Bill Beavers: This much I know
BILL BEAVERS | 73 | COOK COUNTY COMMISSIONER
Chicago's backrooms just got a little less smoky.
The grand puff-puff daddy of Chicago politics, Cook County Commissioner Bill Beavers, quit smoking cold turkey. The "Hog with the Big Nuts," as Beavers once called himself, says he snuffed out his last square on March 15 after leg surgery landed him in the hospital for a week.
The grand puff-puff daddy of Chicago politics, Cook County Commissioner Bill Beavers, quit smoking cold turkey. The "Hog with the Big Nuts," as Beavers once called himself, says he snuffed out his last square on March 15 after leg surgery landed him in the hospital for a week.
Here's what Beavers knows about his former favorite pastime:
Here's what Beavers knows about his former favorite pastime:
I started smoking when I was about 22 years old. Unfiltered cigarettes. Pall Malls. Lucky Strikes. Philip Morris. Never a filter. With those filters you suck more air than smoke. Plus, I think the chemicals in the filters are worse than the non filters.
I never smoked more than a pack-and-a-half a day.
I enjoy a smoke after a meal, a smoke when you're gambling, a smoke when you're drinking. It was no fun if you couldn't smoke playing slot machines or having a drink. No fun if you couldn't have a smoke after a meal. All those goodies are better when you're smoking. I never once tried to quit.
I was in the hospital and couldn't smoke for seven days. I came out and decided to not smoke again.
It's not hard to quit. You make up your mind and do it. Cold turkey is easier than taking pills or patches.
Another thing that caused me to quit . . . I wasn't going to pay $5 a pack for them anymore.
It took a while, but since I quit my taste buds came back. I can taste food again.
I don't have to go outside and smoke anymore. Now I stay inside and work on the computer.
I was one of the last smokers in my crowd. Everybody is happy, really happy I quit smoking. That feels pretty good. You always want your friends to be proud of you.