Fighting Omaha’s new smoking ban.
Alcoholics Group Wants Smoking Ban Exemption
October 20, 2006
OMAHA, Neb. — Some people struggling with addiction are fighting Omaha’s new smoking ban.
A group of Alcoholics Anonymous attendees said it has been contacted by authorities and warned that attendees can’t smoke during meetings, Omaha television station KETV reported. The group is talking to an attorney, hoping to create an exemption to the law.
The Alano Club is the meeting hall for the group. Two people who attend the meetings told KETV life is tough enough for people in AA who are trying to fight alcohol addiction. Losing smoking, too, could send people into a relapse, they said.
The group contacted attorney James Martin Davis.
“One of the city councilmen told me keno and smoking go hand in hand. Well, what goes hand in hand is AA meetings and smoking,” Davis said, referring to the temporary exemption the city’s ordinance allows for keno parlors. “This is not a public gathering place. It’s a place for recovering alcoholics, and it’s anonymous. It’s a private place.”
City prosecutor Marty Conboy disagrees.
“If people can go and attend, there are so many clubs and organizations that have those meetings. But the ordinance is worded in a way it can encompass all of those things, and intentionally so,” Conboy said.
Conboy added that sometimes people are court-ordered to attend AA meetings.
“If there are 90 percent there who want to smoke, and only a few who don’t, that’s the purpose of the ordinance — to make it safe for those others,” Conboy said.
Davis said he hopes to sit down with city officials to discuss a possible exemption.
Conboy said it could be a starting place for change to the ordinance, but said it could be difficult to describe what groups would be exempt.
