Cigarette butts on the beaches

And yet they still let people smoke at the bar at Off the Wall. Even some of the employess who smoke at the upper rail where the smoke blows in the direction of all the patrons:X

It's one of the reasons I go there

The links to the law provided above are in PDF/graphic format, and cannot be searched. Here is a text version of the law, in case you want to search for specific language: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:nz8Ol1G1Z04J:www.healthvi.org/assets/documents/2010/text-of-act-7171.pdf+%22the+virgin+islands+smoke-free+act%22+%22an+indoor+establishment%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

It always bugged the hell out of me that every car built came with an ash tray (or three) even if you didn't smoke and smokers would still throw their butts out the window.

And yet they still let people smoke at the bar at Off the Wall. Even some of the employess who smoke at the upper rail where the smoke blows in the direction of all the patrons:X

In CA or at least in San Francisco the law is if the bar is owned AND operated soley by the owners they can allow smoking. So if all the employees are owners they can allow smoking, as they are not endangering any employees. So in 2004 two friends of mine bought a bar and were smokers as were the previous owners. So the smoking continued legally in the bar. Two years later they started tapering down the smoking, eventually they both quit, stopped allowing smoking in the bar, and lost a few customers. They didn't loose many as there really are very, very few bars for smokers. Most get used to smoking outside especially since this law started in 1994 so it has been 18 years.

But in all honesty it is a heck of a lot easier to find a bar in San Francisco that allows pot smoking then it is a bar that allows cigarette smoking. My friend's bar is in the Mission District and a good chunk of the bars in that area allow pot smoking.

So maybe there is fine print in the USVI law to the same extent. That if there are no other employees besides the owners then cigarette smoking is allowed.

So maybe there is fine print in the USVI law to the same extent. That if there are no other employees besides the owners then cigarette smoking is allowed.

No there's not.

PS: I believe the loophole in SF allowing owner-operated bars with residential facilities to allow smoking was closed two years ago.

Cig butts on the beach is one of my biggest pet peeves. I feel like I'm in a gigantic ashtray.

I just love it when I'm relaxing on the beach in my favorite spot and somebody sits in my vicinity and starts to smoke. And then the smoke blows my way. Then they crack open a beer, but still put the butts in the sand! I just want to go up to them and strangle them or worse.

Why can't they put the butts in the used beer can or other container? Duh!!!

I clean up areas on my favorite beach of cig butts and other trash that is around and throw it away in one of 2 garbage cans that is a short distance away.

(BTW, it seems like Marlboro smokers are the worst when it comes to leaving their cig butts behind)

I finally decided to post this because I'm tired of seeing all the cigarette butts around the "beach shack" at Isaac's Bay....

WHY on earth do you smokers leave your butts on the beach?! Seriously - it is so gross to see your butts all over the place! (your cigarette butts, that is)

How do you justify it? I would really like to know. Is it so very hard to bring a can with you and put the butts in the can, and take it with you when you go??

That would be the gentlemen we euphamistically refer to as "Naked Guy", who leaves his f**king butts at the Isaac's shelter on a weekly basis. I pick 'em up when I can, and then I leave him a nasty note on the roof. The beach is not your ashtray. Especially not that beach. And Naked Guy's been using it for years, he knows better. This isn't some entitled millineal we're talking about here.

IT

So maybe there is fine print in the USVI law to the same extent. That if there are no other employees besides the owners then cigarette smoking is allowed.

No there's not.

PS: I believe the loophole in SF allowing owner-operated bars with residential facilities to allow smoking was closed two years ago.

Yeah maybe, it makes sense. It was kind of a silly loop hole though CA is so good at including loop holes in the measures that pass. I don't keep up with those laws and especially since I have been in Puerto Rico the past two years. My friends quit and stopped allowing smoking in their bar in I think in 2006 or 2007.

I still find it funny how tons of bars you can spoke pot but not cigarettes. And I have seen police look the other way. They don't care but they will bust a smoker in a bar in a heart beat.

where's the Isaacs shelter? I know the Jacks shelter.

hey Iris

Is that the skinny older white dude? We saw him recently in the shelter and he looked freaked out when we arrived. He left soon after, and kept looking back at us as he left! If he's leaving butts, he's not the only one. I've seen other people smoking there too. We try to remove as much trash as we can everytime we go there. Hey are you the lady with the dog?

to Jamison:

If you are at Jack's, you need to keep hiking about a mile until you reach Isaac's. There is a hill at the end that you must cross before you reach Isaac's. The shelter is on the beach. It's not a big shelter like the one at Jack's, but a smaller, makeshift one constructed out of scraps of wood, flotsam and jetsam. It only accommodates two people and you need to get to the beach pretty early if you want to find it unoccupied.

Curious mind here - so what do people DO in that "shelter"???? Apart from smoke ...

Curious mind here - so what do people DO in that "shelter"???? Apart from smoke ...

I imagine that shelter from the sun is the biggest attraction. There is little or no shade around those scrubby beaches.

I've been there a lot, the no no's are wicked around sunset but there is no artificial light and the sky is brilliant, the reef is pretty healthy to. The cigarette filters drive me nuts, perhaps they could be made bio/photo degradable or from some natural material. I bring a fees of those offensive Plaza/Pueblo bags and pick up what I see. I tell my visitor that it is the place where you can experience the ultimate Caribbean secluded beach and if they tell anyone, I'll have to kill them. A short hike with a big reward.
Treat it like you own it, because, ultimately, you do.
I lost a lot of incredible places to development, overuse and mismanagement in the North East US and am psyched the way the Nature Conservatory manages this area. Send them a few bucks or say hi down in Princess, just makai from 5 corners.

....Treat it like you own it, because, ultimately, you do..

Good reminder. Thanks

Bombi, great post.

Fwiw, American Spirits and I think Winstons, but I'm not sure, use cotton for the filter and it's biodegradable. Not that they should be dropped, but it is better than the rest, which are fiberglass.

I can live with the cigarette butts. It's the dirty diapers in a bag tied to the trees that bothers me. Who ever came up with that idea?

I can live with the cigarette butts. It's the dirty diapers in a bag tied to the trees that bothers me. Who ever came up with that idea?

Well at least they were in a bag! Years ago it was almost a common sight to find dirty diapers just thrown in the bush but I've rarely seen that anywhere in the last several years so I suppose that's an improvement!

i still see that