one should, but if what you do affects others, that's where decisions have to be made.
Until smokers, overweight people, and sedentary people are universally charged higher health insurance premiums then I DO CARE what others do to their body. For too many years those that live healthy lifestyles have been subsidizing those that live unhealthy lifestyles by virtue of paying the same health insurance premiums.
I don't have any DUIs, reckless driving tickets, or accident claims and my auto insurance premiums reflect my safe driving habits. My life insurance premiums are based on my age, non-smoker status, and medical history.
Fortunately, more and more companies are beginning to reward people who live healthy lifestyles by preferential hiring practices, discounted health insurance, and promotions. However, Medicare and Medicaid costs are still funded equally by taxpayers regardless of lifestyle choices.
So, to all you smokers, obese, and couch potatoes, I will continue to view you in the same light as thieves with their hands in my pockets.
Richard N Kurpiers
Dudes, it's all good. I like it here becase you can pretty much be free to do what floats your boat. You can smoke, not smoke, have an open container, or pilot a helecopter. The weather is beautiful , the people are friendly so what's up?
Roto, when you fly over Grape Tree beach on the weekends that.s me on the beach I'll wave next time I see you.
I come back from my extended vacation to find what???? Bitter dispute between tiny midget lovers, bladder cancer volunteers (not lung actually) and Herbert the little green helicopter who apparently feels he not only can, but must!!!!!!!!
Good grief folks, where is the usual riveting stuff about best bar to get drooling drunk in?
I don't mean to offend anyone but I have asked the smokers who so strongly defend their right to smoke in public the same question several times and no one gives a straight answer. I provided a link to the CDC fact page on second hand smoke, then asked the question.
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/Factsheets/SecondhandSmoke.htm
Do you believe that the CDC is lying about the effects of second hand smoke?
Do you honestly believe that your smoke is not harming the people around you? Do you think that they just don't like it and should mind their own friggin business as someone so eloquently said?
As for me, before this gets turned yet again into how someone doesn't like helicopter noise. I can honestly say that I believe that my helicopter is not harming anyone. In fact I know that it has helped people. I have ferried divers with the bends to decompression chambers in Puerto Rico because we have none in the VI, I have flown the VI police on several occasions looking for stolen cars and I regularly fly for the Coast Guard doing search and rescue and patrols.
Teresa,
Your last post wasn't choppy, it doesn't say anything.
Where am I coming from?
I have a good friend here on STX who is currently up in New York taking chemo for throat cancer. She told me that she smoked for over 25 years but quit about 15 years ago. She said that the only reason that she quit was because her employer made new rules which forced he to take an elevator down 10 flights and go outdoors into the snow to smoke. It just became too inconvenient to smoke. She said that she wished that she had stopped earlier.
I hope that we can pass laws which make it so inconvenient that a few more people stop and even more never start.
I know, I should shut up and mind my own friggin business. After all this is a Vacation Forum. I just couldn't resist when I saw the topic about smoking being legal in the VI.
Just be happy they don't supply spittoons anymore!!
Can you image how many people missed the mark, or horrors, that someone stepped into one??
The worst would have been if you were smoking, and someone spit in yer eye!!!
I think rkurpiers brings up an excellent point. This shows another way in which smoking is a public health issue. Society as a whole is affected when we consider the impact of smoking on the health care system and how smoking-related illnesses have driven up costs. It's not just an individual choice with no consequences for anyone but the individual smoker.
I wonder if the lady Lizard was speaking about on the original post, also yells at
people who eat food from Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Wendy's, Taco Bell, and
McDonald's on the beach???
Heck, those are health hazards too. And, talk about trash, cutting the forest down to make it, corporate farms,
chicken kicking, and cattle pooping in the watershed.
What did I forget?? Oh yeah, the extra traffic on the highways, and in the airways to get their stuff distributed.
I'm ready to take a nap, it's giving me a headache.
The difference that I see between smoking and eating unhealthy food is that someone eating unhealthy does not pose a direct health threat to me. Sure it drives up the cost of insurance and thats a problem but it does not directly affect my health.
On the other hand, someone smoking next to me poses a direct health threat to me. Check the facts on the CDC website. Do you believe that the CDC is lying to us? Do you believe that there is a conspiracy to take the rights away from smokers who are harmlessly minding their own business?
You don't think cattle pooping in the watershed is a health hazard???
Remember that the next time you bite into your next steak.
I lived on a couple of ranches in Colorado,...I could tell you some stories, my friend.
Unless, of course, you are only talking about the air YOU breathe. But, then, Lysol is
good for everyone.
Hope you take a trash bag around picking up what's left behind on your fav beach, at least.
The smokers say that if you don't like the smoke then stay away from smoking restaurants. In the VI the only smoking restaurants are those which serve less than 20 people. Otherwise the restaurant is mixed and in the USVI the two sections are not usually as well partitioned as STT Residents sounds like it is. The VI code makes no distinction between enclosed vs open restaurants.
§ 893. Regulation in restaurants
(a) All owners of restaurants shall designate and maintain at least seventy percent (70%) of the seats in the eating area of their establishments as nonsmoking areas; provided, however, where smoking patrons outnumber nonsmoking patrons, the owner may increase the eating capacity in the smoking area by not more than ten percent (10%) and reduce the nonsmoking seating area accordingly. Under no circumstances shall the seating capacity in the nonsmoking seating area be reduced to less than sixty percent (60%) of the total seating capacity of the restaurant. Ash receptacles are not permitted in such areas, but may be placed at the entrance. The restaurant owner shall post signs in the nonsmoking areas, conspicuously labelled as follows: “No Smoking by Order of the Police Department.”
(b) The provisions of this section shall not apply to:
(1) a private social function where the sponsor of the function, and not the restaurant owner, is responsible for the seating of guests; or
(2) restaurants which have a customer seating capacity of less than twenty (20) persons.
(c) Nothing in this section shall prevent a restaurant owner or office manager from prohibiting smoking in the restaurant.
—Amended Dec. 19, 1985, No. 5125, § 1, Sess. L. 1985, p. 179; Feb. 15, 1994, No. 5955, § 1(a), Sess. L. 1994, p. 10.
Dude,
I am not defending smokers, believe me.
I'm almost sure you have tunnel vision.
Hi Rotorhead,
It appears that this thread has morphed into Health issue's regarding smoking and it's effects on the human body. You have asked on more than on post if we believe the CDC is lying to us. I hope not, and I want to believe that they are telling the truth based on scientific data. However "The former Gov Christie Todd Whiteman of NJ" Was head of the DEP. at the time when the twin tower went down, she said under no uncertain terms the air was safe. Well people started to get sick and die. If you followed the hearing's she pointed one of her finger' at the CDC. So should we rely on them?
