13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |Back to the drawing board for expanded smoking ban

Back to the drawing board for expanded smoking ban

David MacAnally/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - Red and green are not just the colors of Christmas, but the colors of the battle over a wider smoking ban in Marion County. Supporters on each side dressed in colored T-shirts at a City-County Council meeting Monday night.

The expanded smoking ban was set for a final battle in the council until sponsor Benjamin Hunter played it safe and asked it be sent back to committee, keeping it alive.

Libertarian councilor Ed Coleman said he had over 700 signatures from people asking for a no vote. He said council should "vote on this tonight and get it over with." He got applause.

But council voted 20-7 to send it back to committee. The proposal would extend the city's current smoking ban to bars, bowling alleys and private clubs. Hookah bars and similar establishments would be exempt.

Eyewitness News asked Hunter if the committee would rewrite the bill and consider dropping private clubs from the ban

"It's clear in its current form it will not pass, so yes, there's going to have to be compromises," Hunter said.

Mayor Ballard, who threatened a veto, once said about private clubs, "I'm not going to tell an Iwo Jima vet he can't smoke in the VFW."

A ban supporter said they plan to continue a dialogue with elected officials.

But opponents will also keep fighting. One said, "I do think some don't have the guts to take a stand on it. Afraid to say one way or the other how they feel and it's getting out of hand. Mayor Ballard will allow us to do what we need to do to persuade him this is what's best for our city."

The decision to send the measure back to committee could keep the proposal off the council agenda for months.