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Last Updated: Jan 31st, 2007 - 10:58:43 |
Galveston votes against smoking ban
Feb 25, 2006, 15:56
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GALVESTON - Smoking will still be allowed in restaurants and bars after the Galveston City Council rejected a comprehensive smoking ban. The council voted not to change the city's current smoking ordinance, which prohibits smoking in public buildings and city parks but allows restaurants to maintain smoking and nonsmoking areas. The proposed change would have banned smoking in restaurants, bars and other public places, such as bowling alleys, bingo halls and boxing arenas. After nearly a year of discussion and two hours of debate Thursday, the council rejected the change by a vote of 4-2 with one abstention. Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas cited personal choice and the rights of business owners as reasons for her vote against the ban. "I can choose," Thomas said. "I don't go where there's smoking." Backers of the smoking ban argued that secondhand smoke is harmful to nonsmokers and should be eliminated from bars and restaurants to protect customers and employees. Dr. William Au, a professor of preventive medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch, said the smoking ban was a matter of health, not the rights of smokers or nonsmokers. "It is an important decision and calls for leadership," he said. Galveston restaurant owners rallied against the ban. Steve Greenberg, a lobbyist for Landry's Restaurants Inc., said the company was opposed to the ban for its hotel restaurants and bars in Galveston. Also opposed was Gus Taylor, who said at least 50 percent of customers at his bar, The Stork Club, are smokers. "I can't survive without their business," he said. Council members who supported the ban promised to revisit the issue. Council member Joe Jaworski said a stiffer ban is inevitable. "It's the future, folks; it's going to happen," he said.
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