AA is now engaged in a public controversy!!!!!

Doll · MIP Old Timer

AA is now engaged in a public controversy!!!!!

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

It's an AA club, which is Not an AA group. If the Club got sited (which it did) then AA is not involved. AA groups hold meetings in AA clubs, but the clubs are not AA. Nice try though

-- Edited by StPeteDean at 21:08, 2009-01-21

Jane05 · MIP Old Timer

Uh Oh! The only thing I can say is, I guess some of us will be learning about A.A. managing it's own affairs.

Also, I saw where you said you were from S.C. and was wondering where. Well, I'm just a little down the road from you. Columbia.

Do you plan on coming to the 2009 S.C. AA State Convention in April? I'm on the planning committee and if you're coming, I'd be glad to be a contact for you.

Hope everything works out quickly for your group.

Doll · MIP Old Timer

StPeteDean wrote:

It's an AA club, which is Not an AA group. If the Club got sited (which it did) then AA is not involved. AA groups hold meetings in AA clubs, but the clubs are not AA. Nice try though

Dean, That was "our" arguement and the old solicitor agreed. BUT, the new solicitor says the meetings themselves are open to the public, therefore 'that dog won't hunt!" The biggest issue is this all started from THREE guys who rarely attend these meetings and they never went through the "proper channels" first. All they had to do was bring 8-10 members who would vote for non-smoking, at the next commitee meeting! The damage is soooo much deeper than just a smoking/non smoking issue and these 3 are old timers! Guess they don't see it that way.

Jane, I live right outside of Aiken. Not sure if I'm coming up for that or not, my sponsor and I have discussed it but made no final decision. If I do come, I'll let ya know. THANKS!

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Doll I'm really not getting the "damage is so deep" part. Pay the fine and forget about it. Open meetings are open to the public. If you want to have a smoking meeting then make it a "Closed Meeting" and use proper signage etc... notify the cops. All they want is compliance to the code. Personally I think that all meetings should be non smoking so that they don't discriminate (especially open meetings). Hold your smoking meetings outside weather permitting

. Not to mention the "third hand smoke" which is the toxic particles that cover everything in the room. That's why smokers houses, clothes, and everything that they own get smoke damage. I've mistakenly purchased second hand items from smokers only to discover that I could never get the smell out of the item. /rant over.

I am really interested why this ticket is such a big deal.

-- Edited by StPeteDean at 09:13, 2009-01-22

Doll · MIP Old Timer

It's not about the ticket. It's about how the 3 old farts who started this couldn't just show up for a group conscience meeting and vote! They anonymously called the city on several occasions and complained. They also rarely, if ever, come to this particular clubhouse, they all 3 have openly in the past shared their HG is other places!

Plus, there are several non smoking meetings, too. It's about 1/2 and 1/2.

I think the issue runs deeper b/c, Linden St is the central group for this area. Someone who may have reached out for help, may now think twice, due to the fact that public officials (cops) may show up at a meeting at any time!

-- Edited by Doll at 15:20, 2009-01-22

StPeteDean · MIP Old Timer

Amazing that you all hold smoking more dear than being available to "someone who may have to reach out for help". End the smoking and end the controversy. It's that simple. The last smoking meeting in our county closed 2 years ago because of state law. You all really need to get over this. The only reason that your group/club is behind the times is because SC is a backwards tobacco state like NC that still allows smoking in restaurants and other businesses. I appreciate the fact that SC residents might not be aware of what's being going on in the rest of the country for the last 7 years, but most states ban smoking in public places. Florida is now banning smoking outdoors in public places, thanks God. I'm sorry this is causing trouble for your group but it's perhaps, some growth that you all need to go through I guess. It's probably viable for the smokers in your group to create another club that is smoking only and structure it with some kind of membership ($1 per year) so that you can call it "private". That's what happened to the Club that I got sober in. In 1987 they split up the club and the smokers started their own club "the independents club"
and the non smokers started the "The Unity Club". The Unity Club (Falls church Va.) now has 9 meeting rooms and a cafe, the independents club is history.

Doll · MIP Old Timer

StPeteDean wrote:

Amazing that you all hold smoking more dear than being available to "someone who may have to reach out for help".

That's not what I said! And not sure how you got on that particular route. Seems to me you missed MY point. Smoke, don't smoke. I personally don't give a shit! I felt that damage could be caused due to the fact that city police are now showing up & disrupting the singleness of purpose.

Plus the fact the 3 old farts didn't have balls enough to bring it out in a meeting! They snuck around like kids and made anonymous phone calls!

There are plenty of non smoking meetings, too.

The smoking in bars certainly never stopped an alcoholic from going there!

John · Admin

I am a smoker...

Never got a DWS ticket...
Never fell down due to smoking too much...
Never required a Desinated Driver after smoking...
Never called into work sick because of smoking too much the night before...

It amazes me what I have read on this board tonight... people fighting at meetings, people smoking at meetings...

Yet, when we were drinking... we loved to hang out in smoke filled bars where fighting was a way of saying hello to eachother. LOL

Seriously, the issue at hand is simple... An AA meeting is NOT a private session... ANYONE with a problem with Alcohol is welcome to attend... OPEN or CLOSED meetings. Isn't the person with alergies, or asma, or emphzima given the same privledge to recover as someone who smokes in this group? AA is suppose to be inclusive, not exclusive. We should never have to go to another meeting, or ask that someone else do so because our environment jeapardizes the health, and sense of safety of even one of its members. When a group starts holding Group Conscious meetings to determine weather it is going to abide by the law, thus City Ordinance... it might be time to find another group. That should be a given... not the old drunk..."hmmm, we can find a loop hole in this, without concern for how it effects the group as a whole."

Should someone call the police before a GC meeting is held? Well, if it sends a nice clear message to the group that we need to submit to the judcial authority in our lifes, in order to be happy, joyous and free... the phone call was a great idea... if all it does is destroy the primary purpose of the group, and its unity... then maybe not such a great idea.

I go to both smoking and non smoking meetings... I would only hope that if this city I live in has a simliar ordinance... we wouldn't need a GC meeting or the police to be willing to abide by it.

John