Smoking views aired

From the entrance of the Daniel Boone City Building on Monday night, the two main organizations concerned with the proposed smoking ban were trying to catch allies by offering stickers: blue stickers for the Boone County Coalition for Tobacco Concerns and people who supported the ban, red ones for the Boone Liberty Coalition and people who opposed the ban.

By the time Mayor Darwin Hindman pounded the gavel Monday night to end a four-hour public hearing on a proposed ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and most other public places, speakers supporting the measure had outnumbered opponents by nearly two to one.

The City Council at press time had taken a break after hearing testimony from more than 60 speakers. Organized opponents and proponents of the measure were given the first hour and 20 minutes to make their cases and to rebut the other’s. “This is not an effort to vilify smokers in any way,” said Dean Andersen, co-director of the Boone County Coalition for Tobacco Concerns. “This is a health issue, not a moral issue.”

Recalling data about the negative effects of secondhand smoke, Andersen explained why his organization was in favor of the ban: “Protecting the health and safety of our community is a primary purpose of local government.”

“Secondhand smoke causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke... It’s time for local government to do what they are supposed to do, listen to their constituents and protect the health and safety of their community,” Andersen said.

Members of the Boone Liberty Coalition didn’t deny the health issues related to smoking and gave their arguments for why the ban should not be adopted.

“There is no question: smoking is bad for health,” said Greg Rennier, chairman of the Boone Liberty Coalition. But he said the decision to forbid smoking in restaurants and bars should be a personal property right.

“There is no doubt that smoking increases your risk of heart disease and lung cancer,” said Glenn Nielsen, another member of the Boone Liberty Coalition. But he said people exaggerate the effects of secondhand smoke.

For John Pelzer of the Missouri Restaurant Association, banning smoking from public places should instead be a statewide decision.

He said that when bans aren’t adopted on a state level, the impact on businesses is negative, because bars and restaurants in other cities keep an advantage. “I urge you to let the state address this,” he said to the council.

The level of public interest became evident when Hindman opened the hearing to general public comment.

Smoking bans “are a national trend, even an international trend,” Columbia resident David Sohl said. Columbia should not fall behind, he said.

But for owners of bars and restaurants, such a ban may change the number of customers that go to such places, said Pitt Potter, primary owner of the Arch and Column Pub.

“I do not like the uncertainty presented by a clientele that may change if the city passes a smoking ban,” Potter said. His partner DJ Lanza said that he is afraid that his customers will go to Jefferson City or Rocheport instead of staying in Columbia when they want to go out.

For other business owners, it’s not government’s role to decide what business owners should do inside their establishments.

“Why does it matter to them if my customers want to come into my bar and enjoy a drink and a cigarette?” said Doug Brady, manager of McGinty’s Bar.

Proponents of the ban responded with public health concerns. When Fourth Ward Councilman Jim Loveless asked proponent Ted Groshong why, if secondhand smoke was so bad, older generations didn’t have any problem with this issue, Groshong said that now people are more aware of the dangers of secondhand smoke.

— Missourian reporters Ben Hogan and Carly Romano contributed to this report.