Ban Up In Smoke?

I can’t believe how some members of the Springfield City Council are starting to cave on the proposed smoking ban in the city. Perhaps it was an overreach to go for a total ban. At a minimum, I’d still like to see all restaurants to become smoke free. The trick there, I suppose, is defining what is and isn’t a restaurant.

I have to agree with Ward 9 Alderman Tom Selinger who is quoted in the SJ-R today blaming state lawmakers for the current mess before the city council. This should have been a statewide ban like the one mentioned in the same article:

Just last week, voters in Washington approved the most comprehensive smoking an in the nation. The measure bans smoking in bars, taverns, restaurants, bowling alleys and other venues. One provision, requiring a 25-foot smoke-free buffer around doorways, makes the ban the nation's strictest.

As it is under state law, the city has the right to ban smoking in most establishments but the county does not. That’s just stupid.