Tobacco.org

Smoking ban creates talk, but no action 

Julie Johnson says a smoking ban at Eau Claire taverns has not only caused a huge dip in her bar's businesses, it's made for a mess.

"Eau Claire has become a city dump," the owner of the 5 O'Clock Club on Fenwick Avenue told the Chippewa Falls City Council on Tuesday. Drunks are going outside to smoke and leaving litter, she said.

"Do you want people and cigarette butts outside? " she asked the council.

The city's Transportation Committee, which oversees public safety issues, has spent three meetings looking into a potential workplace smoking ban, but so far has taken no action.

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