Another Ban Failed: WI Dunn County

Dunn smoking ban plan derailed
Panel majority says it’s intrusive

4/11/2007
Pamela Powers, Menomonie News Bureau?
MENOMONIE — Plans for a countywide smoking ban in workplaces and many restaurants went up in smoke Tuesday.

On a 5-3 vote, the Dunn County Health and Human Services Board defeated a motion to send the ordinance to the Dunn County Board, meaning the issue most likely is dead.

Those voting to forward the ordinance were board members Shirley Fredrickson, Ed Laventure, and Elna Johnson. Opposed were Rosemarie Bristol, Joyce Hopkins, Lucille Mittlestadt, Gary Seipel and Earl Wildenberg.

Bristol said the goal of public health is to educate, not to legislate. “We legislate much more in the United States than our founding fathers envisioned,” she said.

Seipel said there had not been any public outcry for the ordinance. He also worried about business owners losing the freedom to regulate themselves.

“Let private business remain private business,” he said.

Hopkins said the issue is about allowing choice.

“There is a general attitude of not wanting government to make a decision for me,” she said.

Fredrickson disagreed.

“I see it as a public health issue to make a safe workplace,” she said.

County Public Health Director Wendy MacDougall said no one should be exposed to secondhand smoke.

“The goal is not to regulate or tell people they can’t smoke,” she said. “The goal is to protect people from secondhand smoke.”

County attorney Scott Cox said the ordinance as proposed would have made Dunn County the only county in the state to ban smoking in workplaces in incorporated municipalities. La Crosse County has a smoking ban, but it applies only in restaurants and unincorporated areas.

Under the proposal, which would have been similar to an existing Menomonie city ban, smoking would have been banned in public places — except taverns and restaurants where 50 percent or more of gross receipts are from alcoholic beverages.

Other exceptions included use of tobacco by an enrolled member of an Indian tribe, bed and breakfasts and a limited number of designated smoking rooms in motels and hotels.

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Countywide smoking ban gets mixed reviews
March 19, 2007
LeAnn R. Ralph

The Dunn County Health and Human Services Board took no action on a proposed smoking ban ordinance Tuesday evening.

About a dozen people attended the second public hearing held on the proposed ordinance.

The ban would prohibit smoking in public places and places of employment throughout Dunn County and would include all villages, unincorporated areas and townships.

A little more than half of those in attendance chose to give testimony. Of those who spoke, some were in favor of allowing businesses to decide for themselves, although others in the medical profession were in favor of a comprehensive smoking ban.

Harold Aebly of Menomonie, a former smoker who retired from the military after 21 years, said he was tired of government trying to take away freedoms one at a time.

“This should be left up to the voters,” he said, as he wondered what was next. “Toothpaste has a warning label. It’s got a poison control number. Are we going to stop people from brushing their teeth?”

Furthermore, business owners should be able to decide for themselves whether to allow smoking in their establishments, Aebly added.

No risk-free level

Lisa Kraszewski, who is employed at the Red Cedar Medical Center (RCMC), said she was in favor of a countywide smoking ban.

The Center for Disease Control says that smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States and that there is no risk-free level of exposure to second-hand smoke.

“I want to enjoy the same bars and restaurants as smokers. I want the right to enjoy the same places they do,” Kraszewski said.

Jody Dotseth, a physical therapist at RCMC, noted that nicotine causes a decrease in circulation and causes wounds to heal more slowly.

“I would encourage the community to explore this as an opportunity for the health of the community,” she said.

Road to hell

Bob Samdahl, owner of Shoe’s Pub, believes a smoking ban would have a detrimental effect on certain businesses in the county.

“Any kind of a smoking ban is not democratic to business owners,” he aid.

Samdahl noted that he had lived in the Twin Cities for 25 years and that after a smoking ban ordinance was enacted in Ramsey County, people took their business to other bars and restaurants where there was no smoking ban.

“Businesses closed and employees lost their jobs,” he said. “It should be left up to the business owner how to conduct business. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Wait for the state

Mary Kay Mork, owner of Kyotes Den on State Highway 29, said that a smoking ban should be enacted on the state level and not the county level.

“I don’t believe that a few people should dictate how I run my business. … I worked my whole life for my business,” she said.

Bob Krueger, co-owner of the Pioneer Bar and Grill and a former smoker himself, said he believed a countywide smoking ban would have a negative financial impact on certain businesses.

The nonsmokers “are not going to sit in a bar with their pop and say, ‘isn’t this wonderful’…They don’t come in and spend money anyway,” Krueger said. “I urge the committee to wait for the state.”

He also agreed with Aebly, who said the issue ought to be left up to voters.

“It should be put to a referendum, and let the voters make a decision so everyone can be heard,” Krueger said.

Four more reasons

Dr. Steve Rosas, a physician at RCMC and also the director of the Menomonie Fire and Rescue, gave four reasons why a countywide smoking ordinance should be adopted.

A ban would be better for employees, would encourage people to quit smoking, would encourage people not to start smoking and would reduce the economic price to society, he said.

State legislation

To date, no legislation has been introduced on the state level for a smoking ban, although the issue is being discussed, said Shirley Fredrickson, a member of the health and human services board.

She told the group she had checked with a number of legislators, who said that from all indications if legislation were introduced, it would most likely be approved in some form.

Civil liberties

The proposed smoking ban ordinance is a civil liberties issue, said Rosemarie Bristol, a member of the health and human services board who described herself as “former military.”

“No one can say that smoking is good, but this is not an issue about smoking; it’s a civil liberties issue,” Bristol said. “I am cautious about what I allow the government to take away from me.”

The health and human services board has an obligation to listen to a majority of the people, but neither of the two public hearings held have presented an opportunity to listen to a majority.

The first public hearing was attended by six or seven people.

Much attention is paid to smoking, but very little attention is paid to the negative effects of alcohol, Bristol observed.

“That’s bad, too. We haven’t heard anything about [a ban on alcohol] in 55 years … but it didn’t work, either,” she said.

Next meeting

Earl Wildenberg, chair of the health and human services board, asked if board members would rather wait until the next meeting to further discuss the proposed ordinance and to make a recommendation to the Dunn County Board of Supervisors.

The board members all agreed to postpone the issue until the next meeting.

Two board members, Ed Laventure and Elna Johnson, were absent from the public hearing.

The next meeting of the health and human services board is scheduled for April 10 at 5:30 p.m. in the county board room, located in the Dunn County Government Center on Wilson Avenue in Menomonie.

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