The Conway City Council in a near unanimous decision has banned Coke products from the City of Conway. Citing excess sugar in such familiar favorites as Coke, Mellow Yellow and Mr. Pibb as well as an unhealthy level of caffeine as their reasoning the Council has issued orders that Coke products are not to be served at any Conway City eating establishment. Additionally anyone seen using a Coke product within 20 feet of any public business will face possible fines for breaking the new law. The Council has also decided that Coke products pose a dangerous health risk to citizens and as such Conway residents will no longer be allowed to discard empty cans, bottles or cups that have contained these products in recycle bins as the hazardous residual poses a risk to workers at recycling centers and those who may receive recycled products that were manufactured from empty Coke containers.

 This sounds absolutely crazy doesn't it? Yet the City Council is considering a similar ban to the use of a product that is just as legal as Coke products, widely used like Coke products and the use of which is protected by our Constitution as a free exercise of the rights of citizens of our country. The Council is considering a city wide ban of smoking at or near all public properties including any business establishment whether in the confines of that business or outside of same business. The ban will also include all public access areas which have breathable air and the possibility of any person crossing paths with said public area.

 I am not a smoker, never have been and never will be. I am one who does not like the smell or any aspect of smoking or any product that is used for smoking. I was raised in a house of heavy smokers and over my childhood years developed a complete dislike to smoking of any kind. So this commentary is NOT coming from one who is against this ban because I use the product. We as Americans have the right to do something legal or to choose not to participate in that same legal activity. Tobacco products are legal in The United States and their use as well as their production pay a large amount of our government tax bill. While I personally abhor smoking I will stand up for the RIGHT of citizens of this country to smoke. I have the same right to avoid establishments that allow smoking or walk another direction when I encounter a smoker to avoid breathing the smoke.

While I understand and appreciate the reasoning to have smoking and non smoking areas in public establishments to issue a blanket ban thus taking a Constitutionally protected right from citizens of any city is a slap in the face to the very principles in which our country was established. The protection of citizens from an over bearing government and allow them to live and prosper as they choose within the constraints of the law and smoking products are a legal, taxed entity in the country and citizens have the legal right to use them and accept the health risks involved. For some not all members of a City Council who are against smoking to consider issuing a blanket law banning a legal product because of their personal dislike is an abuse of governmental power and against the true intent and principles of our Constitution.

 Overbearing governments do not stop at the Washington DC city limits nor the limits of the City of Columbia. It is quite obvious that this attack on individual rights extends all the way down to the local level and the City Council of Conway, South Carolina!

This parody has been brought to you by Ken Taylor, the host of Political Graffiti as heard on Rivertownradio.com.