Posted on 01/18/2006 5:22:14 PM PST by freepatriot32
SOUTH BEND -- St. Joseph County residents will no longer have to request restaurant seating in a "no smoking" area. Beginning April 10, all the areas in most restaurants will be smoke-free.
After months of deliberation, the County Council voted 7-2 on Tuesday to adopt an ordinance that will ban smoking in restaurants and other public places, and in private businesses as well.
Dozens of area residents, including several physicians warning of health risks and restaurant owners fearful that they will lose business appeared in the County-City Building to support or oppose the issue.
Jerry Scott, vice president of human resources at Towne Air Freight, South Bend, warned that rising health care costs associated with smoking could cause some companies to either go out of business or drop their health care coverage.
"We need this ordinance," said Dr. Allen Snell, of Granger. Snell acknowledged that the measure before the council isn't perfect, "but it's a good start."
Opponents who owned restaurants near county or state lines expressed concern that patrons would simply move elsewhere so they could enjoy a cigarette with their coffee.
The most unusual comment came from Dr. John Porter, of South Bend, a nonsmoker.
Porter, who noted that tobacco has been used for relaxation by American Indians, commented on how many "gray days" there are here and speculated that people smoke to lift their spirits.
Should the personal freedom to smoke be lost, the doctor speculated, what will be next?
The measure allows a two-year phase-in period for small "mom-and-pop" restaurants and exempts bars and private clubs from its provisions.
Restaurants with bars won't be able to allow smoking in the bars unless the bar areas are sealed off from the dining room by walls, windows or closeable doors.
A proposed amendment that would have allowed private businesses to continue to have separate smoking rooms for employees failed in a narrow 5-4 vote. The council did pass an amendment giving businesses a one-year phase-in period before eliminating smoking rooms.
The ordinance exempts bars and taverns unless they have employees under the age of 18.
The decision followed some three hours of public comments both for and against the measure, as well as several months of behind-the-scenes meetings in which council members wrestled with the measure's far-reaching consequences.
Much of the early discussion centered on the ability of the St. Joseph County Health Department to serve as chief enforcer of the measure.
After verbal and written warnings for the first two violations, the ordinance allows for fines ranging from $100 to $500 for subsequent offenses.
The measure doesn't contemplate creation of tobacco police, although those who fail to comply could be subject to law enforcement measures should they be deemed to be behaving in a disorderly manner.
For the most part, enforcement is expected to be largely driven by complaints filed with the health department.
That department is charged with fielding those complaints and taking "reasonable and good faith efforts to assure compliance with this ordinance."
As passed, the ordinance will ban smoking in restaurants, stores, malls, sports arenas and other public places as well as in private businesses, including employee breakrooms.
During those early discussions some council members, noting that few businesses allow on-premise smoking, questioned the need to include them in the ordinance.
The measure was still being cobbled together as late as last week as representatives of its two main sponsors, Healthy Communities Initiative and Minority Health Coalition sought to mold the ordinance in response to various council suggestions and concerns.
Council members Andrew Kostielney, R-District B, and Dennis Schafer, R-District F, cast the negative votes.
Kostielney said he believes businessowners should have the right to run their businesses as they see fit. Schafer expressed numerous objections, including the cost of enforcement and the fact that neither South Bend nor Mishawaka had proposed similar legislation.
The measure affects the entire county, including restaurants and businesses within the cities.
Staff writer James Wensits: jwensits@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6353
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ping
Because this ordinance is the first step pretty soon we will tell people in other business that they cant serve hamburgers to their customers then we will be able to tell private homeowners how many times a month they can have sex with their wives and in what position just like they do in north Korea dr snell later added after he got back from his weekly Politburo meeting
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
you eating a hamburger in a restaurant doesn't have any affect on me if i'm in the next booth. you smoking on the other hand, does. having lived in locations with and without smoking bans, i have to say life with the ban is much better. and while i'm not a smoker, i do enjoy a puff once and awhile. i just don't think it's appropriate indoors around other people, especially when they are eating.
If you don't want to be around smoke, go to a place that does not allow smoking. The decision to allow smoking in a private business should be the choice of the business owner and not that of a legislative body. I personally do not like people smoking in the same place i eat, but i am not about to demand that everyone change their ways because i think "life with the ban is much better".
So much for the free market system.
Oh well . . . welcome to the brave new world.
Then go somewhere else to eat. If the owner wants to allow smoking, IT'S HIS BUSINESS, NOT YOURS, HE OWNS IT!!!!
Sounds like the folks in South Bend got a better, if still raw deal, than the subjects in the People's Republic of Lexington-Fayette County. They put a lot of specialty cigar bars out of business with their ban. Other than company business, as long as that ban is in place, I'll dine in Frankfort or Richmond, before spending a red cent in that city..
Hey St. Joseph County,
It could be far worse! New Jersey recently banned smoking in all public places statewide INCLUDING bars and taverns (but exempted the casinos), and raised the legal age for smoking to 19. There are no exceptions for restaurants who erect walls to block their smoking sections, and not even churches can allow it on bingo night.
Recently moved here from Kalifornia, where you can no longer smoke in open air stadiums and some city streets. They even have a plain clothes smoke police to patrol bars, where smoking has been barred for about 5 years. (those that are still operating.)
For those of you who are thankful to be able to dine in a smoke free restaurant, hope you enjoy dining alone, that is, if your favorite restaurant is able to remain open.
Last time I rode Amtrak was one week before they permanently closed the smoking car. Hope your enjoying smoke free train service. They filed for bankruptcy about five years later. They no longer provide service to the area.
I've driven to and from Kalifornia and other places more times than I've flown. I don't really mind not smoking in the plane but don't want to put up with the airport bans. Hope you're enjoying flying alone in those airlines that are still around.
And, of course, I am no longer in Kalifornia, along with many others, contributing to the politicians coufers.
My younger brother recently died from a heart attach and other complications, he never smoked a day in his life. The consequences of smoking bans (like smoking, so they say) take a long time to manifest themselves, so the politicos can blame them on other things, but they are coming. Lots of luck Indiana.
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