St. Louis County OKs smoking ban

The real issue here is peoples rights! So, why is it that some feel their rights are above the rights of others!!! And smoking, is a persons' right. So, there should be both Smoking and Non-smoking establishments.

The ban is BS. A bar is a persons livelyhood, and since this ban on smoking, numerous bars, restaurants etc. have either folded or lost significant income, because of the state ban. Why cant we have Smoking Bars and Non Smoking Bars??? For the people who are offended by smoke; they can patronize non -smoking establishments and the smokers can have their freedom too. Its a win win situation. But, to treat smokers as lepers is taking away the freedom we risk our lives for in protecting this country.

From Ohio..... Dont do it Michigan. We enacted a statewide smoking ban and its greatly hurting bars and resturants, which means more job losses. Unless you want your unemployment rates to go up even higher I would stay away from the issue

The law is crap.

State wide would make it fair to all businesses but from what I have seen in Kansas City the smoking ban isn't being enforced so how could it be enforced statewide?

We need a statewide ban,this would eliminate this city by city which seems to cause a lot of confusion.This a health issue not about rights,you can still smoke,just step outside.I have owned two businesses in my lifetime and I had to follow many city,state,federal laws or I would be fined or have to close my doors.So this crap about the owner has all the rights is a bunch of crap.I for one will contact my elected officals in support for a statewide smoking ban.

All you have to do is Investigate the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the surrogate Johnson and Johnson who wants to sell Nicoderm Patches and Nicoret gum to all your smokers and get them hooked on them.

oh another thing is that they should make it to where the reesturants ban smoking also and also some gas stations. Just like some one else said is that smokking is very hamful to your health and others.

I am a fourteen year old and i think that it is a very good thing for dthem to start to ban smoking i areas. But they should just ban it for good.

The case was not based upon whether or not second hand smoke is harmful. Smoking is allowed in other clubs in Wausau...clubs that have membership fees more than a dollar. This is the issue that should strike a public nerve and be deemed as unjust.

I feel for this owner of the Red Apple who has big brother telling him how to run his livelihood. The 4000 members of his "sham club" each paid a dollar to show their support and show their disdain towards local government. Wausau is one case about people's representatives who fell head over heels to that anti smoking lobby of missionaries who would do anything to deny a individual's right of choice to get their way. Wausau and other towns and cities has that liberal influence about government telling folks what to do. If smoking is as bad as the anti smoking lobby claims them to be then ban the product and government should sacrifice the tax incomes that they get on a pack of smokes. It would not shock me to hear that the anti smoking lobby who talked Wausau into their city ban to have kicked in huge amount of cash to all reelection funds that the politicians of Wausau have .

Legislators are not "changing" the rules. They are giving what was promised in the original vote. Had the SmokeFree people not deceived the voters through implying that family owned businesses and private clubs would be exempt, we would not now need a new law to correct the lies on the ballot. Over 350 bars and family owned businesses have closed within a year of enforcement of this ban. Over 1500 hospitality workers have lost their jobs, and all was based upon misleading language on the ballot. Correct that lie, please and pass the exemptions. If, as you say, the ban was not a threat to business, then why the hell would there be a need for a "level playing field" The restaurant association is made up of chain restaurants who would not be allowed an exemption. That is the ONLY reason they are opposed. Since so many non smokers are now frequenting these places, there is clearly no problem in providing signs and business owners the choice of being smoking or not.

I live in neighboring Illinois which instituted a smoking ban last year. Although before the ban there were dire warnings from opponents, there have been no negative effects and it is now a pleasure to know that I can go into a public place without the spectre of second hand smoke.

2nd hand smoke is NOT a health hazard. Surgeon Generals 2006 Report says it is not 108 times. People have the right to smoke as it is legal. Property owners have the right to say what does and doesn't go on in their premises. Non-smokers DO NOT have a right to smoke free air (there's no such law or right). Non-smokers who don't like premises with smoking can not go in. This is democractic. State dictate banning smoking is a jack boot walking across peoples rights and freedoms and oppressing democracy. Let the free market decide. Impositions are draconian and devisive. End of story.

Secondhand smoke is a definite proven health issue. It really isn't that difficult to keep the smoke outside to protect the health of the 80 percent of adults (customers and staff) who are non-smokers.

How about having a smokers only bar non-smokers not allowed

Democracy says I should be able to breath fresh air and not cigarette smoke.. Thanks for the ban on smoking in restaurants..

What harm do obese people do to you? Do you eat their food? I inhale your smoke when you smoke near me........ If you must smoke,, do it where I won't inhale it.....

How about Chewing and seperate sections for children and obese people

This is yet another strike against Democracy. So much for an individual's God given rights. Very soon this country will like the Soviet Union. People need to stand up for and draw the line against the government's rights to tell us what to do and not to do. I personally think this is one of the stupid acts the county has done. I am very angry and do not even live in Escambia County. I feel shure that other counties will follow, just to have more control of ones God given rights.

Go to your local VFW or Legion and see how the ban has hurt business. And why is it ok for veteran organizations on the Eastern Shore to have 5 slot machines and the other vet groups in Harford, Howard, Baltimore City and county, etc denied. O'Malley seems to discriminate against those who defend our nation. Oh yea, what branch of the service was he in?

This is definitely a health issue. Nobody is forcing anyone to quit smoking or banning the sale of cigarettes. Smoke if you want to, just don't do it where it negatively impacts on the health of others.

After five months, one bar in Illinois successfully beat the Illinois ban as unconstitutional.

i love the ban thank god

who can you call if your company supports people who smoke in the work place.

What a load of ninnies! Yes, smokers can be annoying, but then so are people who shout into the cell phones, parents who don't discipline their spoiled, obnoxious children when they throw tantrums in public, drivers who apply make-up/eat breakfast/talk on their cell phones/tear through areas of heavy pedestrian traffic in order to shave five seconds off their commute. What's Belmont doing about those omnipresent forms of anti-social and unhealthy behavior? Absolutely nothing. Smokers, an ever-shrinking segment of the U.S. population, have become the ultimate pariahs.

Am in Belmont alot and I smoke where I want to...When Belmont stops its hypocrsy then I will abide by their laws. Stop selling cigarettes (I bought a pack there), stop taking any tax dollars that was given to you..Then I will abide by your laws..if not I will continue to smoke where I please!!!

Welcome to the nanny state. Kudos to Mr. Cooke (1:43). I am not a smoker, but I do not want anymore freedoms taken away. I understand the health hazards of smoking, but the government could have mandated smoke eaters instead of flat out ban. What's next? Trans Fats, Alcohol, Legal Gun ownership, Our Free Speech? (oh yeah, that is already being limited now.)

I don't know if any of you realize this or not, but we claim to have freedom in this country. If I start a business and want to allow smoking in it that is not your concern. If you don't like it don't go in. No one is putting a gun to your head. The fact is that most bars and restaurants were banning smoking on their own. Why you would want to take away, by force of law, the few places that I like to drink is beyond me. Anti-smoking zealots are mentally ill.

Nobody is "banning smoking". All they're doing is saying that you can't smoke indoors where non-smokers are present. This is something that the entire public health community agrees is necessary. You can still buy cigarettes, and you can still smoke in many places. There is certainly no similarity to the alcohol prohibition that was tried back in the 1920s and 1930s. The idea here is that you can certainly smoke, just not in areas that can negatively impact the health of others.

An excellent cross section of opinions. This reporter did a non-biased job It has not hurt business in New York.My guess is that the ban on smoking has increased family outings to places that parents would not usualy take their kids

The current ban has no exceptions for private clubs and that is an extremely serious infringement on freedom.

Second hand smoke is a pubic health hazard. Therefore it is appropriate that it be banned from any business open to the public. Open up a private smoking club and let the rest of us enjoy the clean air. Next we need to fine smokers who throw their cigarette butts in the street. Also, don't forget how many fires are started buy careless smokers. Clearly, these druggies are a menace to society.

These politicians who can't seem to deal with such trivial issues as balancing a State budget and properly funding public education somehow think they have a mandate to tell consenting adults where and when they can enjoy a smoke. They want to ban smokers from public places while still balancing the budget - or at least trying to - on the backs of those same smokers with their $2.00 per pack State Excise Tax on cigarettes. If they are truly concerned they should go the whole way and ban the sale of yobacco in Michigan and also forgo the taxes those sales bring to the State's coffers. Let the new Puritan smoke nazis pick up the tax gap by shelling out on something else, maybe a 50 cent a bottle tax on Evian water. There is nothing to keep anyplace from going smoke free and when the demand in the marketplace is there I'm sure there will be some bars and rrestaurants catering to non-smokers, while others will make a business of offering a haven for those who do smoke. No probl

Pretty sad that someone would be so addicted to cigarettes that they would not go to a bar simply because they'd have to step outside to smoke.

Call it a day on the enticements. I know what I like and want and its not a lawyer.

Call it a day on the enticements. I know what I like and want.

If a smooker sat next to a person with a really bad body odour, then they should understand how a non-smooker feels about cig. smoke. STINKS!!!

smoking ban about time

I have never smoked, but have put up with smokers for all my life. When I worked I had to put up with smoking in meetings and on the job. This gradually went away, but I still had to put up with it in bars and restaurants. Did it ever occur to you smokers, that you getting to be a very small minority? Why should the majority of the people put up with you and your stinking cancer causing habit? You keep blaming the lawmakers. Who do you suppose the lawmakers are trying to appease? If you were in office, would you be trying to get the vote of smokers or non smokers? Even you smokers should be able to figure out the answer.

I have never smoked, but have put up with smokers for all my life. When I worked I had to put up with smoking in meetings and on the job. This gradually went away, but I still had to put up with it in bars and restaurants. Did it ever occur to you smokers, that you getting to be a very small minority? Why should the majority of the people put up with you and your stinking cancer causing habit? You keep blaming the lawmakers. Who do you suppose the lawmakers are trying to appease? If you were in office, would you be trying to get the vote of smokers or non smokers? Even you smokers should be able to figure out the answer.

I have never smoked, but have put up with smokers for all my life. When I worked I had to put up with smoking in meetings and on the job. This gradually went away, but I still had to put up with it in bars and restaurants. Did it ever occur to you smokers, that you getting to be a very small minority? Why should the majority of the people put up with you and your stinking cancer causing habit? You keep blaming the lawmakers. Who do you suppose the lawmakers are trying to appease? If you were in office, would you be trying to get the vote of smokers or non smokers? Even you smokers should be able to figure out the answer.

I thought there were exceptions to this law, such as allowing smoking in Casinos that are on the Mississippi that compete with riverboats in Iowa and Missouri. Also, what about private clubs, such as the VFW, American Legion, AmVets, etc. ??

Kicking a random person in a bar would result in a lawsuit (or fight). Second hand smoke is just as physically annoying (and i'm not talking about health issue here) yet you argue by saying "Don't go to the bar. It's easy". Well why don't YOU better not go to the bar instead? My another favourite is "OMG let us smoke you deprive us of our rights" Well why don't you let us have a nice comfortable time in a bar without us having to constantly cough, without sore throat, red eyes and sniffing the stinky air?

It's not a moral issue. It's a health issue.

In California, smoking bans historically have been OSHA-based. Employers are obligated to provide a safe and healthy environment for employees, hence there is no smoking wherever even one person is employed. Taking that same logic outside of the workplace, the public also has a right to a safe and healthy environment wherever their tax dollars are being spent. Second-hand smoke endangers the life and health of anyone who is exposed to it, even outdoors. Smoking, like drinking alcohol, are tolerated by society up to the point where they become a nuisance or a danger. You can be arrested for being drunk in public if your intoxication causes you to become a nuisance. The same should be true for smoking. If smokers insist on endangering others, they will have to suffer the consequences. They can fight aagainst it, but they can't win. Public smoking is about to become a thing of the past, whether they like it or not.

I am the person that stated YOU WILL NOT PUBLISH THIS. I forgot to mention a few items regarding problems that COULD occur without being around SMOKERS, the fact that PEOPLE seem to forget about the CHEMICALS we are around every DAY, or have been exposed to years ago and are probably still exposed TO!!!!! IT JUST AMAZES ME, how quick people are to put the blame on one item. HELLO PEOPLE THINK !!!!!!!!!!1

I applaud the new smoking ban. I have been waiting for years. I am a Republican and welcomed a democratic govenor feeling this was a strong possiblity. Thank you

I am a smoker with as much human rights as the next person. What i don't understand is this most of the elected official call themselves christians. Why are you so busy with the small person smoking when you have allowed Gays the freedom to get married to live as they choose when the smoker cannot sit in a public place and have a cigarette. when a criminal has the right to choose what type of diet he would like in jail. or convicted felons to prey on other people to live back in the community, you are not concern about the high cost of gas or BGE increases just smoking,HIV kills more people than second hand smoke.I voted for mayor o'malley but that will not happen again he signed the bill to ban smoking to make maryland a smoke free state what about a crime free state the officials need to get a clue as to what is important and a damn cigarette is not worth all this controversity. what will be next how we sleep in our homes or will our homes be included in this state wide ban.

I think the state needs to stop wussy footing around. I f people want to smoke let them, or make smoking totally illegal. I am an ex-smoker. I think it should an all or nothing thing. Caffeine should be illegal too because it is a stimulant. Alcohol should be illegal look how many people die from that each year....Oh we tried that one it didn't work. I think this is all part of the wussification of America