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• Smoking ban to take effect Dec. 4 

A smoking ban ordinance approved by the Topeka City Council will take effect apparently on Dec. 4, Shawnee County Election Commissioner Elizabeth Ensley said Thursday.

The council voted 6-3 Tuesday to amend city rules by banning public smoking indoors and at places of employment, except in retail tobacco stores; outdoor places of employment; private places; private residences, except when used as a child care, adult day care or health care facility; and no more than 20 percent of hotel or motel rooms that are available to be rented to guests.

Assistant city attorney Braxton Copley said the measure is to take effect after notice of its passage has been published in the official city newspaper, which is the Topeka Metro News, and a subsequent 60-day period has passed.

Ensley said Thursday she'd been informed by the city clerk's office that the ordinance would be published Oct. 5, meaning the 60-day period would end and it would take effect Dec. 4.

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Topeka Smoking Ordinance (PDF) 

Attachments / click to download Ordinance

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VIDEO: Smoking ban sees Topekans speaking up 

Topekans are stating their case for or against a city-wide smoking ban to the city council at a forum Monday night.

The hearing starts at 5:30 p.m. and what the community has to say could determine how council members vote Tuesday night.

"Recognize your responsibilities and go with the health of your contingencies and vote the way 80 percent of your people want you to vote," says Allan Thomas. Thomas supports the ban.

"It's the appearance of some members of the council are attempting to micro-manage how business is conducted in Topeka," says Andrew Gray, a resident against the ban.

Council member Karen Hiller says what Gray suggests is not the case.

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VIDEO: Topeka city council approves smoking ban 

The Topeka city council has approved a city-wide smoking ban.

The vote was 6-3 with John Alcala, Sylvia Ortiz and Jack Woelfel voting against.

The ban will go into effect for indoor public places and places of employment in 60 days.

During Tuesday night's meeting, council members heard from about 17 citizens who all spoke in favor of the ban.

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Petitioning the Smoking Ban  

But, exceptions include: retail tobacco stores, and private places.

Business owners who oppose the smoking ban can circulate a protest petition-- and possibly force a public vote on the smoking ban.

Restaurant owners have the time to put up signs saying their establishment is going "smoke free" and even prepare an outdoor patio to accommodate smokers.

However, there is also time for opponents to submit a petition, and a new ordinance, to appeal or amend the ban.

If the petition is legally valid, state law requires the council to adopt the accompanying ordinance within 20 days, or give the public a vote on it within 90 days.

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Local hotel director concerned about details of smoking ordinance  

The smoking ban ordinance has some exceptions, meaning you can smoke in private buildings, homes and hotels.

Lee Evans, director of operations at the Country Inn and Suites, said that's not a problem.

He said the problem is having an ordinance that's hard to enforce and understand.

“It’s contradictory language,” he said.

Evans said it starts on page nine of the ordinance that says smoking is prohibited in hotels and motels, where 80 percent of rooms are available for rent to guests. . . .

no more than 20 percent of rooms can be smoking.

Evans said he'd prefer it be all or nothing.

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Letter: Smokeless trip  

I recently returned from an eight-day trip to the twin cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn., where smoking in public places is not allowed. It was a delight to enter a restaurant or bar and not be saturated in secondhand smoke.

The fact that every venue we entered was filled to capacity demonstrates that the nonsmoking law didn't hamper any customers from enjoying these places. We made a side trip to Wisconsin but returned to Minnesota to eat when we could not find a restaurant with a nonsmoking regulation.

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Council passes smoking ban 

The Topeka City Council on Tuesday evening snuffed out smokers' ability to light up in public places, with limited exceptions.

The council voted 6-3 to approve a clean air ordinance sponsored by Councilwoman Deborah Swank, who voted in favor of the measure along with Karen Hiller, Larry Wolgast, Bob Archer, Jeff Preisner and Richard Harmon.

Council members John Alcala, Sylvia Ortiz and Jack Woelfel dissented.

The outcome drew loud applause from an audience consisting mostly of smoking ban supporters, who filled the majority of the 122 public seats in council chambers.

Swank said afterward that medical studies show the council's action will clearly save lives. . . .

After the council approved the ordinance, Bunten said he didn't feel inclined to veto it.

"The people of this community have indicated that they wanted this passed," he said.

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Smoking ban discussed at forum 

The Topeka City Council's second public hearing on a proposed smoking ban drew a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 people Monday evening.

The council in the forum at the city's Holliday Building heard comments from 50 speakers, including 37 supporters of the clean air ordinance and 13 people who oppose it in its current form.

Mayor Bill Bunten and all council members but Sylvia Ortiz attended the hearing, which lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes.

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Blog Hoggers: No smoking  

The Topeka City Council say they listened to the majority of residents in passing a clean air ordinance Tuesday night.

Are you for or against the ordinance? Will it help or hinder local businesses -- namely bars and restaurants?

Have something to say that doesn't pertain to the content of one of our stories?

Say it here.

Join the Blog Hoggers, a community within the community here at CJOnline.

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• TPD won't be 'smoking police'  

Don't expect the Topeka Police Department to become the "smoking police" in the wake of Tuesday's city council adoption of a smoking ban.

"The TPD will only be involved in the enforcement of the ordinance at the point that the businesses need help with those who refuse to comply," Police Chief Ron Miller said Wednesday.

Miller spoke after the council voted 6-3 Tuesday to amend city rules by banning public smoking indoors and at places of employment, except in retail tobacco stores; outdoor places of employment; private places; private residences, except when used as a child care, adult day care or health care facility; and no more than 20 percent of hotel or motel rooms that are available to be rented to guests. The ordinance also bans smoking within 10 feet of the main entrance or air handling unit of a public place, which is defined as "any enclosed area to which the public is invited or in which the public is permitted." It requires the owner, manager, operator or other person having control of a place where smoking is banned to take all necessary steps to prevent it.

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EDITORIAL: Hard evidence 

A new Kansas University study on public smoking bans provides just the kind of evidence Gov. Mark Parkinson needs to help promote a statewide smoking ban. . . .

The KU researchers have their sights set on a nationwide ban, but a statewide ban in their home state would be a good first step. A statewide ban needs to minimize exceptions that would water down its health benefits. The Lawrence law wouldn’t be a bad example to follow.

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Smoking ban benefits come swiftly 

These findings are particularly important in light of mounting evidence that secondhand smoke exposure is nearly as harmful as smoking. Direct smoking doubles the risk of heart attack, while secondhand smoke increases the risk by 30 percent. According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, 400 Kansans die each year as a result of secondhand smoke inhalation.

Immediate benefits

The KU study also found that smoking bans have immediate benefits, with declines in reported heart attack cases within three months.

“Within minutes of the ban, it is going to start having an effect on heart attacks,” Meyers said.

Heart attacks are being used as a measuring stick — instead of lung cancer and emphysema, for example — because they don’t take years of exposure to develop. . . .

“A few years ago, the Clean Indoor Air Act couldn’t get the votes it needed to be passed out of a committee,” Parkinson said. “Last year, the act passed the Senate Chamber, and we will make a significant push to continue that success this session in the House.”

According to a 2007 Kansas Adult Tobacco Survey, 71 percent of voters favor a statewide smoke-free law, and nearly one-third of voters who smoke support the same law.

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LETTER: Not well-thought-out  

I appreciate your editorial on our governor's push for a statewide ban on smoking in public places (Sept. 8).

However, your comment that "We like the idea of raising tobacco taxes" is not-well-thought out, in my opinion.

The segment of the population with the highest percent of smokers is the less-educated, lower-income citizens. Higher taxes will more than likely reduce the amount of money spent for food on their kids' table -- not reduce tobacco purchases. . . .

In the lawsuit of 1995, we sought compensation from big tobacco companies for costs the state incurred from smoking-related hospitalization and treatments. . . .

Heck, if I were big tobacco, I'd counter-sue Kansas for misrepresentation of [apparently unneeded] damages.

About 1 percent of those millions has been spent on the intended redress, and that's mostly on smoker hotlines -- not smokers' connected medical costs, not counseling, not smoking cessation products, not support groups, etc.

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Group Clears Air Over Smoking Ban  

One group of Topekans got together Thursday to clear the air over a no-smoking ordinance under consideration.

The "Clean Air Topeka" coalition held a meeting at the Kansas Medical Society to urge the Topeka City Council to approve a no-smoking ordinance.

The group says they don't want to ban smoking, just restrict it in indoor public places and places of employment.

The coalition says by not having a smoking restriction, Topeka won't be able to compete with cities that do have one. They believe Topeka will lose business and development to Lawrence and Manhattan.

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