Chad’s Morning Brief: Let Bars and Restaurants Decide If They Want to Allow Smoking, Lubbock Power and Light Drama Continues, and Other Top Stories
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of October 24, 2013. Give me your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am. Remember, you can listen online at KFYO.com or on your iPhone/Android with the radioPup App.
Let Bars Decide on Their Own
The owner of Bar PM is leading a coalition to rid Lubbock of smoking inside bars and restaurants. Now one would think that the owner of Bar PM would take the lead and ban it inside his establishment, but no that isn't the case. You see, Michael Clintsman is worried that if he does that, he will lose business to those bars that allow smoking. So Clintsman wants ALL bars to do what he wants so that way everything will be equal. According to KCBD:
Michael Clintsman is the owner of Bar PM and Local Bar and Grill. Both currently allow customers to smoke, but Michael hopes to change that soon.
"We talked to a few bar owners and restaurant owners that were afraid to go out on a limb in fear of backlash financially," said Clintsman. "But if it is even across the board then competition will be even as well."
Michael includes himself in that category. He would love to go smoke free and fears the financial loss to his businesses, but he says his wallet is not driving the change.
"I care about peoples' health and my employees' health," he said. "My mom actually passed away from lung cancer so it's a cause near and dear to my heart. It's time for us to catch up with everybody else and be a little progressive."
Right now the West Texas Tobacco Coalition are in the preliminary stages.
"We're just trying to get as many people as humanly possible and it's surprising to see how much support there really is for the cause," Clintsman said.
Clintsman says the group meets the first Thursday of every month at the Garrison Institute on Aging. They don't need an exact number of signatures right now, but anyone who wants to support the cause can sign the petition at Bar PM or Local Bar and Grill.
You have to love that Clintsman's petition against smoking is located inside his bar... that allows smoking.
Folks, I have no problem with a bar or restaurant deciding to go smoke-free. Nick's and Caprock Cafe are two of my favorite places to go. My problem is when you have someone like Michael Clintsman come in and try and tell other business owners what to do with their own business. If Bar PM wants to go smoke-free than they should and let the chips fall where they may. Clintsman obviously doesn't believe enough in his business so he has to drag others with him. It's shameful and an example of what is wrong with this country.
LP&L and Mayor Glen Robertson
The drama involving Mayor Glen Robertson and Lubbock Power and Light continues according to KFYO News:
At a special meeting this morning, the City of Lubbock’s Electric Utility Board hired an outside law firm to handle an independent investigation regarding allegations of bid rigging.
Lubbock Mayor Glen Robertson discussed allegations of issues regarding a request for proposal being handled improperly by Lubbock Power and Light regarding power generation for the area.
The EUB chose Houston-based law firm Andrews Kurth to handle the investigation, prompting Robertson to say that he plans to remove the item on the Lubbock City Council agenda that would lead to another investigation on LP&L.
“Since they have decided to do this investigation, I’m going to ask my Council to pull the item for us to consider an outside investigation because I think it would be ludicrous to have two going on concurrently,” said Robertson.
The board also chose to take no action regarding the employment status of LP&L President and CEO Gary Zheng.
Robertson also revealed the possibility that he is being sued by someone involved with LP&L.
“I was informed in executive session of some potential litigation by staff against me personally, and as a result of that, there are several things I cannot comment on,” said Robertson.
No word yet on which utility staff member has initiated legal action against Robertson.
The EUB also took no action regarding the RFP, which means that the bidding process will continue as normal.
The Lubbock City Council will meet Thursday evening at City Hall. The meeting will begin at 6:15 p.m. at 1625 13th Street.
Other Top Stories:
These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.
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