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Council to take up smoking ban again  

GALVESTON -- Smoking advocates will find out today whether their lobbying against the smoking ban adopted by the city council earlier this year worked.

The council will consider drafting revisions to the smoking ordinance this week. The changes would be approved at a later meeting.

In July, the council adopted one of the strictest ordinances in the state, forbidding people from lighting up in bars, restaurants, outdoor seating areas, tobacco shops and private clubs.

The Galveston Restaurant Association supported the ban as proposed, which did not include tobacco shops and would have allowed smoking in outdoor seating areas.

But restaurant and bar owners balked at the more stringent restrictions.

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