ST. CHARLES • Familiar smoking-ban battle lines were drawn again Monday night at the first of three City Council hearings, with advocates making health arguments and opponents warning about violating business property rights.
“My hope here is you all consider the dangers of second-hand smoke and the potential freedom of those of us who cannot be in smoky places,†said Gayle Horn, a retired educator.
Sarah Brecht, another city resident, put it this way: “People like to eat a meal and drink at bars without a fog of smoke around them.â€
On the other side, Joe Wetter said smoking bans amount to a whittling away of individual freedom. “This tug of war between smokers and non-smokers leaves the property owner as the rope,†he said.
Another opponent was Tony Bethmann, who owns a restaurant-bar in the city’s North Main Street district.
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He said if the city really wants to protect the public, it should instead outlaw sugary drinks and deep fryers to combat what he said is the nation’s top health problem — obesity.
He also complained that city officials have said previously that a main goal of any city ban would be exempting the Ameristar Casino, which channels millions of dollars in tax revenue each year to the city.
“The only reason they’re doing this is to placate the casino,†Bethmann said.
He noted that Ameristar already is the only business in the city allowed to serve alcoholic drinks until 3 a.m.
Mayor Sally Faith has said she wants the council to enact a smoking ban exempting the casino to try to blunt efforts at the St. Charles County Council to impose a countywide prohibition that might include Ameristar.Â
The mayor at the hearing didn’t mention Ameristar but said “we don’t want to walk behind the bus, we want to drive the bus†on the smoking issue. The meeting was at City Hall.
Council members also said they will consider other exemptions, such as for bars, veterans halls and bowling alleys.
The County Council voted last year to put before voters a two-proposition countywide package but it was blocked by an election official and a judge.
Voters would have been asked whether to ban smoking in workplaces and enclosed public places. A second ballot question was on exempting places restricting customers and employees to people 21 and older, including the casino and bars.
The county sponsor — County Councilman Joe Cronin, R-St. Paul — wants to try again next year but is letting the city consider the issue first.
“I’m going to let them struggle a little bit with exemptions and see what they come up with,†he said in a telephone interview Monday.
The city’s other smoking-ban hearings will be at 7 p.m. next Monday at St. Charles West High School, 3601 Droste Road, and 7 p.m. May 20 at Memorial Hall in Blanchette Park, 1900 West Randolph Street.
