St. Louis County Council (Sort Of) Endorses No Smoking

The St. Louis County Council tonight made the first move to put a No Smoking in Public Places referendum on the November ballot.

Sort of.

The original bill written by Councilwoman Barbara Fraser was hotly debated and eventually watered down. The referendum if passes would permit smoking in casinos and bars where 75 percent or more of their business revenue is derived from alcohol sales.

Although there is no official word, it appears bowling centers would be on the ban list and its doubtful they could get an exemption using the 75 percent criteria.

The only chance for bowling centers to be exempt is to have the council amend the proposed referendum at its August 18th meeting, when they will vote whether or not to allow a public vote in November.

Vicki Bowman, general manager of Gladsone Bowl in suburban Kansas City, compiled an excellent report last year on the impact of such laws when smoking was banned in Kansas City, Mo. Her report include summaries of impact in states across the country.

The report was compiled for the Greater Kansas City Bowling Association and the Missouri Bowling Proprietors Association:

www.gladstone.mo.us/PDF_Files/smoking_report.pdf

This reporter is against the ban. We don't need a law. Centers can ban smoking now if they so choose, and several of them offer smoke free days and hours. First Watch restaurants in the Midwest have banned smoking for years. Smoking and non-smoking restaurants can exist together.

I can think of a couple of centers in the St. Louis area who will immediately start losing money if the law is passed.

I'll publish video clips and newspaper stories about this issue tomorrow.