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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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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.
Two tobacco companies must remove their cigarettes from Kansas distribution for the next two years as part of a $2.6 million judgment against them announced today by the Attorney General’s Office.
As a result of the judgment, Veneto, S.A. and Tapti Tobacco Products, Pvt., Ltd., are barred from selling the Nova or American Hero brand cigarettes within state lines.
The penalties resulted from the companies failing to pay into the state escrow fund created as a result of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement reached in 1998 after 46 states, including Kansas, sued major tobacco companies seeking to recoup the costs of treating sick smokers. State Medicaid programs spend millions yearly for treatment of tobacco-related illness.
And with little hoopla, every state but Wyoming has passed laws that mandate fire-safe cigarettes.
In Kansas, fire-safe cigarettes have been the law since July 1. In Missouri, the most recent state to adopt the standard, the law takes effect in September 2010.
Fire-safe cigarettes are sold on both sides of the state line. They can be identified by the small initials "FSC" on the packs.
But as fire-safe cigarettes have spread nationwide, complaints from smokers have followed. An online petition calling for the repeal of fire-safe cigarette laws now has more than 7,000 signatures.
Smokers from across the country fill Internet sites with complaints about headaches, coughing fits, nausea and other maladies they attribute to the new cigarettes.
They point to a 2005 study from the Harvard School of Public Health that found the smoke from fire-safe cigarettes contained on average 11 percent more carbon monoxide and 14 percent more naphthalene -- the ingredient in mothballs -- than conventional cigarettes. The Harvard researchers consider the differences negligible, however.
Discontented smokers also claim the new cigarettes are laced with more chemical additives, most notably ethylene vinyl acetate, an adhesive used to glue cigarettes together.
"They're horrible. I've been waking up with headaches, body aches, coughing like I'm hacking up a lung," said Jamie Bartlett, 21, of Grandview. "I just thought I was getting sick until someone pointed (the fire-safe cigarettes) out to me."
The new cigarettes have no additional ethylene vinyl acetate or other chemicals, said David Sutton, a spokesman for Philip Morris USA.
"We don't add any other ingredients not found in traditional cigarette manufacturing," Sutton said. "They're just like traditional cigarettes." . . .
Philip Morris plans to phase out conventional cigarettes by the first half of next year. R.J. Reynolds cigarettes could all be fire-safe by the end of this year.
But it may take years before we see the full effect of the new cigarettes on fire deaths.
Opponents of Salina's clean indoor air ordinance have come up significantly short of the signatures they needed on a petition seeking a special election to repeal the ordinance.
Although the opponents claimed to have gathered 2,150 signatures, the Saline County Clerk's office counted only 1,757 signatures on the 90 pages of petitions that were turned in June 9 by Gary Swartzendruber and Beth Owens.
Opponents were seeking to force a vote to repeal the ordinance, which took effect May 2. The ordinance bans smoking in nearly all public places, including bars, private clubs and bingo parlors.
Of the 1,757 signatures on the petitions, workers in the county clerk's office could verify that only 994 belonged to registered voters living in Salina -- well short of the 1,390 required to trigger a special election . . .
Some ban opponents have expressed their desire to keep circulating petitions for repeal of the ordinance as often as every six months, if need be, until they reach the number of signatures necessary or city commissioners repeal the ordinance, Swartzendruber said.
But they should consider the staff time and its cost to the county, he said. He estimated that with 150 hours invested in verifying the signatures, the cost could reach as high as several thousand dollars.
The effort by opponents of Salina's month-old public smoking ban to get Salina city commissioners to reconsider adding exemptions for bars, private clubs and other establishments ended with a simple two-word benediction from the commissioner responsible for bringing the matter back up for discussion.
"Let's vote," Commissioner Tom Arpke said in referring to Salina voters, who it appears will get the chance to express how they feel about the issue at the ballot box in a special election.
Because the commission chose at Monday's meeting not to repeal the controversial ordinance, the voters themselves will be asked to decide if repeal is warranted.
Opponents say they have enough signatures on a petition to put the question to a special election. . . .
Saline County Clerk Don Merriman said late Monday there's a lot to do to get ready for a special election, which might be sometime in July.
He noted that his office has to verify the signatures on the petitions, and that could be four or five days, depending on the condition of the petitions. He said about 1,390 signatures are needed.
In addition, the wording on the ballot has to be set, ballots printed, machines programmed and delivered to polling places, and more than 100 people have to be hired to work the election.
All of that adds up to about $20,000 to stage the special election, he said.
Exemptions from the smoking ban in Kansas City, Kan., come easy -- fork over an annual $250 fee and let your patrons light up.
The owners of 69 businesses, nearly all restaurants and bars, have bought the right to create smoker-friendly havens since the ban took effect Feb. 24. They'll be able to purchase that right through 2011, when the city's Unified Government will eliminate the paid exemption.
But that option isn't for everyone. Take Bob Breitenstein, owner of Breit's Stein and Deli in the Strawberry Hill neighborhood.
Breitenstein hasn't tried to escape the ban. Not yet, anyway. He didn't create a designated smoking section or opt to allow smoking after 9 p.m., as the city requires for exemption-seeking businesses that also cater to minors.
"I have kids that come in here and eat lunch, and I didn't think taping off a few tables would work," he said. "Tape on the floor isn't going to stop the smoke from going over."
Breitenstein said that his decision wasn't based on principle and that if business began to slide he would probably purchase an exemption.
Salina city commissioners Monday discussed, but let pass, the opportunity to repeal or delay a comprehensive citywide ban on smoking in public places scheduled to take effect Saturday.
They took no action after commissioner Aaron Peck chastised the leading advocate for repeal for insinuating that voters would be too stupid to figure out their ballots if opponents petitioned for a public vote.
"Let's face it, some voters are more or less likely to be confused, and or less sophisticated than others at the ballot," Gary Swartzendruber, of Salina, told commissioners.
"I am asking for one of you to initiate the motion to repeal the ban. And I'm asking that at least three of you vote for a repeal," he said. . . .
A group of Salinans against the stricter smoking ban already have collected signatures on a petition calling for a public vote on its repeal.
In a recount of votes concerning Emporia’s smoking ban Tuesday, the “yes” votes stayed the same at 2,369, while the “no” votes lost two to come out at 2,361.
Lyon County clerk Tammy Vopat announced the results before the Board of Canvassers Tuesday after the recount was complete.
Vopat said the two lost votes could be because of a tally error or an error with a tabulator. The touch screen machines were all balanced, she said.
Michael Helbert, who filed for the recount on Monday, said he was disappointed with the results, but he accepted the outcome.
By the smoke-thin margin of a mere six votes, Emporia voters have approved a ban on smoking in public places in the city.
The Lyon County Commission considered 74 provisional ballots Friday. With that total added to Tuesday’s general election, 2,369 voters supported the ban with 2,363 against.
An ordinance passed last December on a 3-2 vote by the Emporia City Commission was delayed by a petition seeking the public vote. Steve Corbin, an Emporia tavern order who led the referendum drive, said Friday he considers the issue to be all but over.
“It was close and we’re not real happy, but our side lost,’’ Corbin said. “Some people are talking about asking for a recount, and we have until Monday to ask for one.
The City of Winfield will soon have a legal fight on its hands. The Winfield chapter of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) made good on a promise to challenge the city commission's Nov. 3, 2008, decision to ban smoking in all public places in the city, including private clubs, with a lawsuit, according to Winfield City Attorney Bill Muret.
"The VFW filed a motion requesting a temporary stay of the ordinance," said Muret.
Wichita-based attorney Orlin Wagner originally filed the suit requesting a temporary injunction of the ban in the Cowley County District Court on Jan. 1, Muret said. . . .
On Dec. 22, 2008, Harvey County District Judge Carl Anderson ruled that the ban does not violate any constitutional rights and dismissed the lawsuit.
You have to hand it to Leonard Dahl. He and other opponents of a new and tougher smoking ban are excellent strategists.
Dahl is one of the organizers of a petition drive to repeal the near-total ban that was approved by the Salina City Commission in January. They were successful at collecting more than 1,600 signatures -- more than the 1,390 signatures required to trigger a public vote.
As reported by the Journal's David Clouston, organizers deliberately chose not to turn in the petition by Monday's deadline for getting the proposal added to the April 7 school board and city election ballot.
Now the petitioners can call a special election for a later date, which will cost city taxpayers about $20,000 because an additional public vote will be held.
Dahl said they purposely passed the deadline to give smoking ban opponents two shots at repealing it.
Salina bar owner Leonard Dahl calls himself a "primary issue" candidate, his primary issue being repealing a controversial, near-total ban on smoking in public places before the ban takes effect.
He said Tuesday he's heard not one gripe about what amounts to forcing city leaders to hold a special election to consider the smoking ban's fate -- at a cost of about $20,000.
"It's all been pats on the back. The law is the law, and we're staying well within it," Dahl said. "And anyone who is in favor of getting rid of (the stricter ban) agrees two shots is better than one."
Dahl and other proponents of repealing the tougher smoking ordinance, which was approved on a 3-2 vote of Salina city commissioners in January, hope to elect commissioners in April who will vote to overturn the ordinance. Short of that, they hope a new commission will vote to allow a special election to decide the issue.
Opponents of the new ordinance already have collected more than 1,600 signatures -- more than the 1,390 signatures required to trigger a public vote.
Rather than an all-out prohibition on indoor smoking, the ordinance exempts businesses that pay an annual $250 fee. And Jerry's Neighborhood Sports Bar was more than willing to put up the $250 -- with help from its regulars.
Customers have been stuffing coins and bills into a Folger's coffee can labeled "smoking fund."
Debbie Bell, the manager at Jerry's, said an all-out ban would threaten the mom-and-pop businesses that depend on offering a convivial place to light up.
"Basically, Wyandotte County is full of blue-collar workers," Bell said. "The average blue collar likes to come in, relax, have a beer and smoke a cigarette or a cigar."
So far, 25 businesses have received the exemption. For health advocates, that's 25 too many.
After listening to an hour and half of comment, primarily from opponents, Salina City Commissioners on Monday voted 3-2 to pass an ordinance that will ban smoking in basically all indoor places, except for private homes.
Proponents call the ordinance a good step for Salina and for the state.
"It moves Salina to the direction of being a truly progressive city. It will change the mind-set in a positive way," said Trent Davis, a local neurologist and member of the Salina Area Tobacco Prevention Coalition.
The ordinance will replace the one that Salinans passed in 2002.
The new ordinance prohibits smoking in all areas of a building that the public or employees would be expected to occupy. It includes lobbies, hallways and break rooms, all city-owned buildings and vehicles, all vehicles used for public transportation, all restaurants, bars, bingo parlors and bowling alleys, all private clubs and the area within 10 feet of a building's primary entrance.
A large crowd was one hand for Monday's meeting.