Proponents of smoking ban urge supporters to be vocal with City Hall

Lawrence city commissioners may find their e-mail addresses overflowing with letters from smoking-ban advocates during the next few weeks.

More than 60 people attending a public forum Wednesday night about the hazards of secondhand smoke were urged to e-mail commissioners and express their opinions about banning smoking in the workplace. The forum was organized by the group Clean Air Lawrence.

“Everybody in this room, you’ve got to be a missionary for this,” said Gary Hawke, a Kansas University faculty member and general manager of KUJH-TV.

Petitions also were passed out during the forum at Lawrence Memorial Hospital’s auditorium.

Commissioners are considering a ban, and a vote could come by the end of the month.

Some restaurant and bar owners have said their businesses would be hurt economically if a ban were adopted. They also have said their employees were not worried about secondhand smoke.

But for more than an hour Wednesday, various speakers talked about the health hazards of secondhand smoke, the economic issues facing bars and restaurants if a ban is instituted and related issues.

“All of the research shows that there is no change, or even a slight improvement in the economic impact” a smoking ban has on bars and restaurants, said Michael D. Fox, associate professor in the department of health and policy management at Kansas University Medical Center.

According to statistics presented by Fox, bars and restaurants in New York City averaged a 12 percent increase in revenue one year after a smoking ban was instituted there.

As for health issues, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that shows secondhand smoke is dangerous to nonsmokers, said Lida Osbern, medical director of pulmonary services, at LMH. She noted that 74 percent of Americans are nonsmokers.

“A lot of these folks are staying home” from bars and restaurants because of the smokers, Osbern said.

Clean Air Lawrence supporters think that having a separate section in restaurants for smokers is not enough to protect the nonsmokers and especially fails to protect restaurant employees.

“We really see this as a health issue for employees,” said Carrie Pohl, coordinator of Clean Air Lawrence.

Pohl and others expressed concern that some city commissioners wanted to “water down” an anti-smoking ordinance and grant various exceptions.

“That will be a real problem, and we need to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Pohl said.

Clean Air Lawrence consists of dozens of Lawrence residents, businessmen and health care workers. Nearly everyone in the audience was a Clean Air Lawrence supporter — but not all.

“I think there are a whole lot of people with their panties in a bunch,” said Paul Van Cleave, a Kansas University junior from Tonganoxie. “What are they going to do if they pass this? Are we going to have people in a restaurant calling 911 on their cell phones and saying, ‘There’s a smoker?'”