THE CAMPAIGN BY THE GREATER ST. LOUIS BOWLING ASSOCIATION IS UNDERWAY, KICKED OFF WEDNESDAY IN A JOINT APPEARANCE WITH CITIZENS AGAINST PROPOSITION.
STORY AND PHOTO, COURTESY OF KMOX
Tobacco fight -- smoking ban debate gets hot in city and county
Kevin Killeen Reporting
kakilleen@cbs.com
UNIVERSITY CITY, MO (KMOX) -- Like a cigar gripped in the teeth of an eager puffer, the debate over the proposed St. Louis city and county smoking ban is blazing hot and billowing.
A coalition of merchants and others against the ban in St. Louis County warns it will hurt business and may be unconstitutional , while the author of the smoking ban bill in the city insists it will save lives.
At a news conference in University City, a group that includes bar owners, tobacco merchants and an evangelical preacher blasted the ban.
Bar owner Marty Ginsberg, who runs the Sports Page Bar and Grill in Chesterfield, says the ban would come at a bad time, on top of the recession and as the Cardinals died in the playoffs.
"The cash flow is not what it used to be, " Ginsberg said, "And if this would go into effect, every little bit hurts. It's a tough enough business as it is."
The owner of John's Pipe Shop in Clayton, Gerard Ezvan, says he fears fewer people would buy tobacco from him. "We have customers coming into the shop to buy a cigar on their way to have a drink," Ezvan said, "If there's a ban, they're not going to stop in the shop to a buy a cigar to enjoy it."
The President of the Greater St. Louis Bowling Proprietors Association, Tom Shucart , says the 23
bowling alleys in St. Louis County may suffer a loss of business.
"A certain percentage of our bowlers smoke," Shucart said, "and if they're not able to do something they would chose to in a certain area, then they're going to take their business elsewhere, and we're going to lose that money to some other form of entertainment, casinos or whatever."
Both proposed bans in the city and county would exempt casino floors and that's what bothers the Reverend Harold Hendrick, a nonsmoker, but longtime opponent of gambling.
"It points to an unhealthy, defacto partnership of government with casinos," Hendrick said. "In this case the government is willing to exclude casinos because it certainly appears they hope all the citizens possible will go the casinos and lose as much money as possible."
St. Louis County voters are set to decide the issue November 3rd.
Meanwhile, the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen is set to open debate Friday on a smoking ban that would be enacted simultaneous with the county.
After going through committee like a bale of tobacco chopped up and cured for market, the bill now includes the exemption for casino floors, plus a five year moratorium for small bars less than 15-hundred square feet. (Some aldermen own small bars.)
The sponsor of the bill, Central West End Alderwoman Lyda Krewson, says all the huffing and puffing over the potential of lost business is not the issue. "I think most of the voters in St. Louis city understand that this is a health issue, " Krewson said, "that second hand smoke is really bad for all of our health."
Krewson also disputes the claims of those who say it will hurt business, citing a study out of Columbia, Missouri. "There is a study from Columbia, Missouri when they enacted smoke free legislation," Krewson said, "The sales tax or the revenue from bars actually went up from year to year."
When asked if the study may have been skewed by the number of Mizzou students who turned twenty-one that year, Krewson laughed and said doesn't know if that may have been a factor.
Despite all the opposition to her vision of enacting the simultaneous smoking ban, Krewson remains convinced that the majority is on her side.
"Nationwide, about 20-percent of the population smokes, "Krewson said, "In Missouri, it's about 25 percent. So, certainly the vast majority of people don't smoke. And smokers are used to going outside to smoke, even in their own homes."
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