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Smoke-free proposal pits advocates against businesses
Maryville Daily Forum
10/26/2009
Maryville, Mo. -
A proposal by a local advocacy group for a municipal ordinance that would ban smoking in all workplaces inside the city limits lit up a public hearing before the Maryville City Council Monday night.
About 60 people crowded into the council chambers to give their views, both pro and con, on the proposed statute, which is backed by Citizens for a Smoke-Free Nodaway County.
Though it's gone under a couple of different names, the organization is essentially the same group that mounted a successful campaign culminating in a 2003 ordinance that banned smoking in local restaurants and banquet facilities.
A number of smoke-free proponents addressed the council, including Teri Harr, the health education coordinator for St, Francis Hospital and Health Services, and Harr's husband, Patrick Harr, a local physician.
Teri Harr claimed servers and other employees working an eight-hour shift inside a bar where smoking is allowed consume enough secondhand smoke to equal 16 cigarettes. She said she hoped the city's governing board would prove itself to be a "strong council that makes a decision to protect all workers."
Patrick Harr summarized research he said proves that "there is no safe way to exclude people from secondhand smoke," which he described as having serious cardiovascular consequences. "Even exposure for an hour or less can trigger an acute coronary event," he said.
On the other side of the debate were local business owners and managers who fear a workplace smoking ban will drive away customers.
"This will kill the American Legion," said Maryville Legion Commander Amos Clampit, who submitted a petition he said contained the names of 899 persons opposed to the workplace smoking prohibition. He said the signatures were collected at the Legion Hall, a local cigarette retail store and a local tavern.
Deon and Jodee Roush, owners of Maryville's Bearcat Lanes bowling alley, said they feared the ban, if adopted, would put them out of business.
"After 35 years of operating a business in Maryville, we feel that we need to have input, and that we have the right to accommodate all of our customers," said Jodee Roush. "What are we going to do, send our customers out to stand in a snowbank and draw a line in the gravel? That's absurd."
The proposed ordinance would prohibit smoking within 20 feet of a workplace entrance.
Bryan Lemons, a smoker who owns Downing's Barbershop across the street from City Hall, said he usually doesn't allow smoking in his shop during business hours, but does sometimes and thinks the choice should be his.
"It's my decision, it's my business," Lemons said. "It's not the City Council's decision. It's my business and my choice."
A second public hearing on the proposed smoking ordinance is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, at City Hall.
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