Smoking Ban

SPRINGFIELD -- It has been seven months since Springfield voters banned smoking in public, five months since the law kicked in, and city leaders are already being urged to make changes. Opponents of the measure have been writing, calling, and emailing city council members urging them to modify the law. At Tuesday afternoon's luncheon, council members will begin discussing a handful of possible changes to the smoking ban. They will, for instance, consider exemptions for theatrical productions, veterans organizations, some tobacco shops and cigar bars.

SPRINGFIELD --  The Springfield City Council on Monday night tabled four of the five proposed amendments to the smoking ordinance. The one amendment they agreed on was removing e-cigarettes from the current measure--it still has to be voted on. The other proposed changes-- lighting up in tobacco shops, cigar bars, private clubs, and theatrical productions--were all tabled.     At issue: "Both the cigar bars, I thought, and with the private clubs was the issue of having employees present there when the smoking went on," said Councilwoman Cindy Rushefsky.

 Springfield Judge Jason Brown ruled against a downtown bar owner's request to delay implementation of a voter-approved smoking ban.   Attorneys for the business owner argued city ordinance is trumped by state law.  The ban is scheduled to go into effect tonight, just after midnight.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Businesses are trying to understand what the smoking ban approved by voters will mean for them.  They're learning it will extend well beyond their front doors and will cost them when the ordinance is effective on June 11.  After further review of the new smoking ordinance, city staff members say signs on entrance doors are not enough to comply with the new rules. For the last 50 years, Ozark Fence and Supply Company has put up fences for businesses and homes in and around Springfield.  While this industry does not always work directly with the public, it too will have to follow Springfield's new ban on smoking in public places and places of employment.

In just a few weeks most of the restaurants in Springfield will be smoke free and some restaurant mangers in nearby cities hope to profit from that. It's just a few miles south of the Springfield city limit line and restaurants mangers in Ozark say they hope to benefit from the soon to be smoking ban. Mangers say they welcome the smokers because they want the business. "Come on down. I'll take all the business I can get," said Joseph Pacheco with Primas Mexican Grill in Ozark.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Drury University is expanding its no-smoking policy. The university currently bans smoking in all buildings.  By fall semester of 2012, the ban will be extended to the entire campus. Drury says the expansion reflects its committment to wellness. "Last May, the Board of Trustees added a strategic goal to Drury's mission that addressed wellness. Drury should be a healthy, safe and clean environment for our students, visitors and for the Drury community. This policy will help us achieve that goal," said Drury President Todd Parnell.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- Springfield's smoking ban has been in effect for one week now, meaning the only places left where smokers can legally light up are outside or inside their own home or car.  The act prohibits smoking in all enclosed public places, places of employment, and within five feet of an entrance.  The only exception- smoking is allowed in 25 percent of hotel rooms.  It's a big change for many businesses that get busy on a Friday night. ...

SPRINGFIELD -- Less than a week after Live Free Springfield submitted a petition in the hopes of replacing the current smoking ban, we learn of a flaw in its language.      The petition contains an out-of-date code that included restrictions on tobacco advertising, which the US Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional.      When writing the measure, Springfield's attorney referenced a law book that didn't reflect the change in 2009 that wiped away the advertising portion of the bill.

SPRINGFIELD -- Opponents trying to replace Springfield's smoking ban spoke out Tuesday afternoon to the supporters' recent attempt to strike a compromise on the issue. "Their statement of this being their final attempt to compromise is actually their first and only attempt and rather than being a compromise, it presents itself as being more of an ultimatum," said Live Free Springfield's Dave Myers. One Air Alliance recently sent a letter asking Live Free to withdraw its initiative petition and instead allow council members to amend the current smoking law.      Live Free said it cannot pull the petition because it has already been certified; only a court action could do it. The group added that the exemptions offered by opponents aren't enough.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Many of the same customers have been going to Ruthie's Bar on Commercial Street for decades.  Most of them light up when they're enjoying a cold brew. Starting on Saturday, though, they will have to put their cigarettes out for good when they're at the bar -- unless its owner has it her way. "If I can sell them (cigarettes) here out of that machine, or behind the bar, but I can't use them here, it just doesn't make sense," said Jeannie Doublin, owner of Ruthie's Bar. Doublin filed a lawsuit against the city requesting a temporary stop from the impending smoking ban. She also wants the court to throw the ordinance out altogether.

SPRINGFIELD-- Smokers can now light up in more places in Springfield.  Springfield City Council on Monday night voted to amend the city's smoking ban.  The new exemptions to the ordinance include cigar bars, tobacco shops, bingo parlors, private clubs, theatrical productions and E-cigarettes.  Councilman Doug Burlison reluctantly supported the measure; he wanted a substitute bill passed that would have included an exemption for bars....

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- Tobacco-oriented businesses that fall under new smoking ban exemptions wasted no time getting back to business as usual. Customers of "Just For Him" were lighting up cigars on Tuesday morning. The Springfield City Council approved certain exemptions to the city's smoking ban approved by voters in 2011. Tobacco shops, cigar bars and private clubs are exempt. Christian Hutson, owner of Just For Him, says the business had built up a large regional clientele over the years.

SPRINGFIELD Mo. -- Mayor Jim O'Neal resigned on Monday night after a long meeting in which the council amend the city's year-old anti-smoking ordinance.  O'Neal caught the packed meeting room by surprise with the announcement.  O'Neal says the decision was one of personal and business issues, and not reflective of the contentious months-long debate over amending the voter-approved ban on smoking in most public places in the city.  O'Neal...

SPRINGFIELD -- Springfield city council could vote Monday night on possible amendments to the smoking ban. There are two proposals on the agenda and they're nearly identical.  Both bills would allow E-cigarettes to be taken off the banned list.  Also under both measures, smoking would be allowed in cigar bars and tobacco shops, bingo parlors, private clubs and on stage for theatrical productions. Only one proposal would make it okay to smoke in taverns where food sales are less than 10%. Any changes to the ban require a unanimous vote.

SPRINGFIELD -- Springfield city council is holding a special meeting tomorrow to discuss possible changes to the current smoking ban. The proposed amendment would allow smoking in private clubs, but any modifications to the ban must be approved unanimously. Public comments on the issue will be taken at the next council meeting on May seventh, where a possible vote could also be taken.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The city's great smoke-out reignited on Monday night after the city council by one vote rejected an initiative petition to repeal the citywide ban, and sent it back to the voters.  The issue will now appear on the ballot on June 5.  Businesses sit on opposite ends of the issue. At the Knightyme Bar and Billiards, the lunch crowd has faded away. "If you've got two people in the group of 10 that smoke, and they say they're not coming in, guess what happens to the other eight?

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Springfield City Council will once again focus on the citywide ban on smoking in most public indoor places during its regular council meeting on Monday.  The ban, which was approved by voters in April 2011 and went into effect in June, is up for discussion after a group opposed to it gathered enough signatures to force the council to repeal the ban or send it back to voters at a special election in June. The discussion entails two options: passing the repeal altogether through a City Council vote, and sending the question on to voters June 5.  If council members vote for the proposal in the initiative petition, ordinances governing smoking in Springfield before the Smokefree Air Act of 2011 would go into effect.  A chance also exists that a compromise could be reached on the ban.  At a workshop last Thursday, council members seemed to be in agreement to send the repeal to voters, but also to vote in April for two or three exceptions to the voter-approved ban.  One exception would allow the use of electronic cigarettes in stage plays and other venues; another would let people smoke in tobacco and pipe shops; and another would allow people to smoke in private clubs, such as VFW and American Legion halls, when no employees are working in them.

SPRINGFIELD -- Springfield Voters will decide the fate of the controversial smoking issue. By a 5 to 4 vote, city council members rejected adopting a new initiative petition ordinance on smoking, which means the bill automatically goes to the voters. The council members who voted in favor of passage include Jeff Seifried, Doug Burlison, Tommy Bieker, and Scott Bailes.  The council members who voted against include Cindy Rushefsky, John Rush, Bob Stephens, Jerry Compton, and Mayor Jim O'Neal.