City hears citizen opinions on smoking ban at extended meeting
Those against the proposal said it was a matter of the government intervening too much into their personal and business decisions, and those in favor claimed it would protect restaurant patrons and workers from exposure to second-hand smoke.
Published March 10, 2006
Passionate demonstrators showed up Tuesday night to the Columbia City Council chambers in the Daniel Boone City Building as the Columbia/Boone County Board of Health heard comments about proposed changes to Columbia's smoking laws. The proposal would ban smoking in Columbia restaurants and bars.
"We will take your comments and review and discuss them at our next meeting," said Dr. Michael Szewczyk, the Board of Health chairman, as he opened the hearing.
At its next meeting the board will make changes to the proposal before sending it to the City Council.
At the meeting, supporters of the ban wore blue stickers and most sat on the left side of the room. Most people opposing the ban sat on the right of the chamber's aisle and wore red stickers.
"Smoke don't bother me," Columbia resident Bill Easley said. "Leave this up to the people. We're getting too much government. I hate this government... If people are stupid enough to walk into these places, let them suffer. Don't play God."
Boone Liberty Coalition member John Dupuy said the smoking ban is an issue of choice and something his organization does not support.
"We don't think the government should be telling us how to make our personal health choices, and walking into a smoking establishment is a health choice," he said. "We don't want this precedent set in Columbia like it has been elsewhere."
John Pelzer, director of government relations for the Missouri Restaurant Association, told the board he did not come to the meeting to take a position on the proposal but rather to promote the right of business owners to make choices for their businesses.
"The MRA opposes smoking bans and restrictions imposed by ocal governments on businesses that keep them from making their own choices," he said. "We don't understand why the government feels it must intervene. This is a free market society, and we should let the free market work."
He said a general ban would be unfair to Columbia businesses because people would take business elsewhere.
Those supporting the ban claimed it would protect restaurant patrons and restaurant workers from exposure to second-hand smoke.
Columbia resident Mahree Skala told the board that the government has a duty to protect workers in bars and restaurants from the harm of second-hand smoke.
"We have a long history of public health regulation for worker safety," she said. "I feel very strongly that to extend this ban to all workplaces is to extend protection to all workers. People who work in other settings don't have to deal with exposure to tobacco smoke, but workers in bars and restaurants do."
Sally Reeves, a member of the Boone County Coalition for Tobacco Concerns, said Columbia could pioneer this issue if the ban is passed.
"Entire cities, states and countries have gone smoke-free to protect public health," she said. "Let's let Columbia be a leading community in Missouri when it comes to protecting public health. Smoking is a choice, breathing is not."