Carbondale restaurants and bars will be smoke free in 2008.
City Council on Tuesday passed an ordinance stating all restaurants with Class A liquor licenses must prohibit smoking after Jan. 1, 2008. All other liquor-licensed establishments, such as bars, have to ban smoking after July 1, 2008.
The ordinance also requires those who step outside a building to smoke to be at least 15 feet from the entrance. Fraternal organizations, beer gardens and tobacco shops are exempt from the regulation.
Councilman Lance Jack proposed the ordinance after the original Clean Indoor Air Act failed to pass last fall. The act aimed to ban all smoking in public establishments.
Jack said his ordinance was a compromise he formed after speaking to members of the community. He said he found people supported a smoking ban, but in a limited fashion.
Councilwoman Sheila Simon said while the new ordinance was not perfect it was still a step in the right direction for the city.
"This is a start to protecting some workers," she said.
However, the ordinance still found opposition in both Mayor Brad Cole and Joel Fritzler, who voted against it.
"The most disturbing part to me is that those who support this disallow a contrary opinion," Cole said. "Not everybody has to agree on all issues."
Cole said he would prefer a ban be statewide to keep Carbondale on an even playing field with surrounding areas. Councilman Steven Haynes, who abstained from last fall's vote, did so once again, but broke his silence on his reasons for abstaining.
Haynes works as a manager for a Kroger grocery store that sells tobacco products, but said his original reasons for abstaining were not based on business.
He said Carbondale Smoke Free Coalition sent him a letter before the original vote that said blacks are disproportionately affected by second-hand smoke compared to other individuals. The letter encouraged him as a black man to vote for the smoke-free ordinance.
"Not as a city councilperson, not as a citizen of Carbondale, but as an African American," Haynes said. "Talk about profiling of individuals, in my opinion."
He said his anger and hurt over the letter, even five months later, prevented him from casting a vote.
"I have never attempted to just use my color while sitting on this council to make decisions just solely based on that," Haynes said. "Does that factor in? Yes it does. But it has never been the sole factor of making a positive decision for this community."
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