WTHR |Council votes to table smoking ordinance

Council votes to table smoking ordinance

Emily Longnecker/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - The proposal to eliminate smoking in bowling alleys, bars and private clubs has sparked fiery debate from smokers and non-smokers. Monday night's vote from the city county council did little to put out the fire.

A vote of 12 in favor of the ban and 13 against it meant neither side got the final answer they were looking for Monday night.

"We've just killed some more people tonight. Every time we delay, we kill more people," said Bruce Hetrick, who favors the ban.

Hetrick said he lost his wife to cancer after she was exposed to secondhand smoke working as a reporter in a newsroom when smoking was allowed.

"When are they going to bring it back again? They won't quit. They won't leave us alone," said bar owner Mike Whitaker.

Whitaker said he feared for his business if the expanded ban would eventually pass.

Fifteen votes were needed to decide the ban's fate Monday night. City-County Councilors Monroe Gray and Dane Mahern, both Democrats, both abstained from voting. They cited conflicts of interest.

Before the vote, some councilors spoke about the reasons behind their decision.

"We are talking about the health and lives of workers. The health and lives of workers threatened by secondhand smoke indoors. The importance of workers lives and health trump the liberty interest of smoking indoors where people work," said Councilor Brian Mahern.

"If somebody is not intelligent enough to make the right decisions for their own personal safety, that is not the government's place to tell them and protect them," said Councilor Ed Coleman before he voted against the ban. "They should protect themselves and we should stop being a bunch of nanny staters and telling people how to live their lives."

The council then voted 14-13 in favor of tabling the smoking ban. That means the ban can be brought up for a vote again or sent back to committee.

If the ban had passed, it still needed the Mayor's signature to become law. Mayor Greg Ballard has said publicly he didn't know if Indianapolis was ready to go there yet when it came to an expanded smoking ban.

The mayor's spokesperson said the mayor's position hasn't changed since Eyewitness News asked him about it earlier this year.