Honolulu Seeking to Ban 'BO' on Buses

Honolulu Seeking to Ban 'BO' on Buses

news.aol.com

Stinky city bus riders soon could get soaked. The Honolulu City Council is considering a bill that would impose up to a $500 fine and/or up to six months in jail for public transit passengers convicted of being too smelly.

The bill will be heard Thursday in committee. It would make it illegal to have "odors that unreasonably disturb others or interfere with their use of the transit system."
It doesn't matter if it's body odor or offensive fumes that emanates from clothes, personal belongings or animals.

(visit the link for the full news article)




[edit on 9/2/2009 by Jessicamsa]

Wow, the government must really be desparate for revenue. This article actually had me laughing, but it's seriously messed up. How exactly would one define this? One person could be fine with how someone smells while another thinks a person's cologne reeks. What is this world coming to?? I am surprised they have not tried this in California or New York City. This is in Hawaii though.

news.aol.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 9/2/2009 by Jessicamsa]

reply to post by Jessicamsa


Jess I do hope you don't mind me calling you that, Exactly

"odors that unreasonably disturb others or interfere with their use of the transit system."

What exactly is unreasonable? You touched a bit on it but how bad can Hawaii be hurting that they need to instate a stink tax? I mean a law, A LAW! To make any order that is on your body illegal. I don't even know where to begin with this.

Isn't it ironic that a diesel bus spewing out hydrocarbons is OK but some poor guy/gal getting off from work with honest sweat gets fined.

God help us.

[edit on 2-9-2009 by whaaa]

All I can say is about firggin time there are some smelly people in the world.

Personally, I think it is harsh to punish someone for stinking when they probably are poor and cannot afford to bathe properly. Also, what about people coming home from work who work as laborers will they be fined to? Just doesn't seem fair. Why not have a certain section of the train designated for people coming home from work etc?

Cynicism aside, there must surely be a problem (resulting from prolonged and numerous complaints ?) for Hawaii to be considering this step ?

I mean it's fine for people sitting in their own homes before a computer to post cynically about it, but it would be another thing to be jammed in a vehicle and unable to escape such foul odours that the person finally arrives home and is still sufficiently disturbed about the situation to lodge formal complaint.

Not as if the majority of people on all buses got together and agreed to lodge baseless complaints, surely ?

I'd rather deal with someone's body odor than someone's overwhelmingly nauseating cologne. How pathetic have we become when we prefer the smell of toxic chemicals to natural odors?

A $500 fine? Six months in jail? Are you kidding me? What crime is being committed? In case anyone has forgotten, laws are meant to punish and/or prevent criminal acts. They aren't meant to shield us from everything we happen to dislike.

[edit on 9/2/09 by NovusOrdoMundi]

reply to post by nocensorshipplease



Your suggestion re: providing special provision for blue-collar workers seems sound. It would probably be appreciated by all concerned. Most probably those who've been labouring in the heat all day already feel self conscious about their body odour. Yours seems a good idea

They want to ban Barack Obama from buses!?!

But he's a native son there.

That's racist!

reply to post by NovusOrdoMundi



Years ago, it was customary and accepted to hawk and cough phlegm in the street and INside buildings, even butcher's shop floors in the days they were covered in sawdust.

Special receptacles were provided for people to hack up the crap in their throats and sinuses.

And poor cleaners and chambermaids had to empty, clean and polish those receptacles

There were people then who considered it 'fine' and their 'right' to spread their phlegm all over the place. They didn't give a damn whom they sickened (literally !) or offended either

Then civilization racheted up another notch and spitting in public places and particularly within buildings (such as butchers' shops) became illegal.

And yes, they posted bulletins all over the place advising people of the punishments which would be levied, under law, upon those who broke the new 'no spitting' rules.

There was resistance and the penalities were imposed.

Gradually people learned to have more consideration for other's sensibilities, health and opinions, and the only people who walk around spitting in public these days are thugs and those who were dragged up rather than raised .. or simpletons

So it's not such a great leap to hear that body and other unpleasant odours are not in the best interests of the majority, nor are they welcome, in public transport

People are still free to stink up the place in the privacy of their own caves, however

Glad to see elected officials are so concerned with efficiency during our economic crisis.

"Somebody smells bad, so we'll just throw him in jail for up to 6 months. The money needed to incarcerate him, for any period of time, is merely chump change compared to the necessity of ridding his devilish stench from the world during that time. So many lives will be saved! And the economy will show dramatic signs of recovery without his villainous odor to scare away all the dumb law-making individuals responsible for recognizing such an atrocity, and spending freely to rid us of this villainy! Too bad we couldn't have thought of this years ago, imagine how much more free time we'd have to make even more meaningful laws. Now we'll have time to pass that genius one proposed last year, in which you need to propose a bill about proposing the bill, in order to be able to propose about proposing the proposition of proposing a new bill. That just makes too much sense! We are so smart..."

The Honolulu City Council is considering a bill that would impose up to a $500 fine and/or up to six months in jail for public transit passengers convicted of being too smelly.

That's an incredibly harsh punishment for such a subjective offense.

You can't prove anyone broke this law because it's all opinion.

In fact, in order to ensure that this law is being applied fairly, they'd have to invent some kind of test that determines how smelly you are.

This law is not only idiotic it has extreme potential for abuse. Imagine giving officers the ability to arrest individuals based on their opinion of how smelly is too smelly.




And this isn't the only subjective crime you can get a jail term for.

Clifton Williams, 33, of Richton Park, is facing six months in jail for making what court documents call a yawn-like sound in Will County Judge Daniel Rozak's court last month.

Source: MSNBC

A man may get a 6 month prison sentence for yawning too loud.

Apparently anything deemed "offensive" lands you a 6 month jail term.

[edit on 3-9-2009 by Studious]

What gets me is the current poll on the news article:

What do you think of Honolulu's proposal?
Thumbs up 62%
Thumbs down 38%

Sixty-two percent think it's an okay bill. Sixty-two percent of those polled think it's okay to fine and jail someone for smelling too bad.

Jail and/or a fine is ridiculous, I'll agree there. However, they should be able to boot people off the bus for stinking to the high Heavens. I use public transportation to get from my park and ride into Seattle and my God have I ever smelled some horrible odors. There really is NO excuse for reeking so badly that people can smell sour ass several seat rows away. Add in people who think it's a good idea to buy a nasty smelling, permeating hot fish concoction from China town and then bring it on the bus with them, or smell like a French brothel before getting on the bus are simply inconsiderate jerks who should be called to task for their selfishness.

I'm not talking about homeless people, either. And to those commenting about sweaty laborers at the end of the day, that's a poor excuse. I'm a big man and I sweat like a river when I work. Yet for some reason I can be covered in sweat at the end of the day and still not stink like crap. Why is this? Simple, I shower every day using soap and hot water and then I apply some nice smelling Gold Bond powder, roll on deodorant, and i chew some damned spearmint gum to make sure my breath doesn't smell of coffee and Marlboros. When I start my day I smell clean (not overpowering) and when I end my day I don't smell at all. If I decided to be lazy and go a couple days without showering, then I'd stink. It's simply the decent thing to do to take a little bit of pride in yourself and in your presentation of yourself.