Opponents to smoke ban are only delaying a smoke-free South Dakota

Gordon Garnos

AT ISSUE: Some 25,000 people have signed petitions to bring the statewide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants to a vote of the people. One should fight to the death protecting the right of referring legislation to the public, even to oppose the smoking ban. However, opposing the ban only delays having South Dakota smoke free. Opponents to the smoking ban say the issue is a “matter of choice” issue and a freedom thing. But, in reality it is a pure and simple health issue.

WELL, IT HAPPENED. A lot of South Dakota folks hoped the law to ban smoking in bars and restaurants would just go into effect July 1. But it didn’t happen. Folks on the other side of the question produced enough signatures on petitions to get the issue into the ballot box come next year’s November General Election. What those other folks did in reality was delay a smoke free South Dakota for 15 months.

How can I be so cockeyed sure the vote then will go down? Well, for one thing there are 54 important health and other groups pushing for the ban as parts of the South Dakota Tobacco Free Kids Network and only four opponent groups making up the For Individual Freedom group. But there are a lot of other reasons the ban should be supported in the ballot box come November 2010.

LARRY MANN, coordinator of the petition drive, turned in 25,000 signatures on those petitions when only 16,776 were needed. He feels with so many signing up to stop the ban is reason for its defeat. Now Larry is a nice guy. But we must remember what he does for a living. He is the lobbyist for the Video Lottery Establishments of South Dakota, one of the four groups opposing the smoking ban. Of course if the ban wins the 2010 election his casinos, along with all of the bars and restaurants in the state will have to go smoke free as well.

Over the next several months both sides are going to put up the doggonest campaigns to win this ballot box battle. And they are going to be expensive.

I’ve heard millions of dollars may work their way into the play before it is all over. That is most unfortunate, especially now that we are in a recession and bucks are hard to come by. But that appears to be the game plan for both groups.

There is also going to be a lot of numbers thrown around over the next several months. And a word to the wise is be careful as a lot of those numbers are going to be skewed with little or no truth in them.

For example, I have read where one bar owner said if the ban goes into effect he will lose 25 to 30 percent of his customers. Now, how does he know that? Some bar owners in Minnesota said when the ban went in over there they lost from five to 15 percent of their business while other bar owners said that business came back later.

AT THE SAME TIME, I read somewhere that 90 percent of South Dakotans don’t smoke for one reason or another. Of course that number includes all the kids we have in South Dakota. As I said, one has to be careful when numbers get tossed around.

However, here are some numbers you can take to the bank. Four out of five restaurant patrons are non-smokers. Studies have also shown no loss in sales in restaurants that have gone smoke-free. And speaking of restaurants, food service workers in restaurants have a 50 percent greater risk of developing lung cancer due to second hand smoke. Does this affect bar employees as well? I don’t know. The survey only included restaurants.

AT THE SAME TIME, this freedom thing the group against the ban is arguing has a tender spot in a lot of people’s psyche. There’s no question about that. They are saying it should be the business person’s right to chose whether or not there should be smoking in his or her establishment.

But how does one measure that against a person’s health? According to the Watertown Tobacco Free Coalition, here are a few of the numerous health effects from just second hand smoke on children: asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia, ear infections, lower respiratory tract infections cancers and leukemia, sudden infant death syndrome and adverse impact on learning and behavioral development.

THEN, WHEN IT comes to first hand smoke (smoking a cigarette), do you realize what some of the well known ingredients of cigarette smoke include?

Here are a few: formaldehyde (embalming fluid), cyanide (used in gas chambers), arsenic (found in rat poison), carbon monoxide (car exhaust), methanol (rocket fuel), and benzene (gasoline additive).

Yes, I predict there is going to be a lot of stuff thrown at us over the next several months on why or why not we should vote for the ban come November 2010. But be careful. Don’t let a lot of the expected numbers throw you in opposing the smoke ban. After all, it is a heath thing and that trumps a lot of arguments….

Gordon Garnos was long-time editor of the Watertown Public Opinion, retiring after 39 years with that newspaper. Garnos, a lifelong resident of South Dakota except for his military service in the U.S. Air Force, was born and raised in Presho.

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