Smoking ban that city OK’d was altered a bit

Although a Columbia ban on smoking in public places won the approval of the Columbia City Council on a 4-3 vote early Tuesday morning, it came out of the meeting a bit different than it arrived.

Beginning Jan. 9, smoking will be against the law in Columbia restaurants, bars and other establishments open to the public. Second Ward Councilman Chris Janku proposed the effective date, reasoning that business owners might need the 90 days to adjust to the ban, that some groups might have events scheduled during which they expect to be able to smoke, and that Jan. 1 would be a lousy effective date, forcing New Year’s Eve revelers to snuff their smokes even as they toast the arrival of 2007.

Two significant amendments were met with the council’s approval. One, proposed by Janku, allows smoking on 50 percent of a bar or restaurant’s patio area, as long as patrons or employees don’t have to pass through the smoking section to access nonsmoking areas, bathrooms or exits. The Columbia/Boone County Health Department had refused to exempt patios, saying that would give an unfair advantage to business owners who have them.

Fifth Ward Councilwoman Laura Nauser scoffed at that notion.

“It is not the place of city government to provide a level playing field,” she said. “That is just totally contrary to our form of government.”

Fourth Ward Councilman Jim Loveless proposed an amendment regarding exemptions for membership associations, such as the American Legion, the Elks Lodge or the Knights of Columbus, saying they should be forced to comply with the smoking ban when they hold “any event to which the general public is invited.” That means bingo nights or any other public activities will not be exempt.

In the end, however, Loveless voted against the ban, saying he could find no compelling public health issue, given that nonsmokers have many smoke-free environments from which to choose and that many people who work in smoking environments are smokers themselves.

When the vote was taken at about 1 a.m., Nauser and First Ward Councilwoman Almeta Crayton sided with Loveless, while Janku, Mayor Darwin Hindman, Third Ward Councilman Bob Hutton and Sixth Ward Councilwoman Barbara Hoppe supported it.