Throughout my three years in Athens, I have never missed the Columbus area from which I came. Today, however, I find the idea of returning to my old stomping ground a bit more refreshing.
The Columbus City Council passed a city-wide smoking ban Monday in all bars, bowling alleys and restaurants. When the ordinance takes effect in three months, Columbus will join the roughly 120 cities and six states across the country that have passed similar bans.
The proximity of our neighbors to the northwest affords us in Athens the chance to revisit the issue of clean indoor air. Anyone here in April 2003 remembers that a smoking ban became the focus of public attention when Athens County Health Commissioner, Dr. James Gaskell, proposed such an ordinance to City Council.
Council members listened but never developed an ordinance, and the issue was debated before largely being forgotten once summer arrived.
In the interest of awakening old demons, however, I propose that city council follow suit with the progressive minds in Columbus, revive the proposal and enact a smoking ban in Athens' bars and restaurants in the near future.
As they did a year ago, opponents will call a ban invasive upon our freedom of choice. People should be able to smoke if they want to
and Local bars and restaurants will lose business they claim.
In some regards, I understand this point of view. Indeed, any law that limits a person's free will should be balanced against its benefit to the public. In this light, a Clean Indoor Air Act makes sense.
Non-smokers find the smell of cigarette smoke at least undesirable if not downright annoying, and it's a well-known fact that tobacco smoke is dangerous. Trapped indoors, that smoke creates an unhealthy environment.
Urinating on the floor leads to unhealthy conditions, as well. However, we have laws against public urination because it's a danger to public health. I don't hear anyone complaining about these laws, though. So why should the public have to put up with smoky bars and restaurants?
Additionally, the fear among bar owners that a smoking ban would harm their sales is exaggerated. A study in El Paso, Texas, found no impact on sales after the enactment of a smoking ban in 2002. (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5307a2.htm).
Remember, this is Athens. People in this town aren't going to simply stop going out. A mountain-moving force couldn't stop OU students from crowding the bars on Court Street every weekend.
Athens has a reputation around Ohio for being a Podunk town in the hills. Let's change that.
We missed our chance a year ago to become a role model for other cities in Ohio by outlawing smoking in public places, and now Columbus has beaten us to the punch. For once, let's not be the last ones to catch on.
-Joe Rominiecki is a senior journalism major. Send him an email at ar110800@ohiou.edu.
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Joe Rominiecki
