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A divided Wichita City Council on Tuesday gave its nod of approval to an indoor smoking ban.
The measure, crafted as a compromise but passed by just a 4-3 vote, applies to any business that admits people younger than 18. That means bars are exempt so long as they keep out minors and post warning signs about second-hand smoke.
The vote was only an initial one. The measure comes up again in June for a second reading, likely with some minor changes.
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The City Council approved an indoor smoking ban Tuesday in all Wichita businesses that allow people under age 18 though the doors.
But bars may remain smoker-friendly if they keep minors out and post a sign at each entrance warning that it could be smoky inside.
The ban would go into effect in late August or early September at the earliest. The council will have a second-reading vote June 3 to formally enact it.
The city also opted to ban smoking at Century II and Mid-Continent Airport, the only two city-owned facilities that still allow smoking.
Now it appears the Big Day has come. The Council is finally poised to discuss and vote on a smoking ban. And everyone seems to expect a showdown. Clean Air Wichita, for example, announced by e-mail that speakers from the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, a local health care group and their leaders will be at the meeting. They oppose the ban because they say it doesn't go far enough -- they want something that bans smoking at all businesses, not just food service businesses.
The votes line-up in favor of the compromised ban
The Wichita City Council today approved a smoking ban in all businesses that allow people under age 18 through the doors. People can still smoke at bars as long as the bar posts a sign warning of the health danger and keeps minors out.
It will be months before the ban goes into effect.
According to new research findings published today in the Southern Medical Journal, if Kentucky fails to implement and enforce strong tobacco control policies more than 17,000 state residents will needlessly die prematurely from smoking over just the next fifteen to twenty years. Kentucky currently has the highest adult smoking rate in the United States. Kentucky also has weak public policies addressing smoking, with a cigarette tax ranked 46th of all states and tobacco control expenditures ranked 39th among states.
Using a model called SimSmoke, researchers from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation studied the effect such policies can have on future smoking prevalence and smoking-attributable deaths in Kentucky. SimSmoke is a computer simulation of tobacco control policy effects developed by David Levy, Ph.D., the study's author and a senior research scientist at PIRE. . . .
The model examined the impact of tobacco control policies specifically recommended in the Healthy People 2010 goals,
The American Lung Association and Clean Air Wichita announced Friday that they will oppose the proposed smoking ban Wichita City Council members will consider next week.
In a statement, the association said Wichita's "flawed" proposal "creates an uneven playing field for businesses, makes enforcement difficult and does not protect the health of all people in Wichita."
Meanwhile, Clean Air Wichita, which has pressed for a "comprehensive" smoking ban, also criticized the proposed ban, saying in an e-mail to its members that the group "does not want to settle for this watered-down ordinance."
Under the proposed ordinance, which appears to have enough council support to pass, indoor smoking would be banned at any food service business that allows people under age 18 to enter.
The clean-air ordinance that went into effect in Newton in January doesn’t seem to be affecting businesses negatively — or positively — as some had predicted.
While the afternoon coffee drinkers might not come in on a regular basis anymore and some smoking travelers may keep moving, they have been replaced with people who appreciate the smokeless environment.
“It’s nice going into a place and not having to put up with the smoke,” said Norman Vogts of Hutchinson, whose wife recently passed away from emphysema. “I used to be a trucker, and they don’t need to smoke in (the restaurants).”
Vern and Lu Nutters of McPherson agree.
The American Lung Association today ramped up its opposition to the partial smoking ban Wichita City Council members will consider next week.
Meanwhile, Clean Air Wichita, which has pressed for a "comprehensive" smoking ban, also criticized the proposed ban, saying the group "does not want to settle for this watered-down ordinance."
Under Wichita's proposed ordinance, indoor smoking would be banned at any food service business that allows people under the age of 18 to enter.
But it won't affect non-food businesses. And it allows people to smoke in bars that post signs indicating they allow smoking, bar anyone under 18 from entering and pay a $250 annual license fee.
After months of discussion, the Wichita City Council is ready to vote Tuesday on an ordinance that would ban indoor smoking at any food-service business that allows people under the age of 18.
That would end smoking in most cafes and restaurants, and it would let bars allow smoking if they keep out kids under 18, post a sign on the front door and pay a $250 annual licensing fee. . . .
Carol Thompson, a Galette regular, said she looks forward to the day when she can go into any restaurant and not have to worry about her sinuses.
She and her friends seek out smoke-free restaurants.
Kansas City, Kan., residents who want to follow Kansas City's example and adopt a wide-ranging smoking ban may find a recent survey interesting.
The survey conducted by the Unified Government showed that 63 percent supported a ban on smoking in enclosed places of employment and all enclosed public spaces. It also showed that nearly 50 percent would want bars and private clubs exempted.
If the results of a community-wide survey empower Unified Govern-ment Commissioners, Kansas City, Kan., residents could expect to be asked to approve a smoking ban ordinance and a quarter-cent sales tax soon.
The survey, administered by the UG's Research Division, was sent out to 3,500 KCK addresses in mid-January. Subtracting those sent to bad addresses and vacant lots, 2,739 were eventually delivered, and 775 surveys ultimately returned, a response rate of 28.3 percent.
A proposed statewide ban on smoking inside most public places appears stalled in the Legislature.
But debate on the matter looks to be far from over.
Lawmakers left for their annual spring break earlier this month without voting on legislation that would outlaw smoking in bars, restaurants and workplaces.
A Senate committee endorsed a bill last month that provided a handful of exceptions to the ban but the measure never came up for discussion before the full chamber.
Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, said it isn't likely to resurface after lawmakers return for their wrap-up session April 30.
Today I'm ten days into a journey that, five years ago, I didn't think I would find myself in the midst of. Five years ago, I was just a 15-year-old kid with my whole life ahead of me and nothing prompting me to actually acknowledge that fact. In short, I might have been old enough to know better, but I was certainly young enough not to care. So I started smoking.
Little did I know how hard it would be to quit. . . .
I'm "sticking to my guns" when it comes to the rights of others to make their own decisions, however self-destructive they may be. I refuse to become a self-righteous, cigarette crushing ex-smoker simply because I've made a lifestyle change.
Above all else, I know that quitting smoking doesn't happen out of sensitivity to the criticism of others or concern for the opinions of any collective society. It comes only from a personal choice, conviction and dedication to quitting, and only the smoker can make that choice.
The new ySTART Addiction Education Program from Realityworks gives young people an experience with tobacco addiction using handheld technology. The PreventPak Addiction Simulator employs behavior modification principles to help teens practice refusal skills in a true-to-life peer pressure situation. A two-day simulation is paired with an engaging curriculum-designed to meet the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines for health education programs to prevent tobacco use and addiction. Upon completion of the simulation, reports are generated that measure each participant's performance. The goal of the ySTART Program is to influence healthy behaviors in young people before tobacco robs their power to resist.
Kansas City's April ballot proposal to prohibit smoking in bars and restaurants has prompted the same debate here as in virtually every other city that has weighed or approved such a ban:
Should public health trump business owners' rights?
Few dispute that long-term secondhand smoke exposure is harmful -- including for bar and restaurant employees. Advocates of the ban say smokers can simply step outside to indulge their habit, and everyone else benefits.
But Kansas City's restaurant and tavern owners say such policies put them at an unfair disadvantage and could devastate their business.
Academic studies show that some businesses have suffered losses, but the overall economic effect has been minimal.
A May 2006 report by University of Kansas researcher Michael H. Fox found a 4 to 11 percent reduction in revenues for neighborhood and sports bars in some communities, but not for restaurants.