STORM2K

Attendees At Town's Next Meeting To Be Segregated By Scent

POSTED: 9:28 a.m. EDT April 28, 2003

SHUTESBURY, Mass. -- People who attend Shutesbury's upcoming town meeting will be segregated by scent to avoid disturbing those hypersensitive to chemicals and odors.


Splitting the meeting hall into three sections May 3 is part of a two-year-long effort that also has produced "fragrance-free" hours at the library.

One section of the room will be reserved for people who never use perfumes or scented deodorants, detergents or other products. The second will be for those who sometimes wear fragrance but not on the day of the meeting, and the third will be labeled, "Seating for those who forgot and used cologne and perfume."


Using fragrances in public is similar to smoking, said Town Administrator David Ames, who is also responsible for making the town compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said the Massachusetts Office of Disabilities recommended establishing the fragrance zones.

A local survey found that nine of 52 respondents identified themselves as afflicted with multiple chemical sensitivities syndrome, although the National Institute of Environmental Health Science says the very existence of such an affliction is in dispute.

Oh, joy...another "suspect classification" under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act in the making...

hahaha huh!?

In essence, JQ..."No one may be discriminated against due to race, sex, creed, color, national origin, sexual preference or intolerance of (a) cigarette smoke or (b) body spray, cologne or any other odor deemed offensive by said individual".

I suppose that means "firehead' will have to go to school in one room, while his socks go to another?

Smelly people to the left, everyone else to the other side of the room please... LMAO

This is rather odd. ... :o

hahahha...no i knew what u were saying bill...i was just huh'ing the petty-ness of the whole article. I mean geez.

You three to the left, you five to the right.

There is no such place as "Shutesbury, Massachusetts" - just looked in my atlas to make sure. I know where Shrewsbury, Massachusetts is.

Here you go

http://www.rootsweb.com/~mafrankl/zshu.html

I didn't say I didn't think the town existed. I only said that there is no such place, because it isn't listed in the index of Massachusetts towns in my atlas.... not every town, or more so every portion of a town is listed.

I honestly figured it was in the western part of the Bay State.

I didn't say I didn't think the town existed. I only said that there is no such place

lol, I think that means the same thing.

Figures you feel that way, Chad. Seriously, towns exist that aren't listed in atlases.

i know that coldfront, but you said

There is no such place as "Shutesbury, Massachusetts"

That means it does not exist

Unfortunately, it was my continual annoying bad choice of words. Words come to us so fast and we get them posted and responses are made.

Nothing, I or anyone here can do about it.

ok hahah huh?!

My sinuses cannot tolerate perfumes & colognes. I am unable to smell or taste after being around them for awhile. I've had many a meals ruined because of someone's perfume.

If I as a smoker cannot smoke where I please, why should I be subjected to someone's perfume?

BTW, I don't smoke inside anywhere except my car. Everywhere else I wait until I'm outside and away from others.

I remember sitting in a very "spirited" city council meeting as an alderman for my home town.

So spirited it was that one person among those "given the floor" to represent their cause had a very unpleasant but recognizable scent problem of his own.

A note was passed to me from a colleague across the table.

"Steve," it read. "Do us all a favor and let this person speak FIRST! Maybe, just maybe, he'll speak his mind and then head home."

Given that opportunity, I made a motion to let this particular gentleman speak first. It was quickly seconded followed by a unanimous show of hands to give him the floor and let him speak for his allotted 3 minutes.

We held our breath...and so too did those others in the chambers.

I graciously thanked him for his comments, reminded him that many more would follow and that if he wanted, he and the others could remain outside the room until our vote on the topic was cast.

He, much to our liking, decided to head home and wait until the nightly news to hear the results.

The news at 9 focused some on his topic and chosen words, but did not truly represent all that this man brought to the city council chambers that night.

As I recall, his interests were not served. We voted down the article of his concern.

His appeal made a lot of "scents" to us, but not enough sense to adopt!