Jump to full article: St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch, 2009-11-04
Author: Phil Sutin ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Intro: St. Louis County voters on Tuesday simultaneously made most public places there and in the city smoke-free.
With light turnout -- about 20 percent of the county's 705,000 registered voters -- about two-thirds of them favored Proposition N, which, with some exemptions, bans smoking in public places on Jan. 2, 2011.
The ban applies to the city also because the Board of Aldermen last month approved a similar measure, contingent on county passage. The city ban, including exemptions, also takes effect Jan. 2, 2011.
With the statewide ban in Illinois, Tuesday's vote means that two-thirds of the St. Louis area's population will live in an area that bans smoking in public places.
Meanwhile, Kirkwood voters overwhelmingly passed a separate ban that is more strict than the county's, in that it applies to all bar-restaurants. The county's ban exempts bars that don't sell a lot of food, but does allow municipalities to enact stricter bans. The county's exceptions also include casino gaming floors and the smoking lounges at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. . . .
Voss predicted that his association would challenge the smoking ban in court. The ban, he said, "is so unfair."
Bill Hannegan, a leading opponent of smoking bans, said he and his supporters soon will consider whether to challenge the constitutionality of the exemption for casinos gaming floors. He called it "special interest" legislation.
Some Kirkwood bar and restaurant owners who fought the last smoking ban proposal there in 2006 did not wage a campaign this time.
"There was no organized opposition in Kirkwood, as far as I know," said
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