Smoking Ban Will Smolder Six Months Health Board Decision For More Study Gives Restaurants Reprieve; Health Officer Says No ‘Emergency’ Exists

The Spokane County Health Board retreated Thursday from its plan to ban smoking in all county restaurants.

Threatened with a lawsuit and stranded without the support of its top doctor, the board agreed to study the smoking issue for another six months.

The decision followed impassioned testimony about the proposed ban, which has driven inflamed restaurant owners to collect 2,700 signatures from people willing to fight it.

It also came after county Health Officer John Beare told the board he can’t declare restaurant smoke a “medical emergency.”

But Beare made it clear second-hand smoke is a serious health menace, and that the board should continue a crusade to curb smoking.

“It is a very serious and urgent problem and one in which I think something should definitely be done,” he said.

He suggested proposed smoking bans or regulations should go through city and county councils, not the Spokane County Health District.

About 130 people packed the hearing room Thursday afternoon to hear Beare’s decision, and to see whether the board would try to make Spokane the first county in the state to ban smoking in restaurants.

Geneva Ward, president of the Spokane Restaurant and Hospitality Association, said she wants to help the board study the issue, but warned her group is poised to sue to block any ban.

Ward told the board banning smoking in restaurants would violate private property rights and cost many businesses customers and cash as diners flee the county to eat where they could inhale.

Robert Saucier, owner of the Mars Hotel, urged the board to let the market regulate itself. He noted that 64 percent of the county’s restaurants already prohibit smoking as a way to attract customers.

Others urged the board to stick to the ban plan.

“If I lit a shoelace and let it smolder for 15 minutes, they’d throw me out, right?” said Don Wallace. “It’s outrageous that they should be able to burn this plant in an indoor environment.”

“We want to be able to go to any restaurant and have safe air to breathe,” said Marie Fleming, 17, of Spokane Teens Against Tobacco.

Mike Podobnik, 14, had an analogy for the board. “You can’t keep chlorine in half a pool, and you can’t keep smoke in half a room.”

Board member Mike Brewer said he agreed with Beare’s recommendation to get more input before crafting a proposal.

“We need balance in our decisions,” he said.

Ward, representing the county’s restaurants, said she was relieved to at least get a six-month reprieve.

“I don’t think they realized the groundswell of support we’d get,” she said.

“I’m happy they didn’t go off like a loose cannon and institute this thing.”

, DataTimes