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KC voters approved a tough smoking ban in April, but very quietly City Council members already are looking at changing it.
The City Charter says it would take just 9 of the 13 City Council members to alter what voters endorsed five months ago.
-- One change under consideration would weaken the voter-approved law and allow smoking in retail tobacco shops.
-- The other change, though, appears to reduce where a person may smoke on a casino. That would be a positive development -- if that's what the ordinance would really do.
The voter-approved ordinance prohibits smoking in a "casino gaming area."
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A group called Smoke-Free St. Louis City released results Aug. 19 that show the majority of registered voters they polled favor prohibiting smoking in workplaces, bars and restaurants.
In releasing the results, the group cited a 2006 U.S. Surgeon General report on second-hand smoke in which the surgeon general said, "The debate is over. The science is clear. Second-hand smoke is not a mere annoyance, but a serious health hazard."
The debate is not over. At least not for a group of St. Louis residents who oppose a governmental ban on smoking in bars and restaurants.Bill Hannegan of the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood is part of a group called Keep St. Louis Free. The group opposes smoking bans in the St. Louis area. . . .
Hannegan said the group is willing to compromise. It put forward a proposal to exempt bars and restaurants that meet a certain standard of air filtration.
"We think air filtration can reduce it to a point that government can leave businesses alone," he said. . . .
David W. Kuneman of Rock Hill serves as director of research for the Citizens Freedom Alliance, a national group that opposes smoking bans and the use of eminent domain. The former pharmaceutical chemist for Monsanto and Mallinckrodt Veterinary said many claims made against exposure to second-hand smoke don't come true when tested.
"We're just not seeing the health benefits anti-smoking groups claim we should get when bans are passed," Kuneman said.
Among the information Kuneman cites are a report issued in 1995 by the Congressional Research Service and a report prepared in 2004 by the National Restaurant Association.
The manager of a senior housing complex in Humansville says it was a smouldering cigarette that started a late night fire that killed a man who lived in a duplex.
Until two fatalities this year, no one had died in an Overland Park fire for six years.
An 84-year-old woman in February and a 59-year-old women in March died the same way as a man and woman in a 2002 fire: cigarettes smoldered after the victims fell asleep and caused fires and toxic smoke.
Nationwide, experts report, smoking causes the largest number of deaths in home fires.
After the two women died this year — the first on the 10900 block of Gillette Street and the other on the 9000 block of West 78th Circle — Overland Park firefighters went door-to-door and left leaflets warning about the dangers, they said, but the message apparently missed the mark.
Last month, a middle-aged woman who lived within blocks of the second fatality narrowly escaped after she woke up with her bed on fire from a cigarette, said Jason Rhodes, a spokesman for the fire department.
-A jury erred in awarding a $20 million judgment against cigarette maker Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., the Missouri Supreme Court has signaled by remanding the case back to a lower court.
The judgment was overturned by a state appeals court in August 2007. The appeals court found that the award was excessive. The appeals court remanded the case back to a Jackson County judge for a new decision on punitive damages.
But the state's highest court sent the case Thursday back to the three-member appeals court without explanation . . .
Among other things, attorneys for Brown & Williamson argue the punitive damages awarded by the jury were excessive because they were 40 times greater than the compensatory award.
The Missouri Supreme Court has effectively upheld a decision throwing out a $20 million jury award against Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.
An appeals court tossed out the state's largest-ever tobacco jury award in August 2007 with the intent of sending the case back to a trial court for a new decision on punitive damages. . . .
At issue is a 2005 award by a Jackson County jury to the husband of smoker Barbara Smith, who had died in 2000 of a heart attack.
Unclear wording has led to confusion in some cities when determining whether smoking is permitted in publicly owned areas.
A Jackson County, Mo., Circuit Court decision last week put Kansas City's smoking ban into effect Saturday, but the attorney for the anti-ban plaintiffs said the case isn't over.
Judge John O'Malley denied a preliminary injunction in the case, which challenges the constitutionality of a ban the Kansas City Council approved in March and a stricter measure that voters approved in April.
"The judge made no ruling as to whether anybody wins or loses," said Jonathan Sternberg, a lawyer representing the nine plaintiffs in the case. "The plaintiffs were asking that the ban not go into effect during our case. But the case absolutely continues."
Smokers -- a pretty rebellious lot by nature -- weren't taking Kansas City's new smoking ban in stride over the weekend.
The voter-approved smoke-free law took effect at midnight Friday, officially banning smoking in restaurants, taverns and tobacco stores -- and that had many who embrace the habit riled up.
"I kind of feel like a minority now. Having to go outside to smoke in a public bar is just silly," groused James Hyde, who even wore a T-shirt protesting the ban with a big 'No' on front as he puffed away outside Kennedy's Bar in Waldo.
Smokers like Hyde have withstood increasingly aggressive complaints over smoking's effects on their health and those around them. But at their neighborhood tavern they weren't beat up for their habit. Indeed, often they were in the majority.
In addition to Kansas City, strict measures are in place in Overland Park, Olathe, Independence, Lee's Summit, Lenexa and other cities.
There's still more work to be done. Unified Government Mayor Joe Reardon recently has pledged to bring the topic to his commissioners, and he should move quickly to do so.
In Missouri, Kansas City Health Director Rex Archer vowed his agency would enforce the new law. The city needs to make sure establishments know what's required.
The department should quickly investigate complaints and take appropriate action against violators.
A Jackson County judge this morning lifted his temporary restraining order on Kansas City's smoking ban, meaning it will take effect at midnight.
Smoking will be prohibited in all bars and restaurants but still allowed on gaming floors in Kansas City's two casinos. Up until this point, smoking has been allowed in Kansas City's bars and taverns and in restaurants with liquor licenses after 9 p.m.
A Jackson County judge is lifting his temporary restraining order on Kansas City's smoking ban.
The ban starts at midnight. Smoking will be prohibited in all bars and restaurants. But it will be allowed on gaming floors in Kansas City's two casinos.
Judge John O'Malley ruled Friday in a lawsuit filed by nine establishments that challenged the constitutionality of the smoking restrictions. He lifted a temporary restraining order, saying he'll allow the voter-approved ordinance to take effect, pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
For smokers: the puffing ends Saturday in bars and restaurants in Kansas City, Missouri.
The city's voter-approved smoking ban goes into affect. The ordinance does allow for smoking in open-air areas. But everywhere else like indoor workplaces and bars and restaurants - it's lights out.
On Friday, a group of business owners asked a Jackson County judge to stop the smoking ban. The owners said they'd suffer damages they wouldn't able to recover.
The judge did not side with the business owners' request to stop the smoking ban. Their lawsuit will continue however until a trial.
So without a judge's ruling, Kansas City, Missouri's voter approved smoking ban goes into affect at midnight on Saturday morning.
"We knew this would probably turn out this way," business owner Jeff Martin said. "We're not finished yet."
After a brief detour to court, Kansas City’s voter-approved smoking ban took effect at midnight Friday. It’s a great step forward that will protect the health of all those who work in public places, eat in restaurants or drink in bars.
It’s a victory worth celebrating for thousands of Kansas Citians who worked hard to place the smoke-free law on the ballot through the initiative petition process — and to persuade voters to endorse the measure in April.