European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 2, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes sunday april 2,1989 columns Leon Daniel pendulum swings Back toward smokers rights in a Welcome backlash against zealotry state Legislatures have begun Logie smokers some needed Protection against discrimination. I those who value civil liberties should have been alarmed when Massachusetts last year became the first stale to prohibit new police officers and firefighters from smoking on or off the Job. Fortunately in other states the pendulum is swinging Back toward reason. Maryland legislation expected to designed soon into Law would prohibit employers from firing or refusing to hire those who smoke even in the privacy of their Homes. It was written by Bruce Bereano a lobbyist for the tobacco Institute which in its other activities to defend smoking is often dead wrong. Cigarettes kill people and the Evi Dence of that is overwhelming. But smoking them is nol against Lac Taw. So employers should not be permitted to discriminate against people Tor engaging at Home in a Legal activity. The Maryland legislation would tar gel among of her employers a fire department in Washington s suburbs that requires newly hired firefighters to agree not to smoke on or Oft the Job. What is wrong with Shatas a condition of employment Don t firefighters inhale enough smoke on the Job perhaps bul the primary Issue Here is Lac right to privacy. A citizen s Home is his or her mile what goes on there if Legal is not Lac Gove Menf s business. Stuart Comstock Ciao executive director of Floc Maryland Branch of Fth Ameri can civil liberties Union said the to Bacco Institute asked the Acle to support its Bill. The Maryland legislature approved it 74 to 52 a isl three Voles More than the needed majority. We supported it because it protect the right to engage in a Legal activity in privacy at Home Comstock Gay said. It also protects smokers in i hair work place from being fired merely because of their status As  the Acle in the past has joined the tobacco Institute in opposing bans on cigarette advertising that it believes Vio tales the first amendment but Comstock Cay made it Clear that privacy pure and simple was the Issue that won the Acle s support of the Maryland legislation. We need More Laws to protect privacy Comstock Gay said. An employer ought not to be Able to lire you because you like to swim naked in your Pool Al Home. If you run around naked at your work place that s  opponents of the new Law contended that it would give smokers greater rights to sue employers for discrimination than Are now enjoyed by Blacks women another groups protected by Maryland Law. Maryland legislative Leader John Arnick noted that. If an employer can get away with asking if you smoke at Home pretty soon hell ask you if you rent smutty movies for Home  William f. Buckley or. Venture fakes off of twice the Speed of sound As a Frk Siiman at College i was taught economics by a Young socialist an enthusiast Tor Henry Wal lace for president. He did t Call  very few people did in i Host Days and not All that Many do s6today professor Galbraith being a notable Noble exception. Our instructor taunted the dais Wilh the Odds against the commercial Success of any novel Enterprise Given the heavy breathing of the monopolists and oligopoly its who surround us. It did t matter he said what the novel Enterprise was service manufacturing invention you name it you come up with a Good idea and somebody will steal it from you. Suppose you invent a terrific new Mousetrap the Upjohn Mousetrap and iry to peddle it forget it some shark in a smoke filled Rooming Chicago will run you out of business and get the Pat civil for nothing. My professor s strictures floated through my mind when last june a 40-year-old Miami lawyer told me that he and a partner in the travel business in Miami had conceived the idea of a round the world trip on a concorde with this special in gun travel would All Beaver water. There have been round the world trips on concorde before but none without hours and hours Over land where of Are nol permitted to Fly More Jhan the Standard Jet Speed of 600 Mph. Now Riding a concorde at 600 Mph Don Pevsner explained to me on the Telephone is like driving Yourow Mobile in first gear. You go berserk thinking gawd this Here aircraft can Fly at twice the Speed of sound faster than 1,200 Miles per hour Mach 2, the pros Call it. And yet we Are having to traverse in the traditional round the world itineraries the whole of India or China or Russia or the United states at 600 Miles per hour. When you take the concorde to Lon Don from new York you Aren t permitted to Rev up to Mach 2 until after of have passed Nantucket and it seems an age until this happens. The concorde is not built like a men s club with huge leather reclining chairs and great big windows. Whatever sacrifice is made in physical Comfort is compensated for by i acknowledge that we Are travelling As an army on a forced Anarch travels in one Day. Or if you prefer a nautical analogy you travel in three hours Lac distance Colum bus travelled in 70 Days. Whee Well that depends because Don Pevsner and his partner Jack Gui crus Are not entirely typical. Don gets flush with excitement when he travels on a abandoned Railroad track and Pines for the return of the old steam locomotive. He s the kind who if he lived in Niagara would every morning of his life jump up from bed slam open the curtains and stare with dumb amazement at the fails. Question would enough americans want to Shell put the kind of Money necessary to subsidize such a trip or would the whole experience become routine like the third Landing on the Iriton a question of Money just to begin with. What kind of Money i asked. Well he said we paid s 100,000 Down to British airways last week. And on dec 7, we have to pay British airways si.5 million and then there is promotion hotels Tours insurance Etc. I clutched the Arne of the chair and whispered that Means charging How Many passengers How much Money ninety tight passengers $39,000 apiece.". F As i reflected on it it did t seem to me a Winner in the sense that Upjohn s Mousetrap was a hypothetical Winner in the economics class. And therefore the two entrepreneurs paid Down the 100,000 Bucks an launched their slow problematic Campaign to line up passengers for whom this trip would be Worth that kind of an investment on dec. 10, the partners had 76 passengers lined up two Short of the number needed to. Raise the Money. They stayed up All night wondering whether to risk it and they decided swe Lily to go ahead. They went to n Bank and pledged personal assets so that they could pay British airways one and one half big ones. Two weeks after the deadline they were oversold. A tiny capitalist venture As ventures go if we think in terms of starting steel companies or founding Silicon Valley or financing gone with the wind. Bui Nice i thought reminding myself that though nol an investor i was a part of he Deal ves i would accompany the partners and their passengers As an on again off again lecturer lining up Here and the arc an interesting local Leader or commentator filming some firing line episodes in Australia and South Africa and my editors having asked if the idea appealed taking three weeks respite from Lac political world of getting and spending to report on an unusual itinerary new York Acapulco san Francisco Hawaii Tahiti new zealand Sydney Perth sri Lanka. Cape town London. Track it on a map and you la find practically no land you need to Fly Over Don and Jack Aren i going to Lei you Fly at less than twice the Speed of sound. We met at John of Kennedy International Airport at noon on saturday and wheel from that Point on for 23 Days we re exploring the question among others whether Wheeling for that Long Al Mach 2 is something that is going to provoke the envy of that prehensile monopolist in Chicago who will want from now on to Lake Over As our instructor told us in economics 10as a venture that not Only got off the ground but did so at twice the Speed of sound. Uri Wihl hmm Syi Kuci the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and ire in no Way to be considered u representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United Stales government