Richard and Donna Ganguet in their backyard. (SacBee.com)
This is the story of two neighbors and a dispute over secondhand smoke in the Sacramento suburb of El Dorado Hills.
It seems like a minor story, especially with everything that's wrong in California:
--A powerless governor
--A lethargic legislature
--A state teetering on bankruptcy
--Double digit unemployment
--A poorly ranked public education system
--A wasteful prison system
--Collapsing infrastructure
--Distressed natural resources
In short, the state is a disaster. You'd think with all those problems that a dispute between neighbors over cigarette smoke wouldn't generate much interest but it has garnered more response in the local newspaper than anything the paper has reported in recent memory --and frankly, the Sacramento Bee has been doing a bang-up job uncovering all sorts of graft, waste and corruption in state government. Does this story resonate at the national level? Here's the deal:
A California couple has filed a lawsuit seeking relief from their next-door neighbor's second-hand cigarette smoke.
Richard and Donna Ganguet were the first to move into a gated community for people age 55 and older. That was 2006. Today, they claim the cigar and cigarette smoke wafts into their yard from the property of neighbor has caused an intolerable situation.
They've tried dispersing the smoke, first with a small fan (which didn't work) and then by renting an industrial fan (which was noisy, and they didn't want to disturb other neighbors). They say they no longer sit on their patio and try to sandwich in swims in the side-yard lap pool between their neighbors' smoking sessions.
The neighbor is Florence Solone. Her son, his sister and brother-in-law all live with Mrs. Solone and they smoke outdoors because, "My mother doesn't allow smoking in the house."
He also says he didn't know the smoke was a problem until his mother learned of the lawsuit, which was filed last month.
The attorney for the Ganguets says they wanted to resolve the issue without confrontation but they were unable to reach Mrs. Salone by telephone or letter.
The Ganguets said they rarely see Mrs. Solone and believe their telephone calls to her house were screened. They followed up with letters, but said they received no response --that is, until they filed the lawsuit.
The attorney for Mrs. Solone says the issue is a trivial one that should be resolved by neighbors talking with each other, not with a lawsuit in county court.
The Solones say they want to be cooperative but they felt intimidated by the letters the Ganguets wrote because the letters threatened a lawsuit.
The Ganguets claim they considered selling their house and moving rather than filing a lawsuit, but they believe the neighbor's smoke, which they said settles like a fog in their yard, would make a sale difficult.
That's the gist of the story between the two neighbors. The Sacramento Bee has additional useful background info:
Disputes between neighbors over secondhand smoke are increasingly making their way into courtrooms and city council chambers.With smoking banned in workplaces, restaurants and bars, Californians are less willing to tolerate the smell of smoke in their houses or backyards, said Robin Salsburg, a staff attorney with the Oakland-based Public Health Institute's Public Health Law and Policy program.Nearly 87 percent of California residents are nonsmokers, she said."The social norm is changing faster than I can blink," said Serena Chen, regional director of policy and tobacco control for the American Lung Association in Emeryville. In 2006, she helped persuade the East Bay city of Dublin to define secondhand smoke as a nuisance in its city code.The majority of litigation related to secondhand smoke involves apartments and condominiums with shared walls. But Chen said the Dublin City Council's action was prompted by a woman living in a single-family home whose health was compromised by smoke drifting from her neighbor's yard.
Several contradictions cry out for comment
We have, first of all, a woman who doesn't allow smoking in her own house. Yet, the smoke ends up in someone else's house. One wonders if it ever occurred to her that other people might not want the smoke from her house at their house.
This is a retirement community, 55 and over. We don't know how old Mrs. Solone is, but she's putting up her son, a daughter and her husband. I presume they're under 55. Some communities are okay with such arrangements, others have restrictions. When I inquired, the management said it couldn't comment because of the lawsuit.
There's a common legal understanding on the matter of civil liberties: All rights are bracketed by all other rights, or as Oliver Wendell Holmes famously said, "The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins."
So, does your right as a homeowner end where the neighbors are significantly impacted?
What are the rights of each neighbor here? The Solone siblings are told by their mother they have to smoke outside; that's her right, it's her home. And the siblings have a right to use their mom's backyard; it's her home. Shouldn't her neighbors, the Ganguets, be allowed to make the same choice, in their yard, and in their house? Drifting smoke doesn't know it's supposed to stay outside.
Consider the countless potential annoyances of an inconsiderate neighbor: The barking dog; loud parties; cranking up the Harley at 5am each morning; loud machinery running at midnight, the blaring stereo system.
No one says the dog can't bark or the partiers can't party, but when magnitude and frequency increase to the point where there is no respite, what is your recourse?
Most of us would probably go to the neighbor's house and politely make the obvious request. That raises a question for the Ganguets: If you're able to make phone calls and write letters, why didn't you go around the corner and knock on the door? We have no answer to this question. It's odd that no one even thought to ask, or mention whether the couple even attempted to knock on the neighbor's door.
The responses --over 600 on the newspaper's website-- are all over the board. Like a previous matter involve a radio station's water-drinking contest (which ended in a fatality) some of the reaction seems driven by anger over frivolous lawsuits and ridiculous settlements. Comments like:
--Is the sun too bright as well?
--Next people will be suing over Back yard bar-ba-que smoke, or heck just for not being invited to the house--Some people just aren't happy unless they control everyone and everything they do.--Are you serious? This is the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A FREE COUNRTY!!!!! Smoking is 100% LEGAL... What are you going to complain about next? I hope they sue you for harassment!!!!!!
In other words, too damned bad if you don't like the cigarette smoke, it's a free country and I'll do whatever I damn well please.
Is anger at the couple's efforts driven by a reaction to the way smokers have been treated in this country? Never mind second-hand smoke; these people have become second-hand citizens. They're targeted for taxes by politicians who know they can take advantage of a marginalized segment of society. They look almost like some kind of guilty party every time you see clustered and smoking in front of an office building. I'm not defending the habit, or even smokers, but if you kick a dog enough times, sooner or later he's going to bite you. It almost feels like that's the sentiment in this reader's comment:
Get a grip people. Cigarette smoking increases your risk of lung cancer.. it doesn't cause it. Just like flying 7 days a week would increase your risk of being in a airplane accident. I wonder how many of the soldiers who fight for our freedoms smoke. Would hate to think they'd risk their life for our rights and then be sue cuz they light up.
What am I missing here? Is this a frivolous lawsuit, or do you think the couple has a right to file? Or should they have knocked on the neighbor's door and made a reasonable request?
Is the neighbor simply oblivious to the fact that other people might not want in their house what she clearly doesn't want in her own house, the cigarette smoke? Or is the neighbor an example of what many of us think is all too common today: An entitlement attitude that says I can do what I want and I don't care how it affects anyone else?
How do you solve this problem if you are the Gaugets? Mrs. Solone? Maybe you've been in this position (whether it involved cigarette smoke or something else). One reader had an amusing solution:
I had a problem a few years ago with heavy smoking neighbors. No amount of pleading would get them to take their smoke somewhere other than directly into my windows.I fixed the problem by putting an old piece of fish in a bowl, hooking up a small, quiet fan right behind it, and placing the rig right next to the fence. Worked like a charm - inside two days, the neighbors moved their smoking area away from my side and didn't come back to it.Don't get mad, get even.
What do you think? How do you resolve this problem between two neighbors?
Comments
Seems to me common courtesy would go a long way for this woman but why didn't the couple just knock on her door? Duh?
It's really hard to judge this situation without seeing it. I live on the 3rd floor and had some guys who smoked under my window each morning and it literally filled my apartment with smoke every morning (I had a fan in the window to bring the cool morning air in before it got hot each day). But we had a conversation one morning and now they moved 30 feet down the street to smoke and now it's not an issue. Smoke doesn't travel that far (unless any hint of the smell is unacceptable) and if the neighbors were smoking near the fence they could have been asked to do it on the other side of the house, and that probably would have mitigated the situation significantly. If the neighbors were really out there so frequently as to be a problem, and calls got screened, couldn't you just poke your head over the fence and have a talk first? Again, it's really hard to tell whether the neighbors were being stubborn and ignoring the requests or if the people who filed suit just really didn't try.
Daniel Boone was on to something when he said that if you can see the smoke from your neighbors chimney, you live too close!
I agree but even with 2 acres my neighbors all put up with something. I put up with my neighbor yelling at his kids to get in the car each morning. He puts up with my stereo. I put up with his fires, I actually like the smell, but I did ask him to stop burning trash, I don't like THAT smell. He started putting up with my dog barking when he realized that my dog only barks when there is a strange car on our dead end street. Now, he kind of likes that my dog barks.
None of us have yet confronted our other neighbors son who has moved in and is selling drugs out of her house. That could put us, our kids and our pets in danger.
So, I can understand why this couple might not have felt comfortable confronting 2 unknown men about smoking.
P.S. People used to smoke outside my Drs. office. I saw a new sign yesterday. "No smoking on the premises". Hooray!
Brian, you're echoing Al's comment and I wondered the same thing. With a lawsuit in play, and with the story now publicized, no one is talking, so I can't find out much more than we already know. At the end of the day, as Tracy's example illustrates, a little cooperation goes a long way and eliminates the need for lawyers, courts and so forth. A situation like this COULD lead to attorneys but the lawyer, I would think, might've asked the couple, "Why didn't you just knock on their door?" I hope the couple doesn't expect to get financial restitution out of this.
Tracy: We have a similar situation with a brand new neighbor. He and his teenage son are at serious odds, and one of the nosier neighbors down the block is certain the teen is dealing across the street in the park. We live in a "picture-perfect" suburb so this a bit of a shock. So one night the kid is out there with a pack of friends. I went out there with a straight talk and said, look, we've got nosey neighbors. They're annoying. The WILL call the police. If you're dealing drugs, you WILL get arrested. Be smart: Don't s*** where you eat. Problem solved. For now. Next time I might not be so nice. My wife thinks I'm nuts.
Crazy .
I would do 3 things .
First file a law suit against those Ganguets for wilfull harassing .
Then I would file a law suit because I don't like their smell (it's all about whether one likes some smell or not after all) .
And last I would file a law suit for endangering my health because they drive a car . Obviously their car's emission are much more dangerous than outdoor cigarette smoke . And as I drive a bicycle there is no reason why I should put up with people who drive cars .
From the purely scientific point of view they belong anyway to an asylum because it can be easily proven that due to the huge dilution factor , the only thing that can be percieved from an outdoor cigarette is the smell and that's because even if the human nose is not as sensible as a dog's , it can still identify odors far below ppb concentrations .
Where would it finish if any lunatic was allowed to overload the justice with crazy smell problems ?
Tim - Your post is absolutely ridiculous, and maybe that's why I laughed out loud while reading it. Seriously, it truly reflects the frustration we have with the whole tort reform business and our "sue at the drop of a hat" culture. And in the spirit of your post, I have to fault you on one point: You forget to sue the lawyer who took the couple's case for not saying, "Sir, have you tried knocking on your neighbor's door first?" I'm sure the lawyer is a nice man but lawsuits like this make you wonder what's in it for the attorney who takes this kind of case.
I have knocked on the door, talked on the telephone quite pleasantly, but the problem is that the neighbor whose smoke flows into our space is an ADDICT. She can't or won't quit. A lawsuit at least may establish the reality that an owner's right to enjoy their own home ends at the exact point when their "enjoyment" impinges upon the neighbor's right to "peaceful enjoyment" of his or her home. As with high decibel noise which is regulated by municipal ordinance.
I have personally faced this problem in my own home. Three years into owning our condo, smoke from the new downstairs neighbor started coming out of the central air conditioner / heater every time it ran. I tried to politely work things out with the neighbor but he became hostile and smoked even more after I talked to him. The HOA said they couldn't do anything since the rules & regs were silent regarding smoking. I wanted to move but couldn't because we were upside down by $30k on the mortgage. Contractors told me the problem could not be fixed since it was due to the building's design. I even tried installing window AC's but was threatened with a lawsuit by the HOA. This went on for two years which were the darkest, most miserable years of my life. I felt like I was living in a sleazy strip club or bar because that's what it smelled like. And there was nowhere to get away. You can't possibly understand what this is like until you live it. Finally, the neighbor moved.
Gabrielle says: "I have knocked on the door, talked on the telephone quite pleasantly, but the problem is that the neighbor whose smoke flows into our space is an ADDICT. She can't or won't quit. A lawsuit at least may establish the reality that an owner's right to enjoy their own home ends at the exact point when their "enjoyment" impinges upon the neighbor's right to "peaceful enjoyment" of his or her home. As with high decibel noise which is regulated by municipal ordinance."
Gabrielle, I'm not saying a lawsuit is an option, but it's not clear (and I can't find out) if all other options were exhausted first. If you've taken every reasonable step to address the issue with your neighbor, it's sad that a lawsuit has to be the solution, but when that's all that's left, that's the neighbor's fault, not yours. Sorry you had to deal with that. Ugh!
Katie: Your HOA stinks, and the child-like attempts at vengeance on the part of your neighbor are beyond unreasonable. I just don't understand that kind of puerile behavior but it sure seems prevalent in our society, from situations like yours to the way we discuss policy issues in the public square. And the HOA then threatened to sue you? I suppose some would say you should've read their rules and regs more closely, but I've heard that HOAs are notorious for being inflexible on all sorts of matters. I'm glad that neighbor moved (although I'm sure he thinks you were a jerk --I don't). What a horror story!
I had similar experience. It was the worst experience in my life. I won't even go into the details. The hardcore chain smokers car nothing but themselves. They were very rude when I talk to them. Talking WILL NOT improve the situation A BIT. I didn't mind to talk to my neighbors until I met the smoking couple. I have been afraid to start a conversation with neighbors after that.
MY sympathy and support to the Ganguets!
I bought my condo when I was only 24 and didn't even think to check the HOA's rules for anything regarding smoking. Normally, individual units shouldn't share airspace, right? After the smoke problem started, I couldn't even get the HOA to give me the full "rules" document, only a summary. I finally got a copy from my mom who happens to work for the Dallas county tax assessor. They were 124 pages long, dated 1983, and written in incomprehensible legalese. I have a master's degree and I struggled. Sure enough, there was nothing which addresses smoking. But there was a clause prohibiting "additional appliances", giving the HOA recourse to sue me for the window ACs.
While I despise cigarette smoke, I believe that both smokers' and non-smokers' rights should be protected, and it is the HOA / apartment managements' duty to protect these rights for EVERYONE in the community. The HOAs and apartment management groups should be REQUIRED to address and document the rules for smoking.
Katie, I think you and the other residents have a good case for demanding that the HOA update its rules. Think about how much has changed in the last quarter century. It's completely unrealistic to think that such rules wouldn't need some revising. In fact, some of those rules that were legal then may be illegal today. Considering your investment (and especially being upside down), it might be worth your while. And I suspect other residents would agree. One place to start: When the person downstairs moved out, did he have to do any sort of fumigating or changing of carpets, etc? Good luck!
Unfortunately, the property values have gone down so much in my condo complex that most of the owners cannot afford to sell and are now renting - to very undesirable types of people. Both the neighbors to the left and the right of me are renters and they both smoke indoors, but I don't share any air space with them due to the firewalls. The neighbor under me was a renter as well. The owners repainted the whole unit after he left. The floors are wood so they didn't have to replace that, probably just cleaned it.
Anyway, my HOA is extremely dysfunctional and corrupt, the complex is old and not being properly maintained anymore, monthly dues are outrageous ($380 a month!) and there are just too many other problems for them to care about smoking. Seems that I'm outnumbered by smokers anyway. A majority of the board members smoke. All I can do is pray that the next person to move in under me doesn't smoke. If they do, I'm mailing the keys to the bank.
Beak says: "MY sympathy and support to the Ganguets!"
If and when we hear word about their situation, we'll let you know.
Bruce I am glad that my post made you laugh . It was the purpose :)
Actually I expected that people would find it outrageous too .
Because this is precisely the spirit in which people like those Ganguets act .
When lunatics begin to file law suits because of SMELL , then anybody can file a suit for about anything .
It is of course ridiculous that cigarette smoke "flows" over more than a few feet outdoor as anybody can find out by making the experiment . And if there is a bit of wind it's almost immediately diluted .
What propagates over longer distances even outdoor is the smell because of the high sensitivity of the odor receptors .
What is a bit more worrying is that there are some people who do NOT find it ridiculous .
Tim you are a complete idiot those people the Ganguet's are the most hardworking reasonable people I know so you can go screw yourself. If they spent the fortune it took to get into that gated community then by god they should have a smoke free backyard. Why does the neighbor lady have her whole family living with her smoking and smoking all day rather than looking for a job so they can move out from their moms and the gated community. Tim you never mention what kinda slackers smoke all day rather than get off their ass and get outta mommas house. You are a real lame.
Tim -- In all fairness, reading some of the other posts below us, it's clear this is a problem for some folks and that neighbors can be jerks. Again, I can't find out if the Ganguets actually tried to just knock on the neighbor's door and settle the matter amicably. Hey, maybe the smoke was bad. I haven't a clue, so sorry to say, the story's just s tad incomplete --my fault.
We lived in Cincinnati for a while, right across from KY. None of the smoking ban rules like Cali has, at least not then. We were so used to smoke-free in CA, when we walked into a nice KY restaurant for the first time and they asked smoking or non-smoking, we picked non-smoking and you could STILL smell the smoke. It reeked of smoke, but we were used to the restaurant environment in California. I guess I'm saying you can detect the smell, even in a no smoking section. Is that a lawsuit when it's between neighbors. I guess that depends, but in the case of the Ganguets, I'm really not sure. --Bruce
It is a shame that some smokers do not have enough common sense or decency to respect the health, property and comfort of others. If it takes going into court to protect their health and the value of their home, I applaud these people for having the courage to do it.
Many years ago I was at a hotel where a heavy smoker stood right by the door to the lobby. As people walked in past her, several coughed and covered their faces the smoke was so strong. I asked politely if she might move a away from the entry. She drew in a deep breath of smoke and blew it in my face! I could have and maybe should have reported it to the police as battery.
Again, it is very sad that some people do not care about how they injure others. If it takes a court case to open their eyes, so be it.
As for secondhand smoke in the air, OSHA has stated outright that: "Field studies of environmental tobacco smoke indicate that under normal conditions, the components in tobacco smoke are diluted below existing Permissible Exposure Levels (PELS.) as referenced in the Air Contaminant Standard (29 CFR 1910.1000)...It would be very rare to find a workplace with so much smoking that any individual PEL would be exceeded." -Letter From Greg Watchman, Acting Sec'y, OSHA, To Leroy J Pletten, PHD, July 8, 1997
-harleyrider1978
you see how they switched it. Trying to blame shs for what is actually a natural thing. The levels of other things in shs if they can be measured at all are millions if not billions of times smaller than the amounts needed to harm anyone......just remember this second hand smoke is a joke within nano seconds from the burn it turns into WATER VAPOR.....Even the exhaled smoke is loaded down with water vapor...osha has said nothing in shs/ets is going to harm you or anyone else.....what shs will do is irritate those with weak immune responces.......thats why shs is classified as a class 3 IRRITANT BY OSHA AND THE EPA.....Remember this a prohibition movement must rely on scare tactics and big money in order to succeed to the level of getting legislation....These outdoor regulations are even crazier than the first claims made for indoor bans.
Outdoor bans are even crazier than indoor bans. The chemical make-up of shs is nearly 94% water vapor and A SLIGHT AMOUNT OF CARBON DIOXIDE with about 3% being carbon monoxide AND 3% CONTAINING THOSE SUPPOSED KILLER CARCENOGENS.........
n-nitrosomines which you hear so much about is actually arsenic..what they dont tell you is that the measurements they took match the naturally occuring arsenic in the air outside everywhere.
they measured levels at 0-29 picograms....which is totally safe...the amount has to be 5 million times that to be harmful to humans.
Smoking is an ADDICTION. It doesn't just increase the risk of lung cancer ... over 90% of all lung cancer is CAUSED by smoking. More people die of lung cancer than any other cancer,so smoking causes almost 100% of all deaths from the most prevalent cancer in the nation. You think all us paying health insurance taxes (Medicaid) aren't paying for that? And smoking is a leading cause of heart disease, THE LEADING CAUSE OF PREMATURE DEATH IN THE COUNTRY. You think we're not paying for that?
Secondhand hand smoke is proven to CAUSE lung cancer and heart attack. We're subsidizing smoker's healthcare and that of those around the smoker.
We don't listen to the 'requests and recommendations' of heroin and meth addicts when deciding on how to deal with that issue. Cigarettes KILL more people than all other drug use, alcohol abuse, AIDS, breast cancer car accidents, gun accidents, murders and suicides COMBINED. Why are you surprised that people are hooked into this issue...incensed by it?
Harley - The scientific data is fine, but it's not really useful outside the laboratory. The people in the backyard felt they were affected adversely. I don't think we should question that. The question here is whether they could've handled the neighbor better, as in, go to their house and knock on their door and have a conversation. Now, we don't know if they did that because no story gives account to that, but if they did do it and the neighbor was unreasonable, what are our options? There are a couple of readers in this thread who shared stories about uncooperative neighbors and cigarette smoke. This is really just a matter of reasonable people handling their differences in a reasonable manner. Grownups don't always do that very well, if at all. Why are we like that? What is wrong with us?
Harley - I really don't care what is in the smoke or if it is harmful or not. The fact is that it STINKS and makes me feel ill. What if a pork rendering plant opened up right next to your house, but studies showed that the stench has no effect on your health? Does that make it okay for the rancid burning flesh smell to overtake the air in your home? Could YOU live that way?
Just to remind all of you, everyone has a right to breathe fresh, clean air. When a company puts out too much harmful chemicals into the air of the community, that company is fined and in some cases, has to make retribution to the community. Sometimes the retribution amount is large because the children of the community become sick or even contract cancer.
Cigarettes contain chemicals and carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) that are harmful to HUMAN BEINGS. Whenever you are near cigarette smoke, those harmful chemicals and carcinogens cling to your body and clothes as well as those of the person(s) smoking. These chemicals and carcinogens are with you everywhere you go: to your home, to your friends, to your work. The more you encounter cigarette smoke the more you carry the chemicals and carcinogens to your friends and loved ones.
Adults make choices to smoke but all humans have the natural right to breathe fresh air. If you chose to smoke, do so without harming humans.
Wrong with California? These people are wrong with California!! FRIVOLOUS LAWSUITS ARE WHAT'S WRONG WITH CALIFORNIA. I say, let those people have BBQ's in thier backyard everyday....can they sue them over that TOO?
No wonder the rest of the country hates Californians.
When people try to kill you you have the right to try to kill them right back! Smokers are the only drug addicts that force you to use their drug!
"When people are not given equal protection under the law they are motivated, obligated and relegated to seeking solutions outside of the law." by writer, R. Francis
I'm glad I read this story. I live in a attached townhome and my neighbor smokes cigars on his patio and it blows into my living room while I'm watching tv. I tried asking him if he could smoke on the other side or go in the house but he got irate and said he's outside. So basically I have to be prisoner in my own home and seal it up when the weather is beautiful and live in a box because of him. I am going to look into the same these people did by consulting an Attorney and do the same thing. Yes it is out on his patio, but it leaves his patio and intrudes on my life. There are no smoking laws all over the place and the more legal action being taken, us non smokers have a higher chance of getting laws on the books that protect other people in their own homes. Who wants to pay any money because a fool blows smoke into anothers home? Let the smoker pay money to make sure his/her smoke doesn't bother another. Or better yet go to another area and smoke. You still have your right
Why, why, WHY are non smokers supposed to tolerate this? The owner of this home is in effect saying "I don't want cigarette smoke in my home but it's OK if it goes to other people's homes." Her prohibition on smoking in the home proves that it's a nuisance.
The first step is to get city councils to equate cigarette smoke as a nuisance, just like barking dogs, smelly garbage, loud parties and the like. Because it IS. If I wanted to air out my pet skunk twice a day or defecate in my back yard because "I'm not allowed to do it indoors" you can be sure my neighbors would complain, and justifiably so.
Frivolous? It's a health hazard and it STINKS. Money damages? All they want is a stop to the stink. If money will do the job, then so be it, but I'll be the plaintiffs would accept a total cessation of the problem in lieu of a monetary settlement.
Your rights end where mine begin. Your dirty, smelly, carcinogenic air should not impinge upon mine.
What many people don't seem to understand is that when you are dealing with "chainsmokers" you are typically dealing with an addict that cannot quit. Moving to the other side of the house is just going to disturb the neighbors on that side. I have learned my lesson about trying to "talk it out nicely" with neighbors. You are only reiterating what everyone else in society is telling them and some will take their guilt and aggression out on you or your property. I have had my car keyed and a mob mentality from other smoking neighbors going after me as well as an increase in their smoking just to "smoke me out" of my home, while laughing out loud. By the way, I am disabled and just trying to live a healthy life in my own home.
And by the way, second hand smoke rises above and beyond the definition of "nuisance". It is a positive health hazard. The heart attack rates of non-smokers and smokers alike dropped dramatically when smoking in restaurants and bars was prohibited.
Harley Rider,
You are obviously a smoker. That grimy yellow and brown toxic gunk that gets on blinds and walls that is almost impossible to get out is toxic tar. You are defending a dangerous drug that you are addicted to, it is common behavior by an addict to make excuses for their drug. Are you telling people that can't stand the smell of it that they are deluded? That they don't know what they are saying? Smoke your cigarettes where no one will be exposed, it's that simple and just the right thing to do. By the way, don't you wonder why a smokers teeth look so rotted? And their skin and eyes so toxic, wrinkled, and brown? Sorry, it's the truth.
Hey, thanks for the good advice! New neighbors just moved into the big house hovering over my much-loved, and paid for abode of 15 years. They've only been there a couple days, and the backyard smells like smoke already. Our dear, older neighbors on the other side, with walls just 30 feet from the deck of the smoker's house, are outraged--he's a very famous photographer with macular degeneration(exacerbated by second-hand smoke),, who moved here because the air is so clean. So, we're going to go together to the neighbors and tell them what we need from them. And then, if that doesn't work, we'll go to the city council, hire a lawyer--anything! Will also be putting large posters on our roof(directly below their decks)--"Smoking stinks--please smoke indoors"; "Smoking aggravates macular degeneration", etc. And, letters to the editor, spreading this around public health department, etc. Thanks--I'm feeling less powerless now!
The author of this article mentioned nothing about anyone saying that the smoke was drifting IN to the neighbors household. It was just in their yard. Now I don't trust anything this guy writes.
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