Ralston Lifts Smoking Ban

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Waiting for state restrictions to kick in
Posted: 9:18 AM Aug 20, 2008
Last Updated: 9:18 AM Aug 20, 2008

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The Ralston City Council has lifted the city's smoking ban.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to repeal the local ordinance. Businesses can now allow smoking until a new state law takes effect next June.

Ralston councilman Jerry Krause says the city had a choice of defending its smoking ban against a lawsuit or repealing the law.

Ralston's ordinance had banned smoking in the workplace but provided exemptions for keno places, private clubs, tobacco shops, and bars with limited food service.

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Posted by: Mom of 2 on Aug 25, 2008 at 03:12 PM
@J-you completely missed the point of what I was saying, ANYTHING IN EXCESS WILL KILL YOU!! LET'S BE A HAPPIER SOCIETY AND QUIT WHINING ABOUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING!! and you concerning yourself with my children is obserd, you want to get on a soapbox about kids, take a stand for children who are living in places where they are beaten, or neglected. and all of those studies you listed off, guess who payed for the studies to be done...people who have an agenda, and are being payed to say so. More objective studies have shown that by the time the smoke leaves the smokers lungs, 90% of the chemicals have been absorbed, and the smoke is no more harmless than standing behind a running vehicle. Let's use our brains a little people, and come up with a way to get back to basics as a society, and learn how to be neighborly again, and like I said, prevent any deaths from soapbox overload.

Posted by: Connie on Aug 24, 2008 at 11:48 AM
So you smokers know what we non-smokers have had to deal with for years. I grew up in a household of smokers and chose not to when I became an adult. Watching both my parents die of smoke related diseases, someone you love gasping for that last breath of air is not pretty or my idea of fun. I just wish you could experience that yourself and then you might have the will power to quit. Now quit your whining and go smoke someplace non offensive to others, including your kids or nonsmoking family memebers. Life is just to short to fight over something so stupid. This me, me, me world we live in now just sucks. I remember the 3 R's, Respect for myself, Respect for others and Responsibility for all your actions!!

Posted by: Kent on Aug 24, 2008 at 11:36 AM
JW, you don't like the smell of beer? Then why the hell do you care if smoking is allowed at bars? You're arguing out of both... oh, never mind. You wouldn't understand it, anyway.

Posted by: Cough, Cough on Aug 24, 2008 at 10:25 AM
So many of you smokers are complaining about paying cigarette taxes, and how we will miss your cigarette taxes when they go down or are gone. Here's a little news flash for ya....you VOLUNTEER to pay those cigarette taxes. If you don't want to pay them, quit smoking. Hmmm...what a novel idea. Yes, revenue collected from cig. taxes may go down, or (hopefully) go away, because people quit smoking. But if that happens, I think we will also see a sharp drop in the medical expenses paid by Medicare/Medicaid to all those smokers who end up with COPD and lung cancer. According to the AHA, smoking is directly related to approximately 90% of lung cancer deaths, and 80 – 90% of COPD (emphysema and chronic bronchitis) deaths. This is what you are so desperately fighting for?

Posted by: Cough, Cough on Aug 24, 2008 at 10:22 AM
For those of you talking about the right of a business owner to run his business any way he wants...it has never been that way. Business owners are regulated in lots of other ways. A smoking ban is not just to protect customers from other customers, but to protect the employees as well. They are in that environment every day. Don’t tell them to get a job somewhere else, it is their RIGHT to have a safe workplace, just like everyone else. It is the employer’s duty and responsibility to provide that safe work environment. Business owners are also required to apply for and abide by liquor licenses, occupancy licenses, conform to public health standards and laws, as well as other public safety issues, like fire codes. It is not up to the business owner to decide if he needs emergency exits, or fire extinguishers, or a sprinkler system, it’s the law because the #1 job of gov. is to protect it’s citizens.

Posted by: J on Aug 24, 2008 at 08:56 AM
@JW, Irvington - The quick death from running your car in an enclosed room is from CO poisoning (carbon MONoxide) not CO2 (carbon DIoxide). Catalytic converters took care of most of the really nasty stuff that cars put out, but they are polluters, granted. But no one sucks on the end of an exhaust pipe. No one runs them in an enclosed room, unless they are suicidal. The "pollution in an average commute" is not happening in an enclosed room or building but over many square miles. There is plenty of information out there, from easy to read sources, about the known dangers of second hand smoke, which is why I originally contributed. It's not pseudoscience, as the Tobacco Institute and Rush "Better living through Chemistry" Limbaugh would have you believe. I've lost two smoking family members to lung cancer. Another two have had heart attacks. It wasn't the "smell" that caused it. If my comments cause you to stop & just look up some of these articles & think a little, I'll be glad

Posted by: JW on Aug 24, 2008 at 12:21 AM
To J: I'm sure Mike wasn't referring to the quick death of CO2 poisioning, although I do have to support his argument. The levels of toxins that are released from a single pack of cigarettes cannot possibly compare to what is emitted during an average morning commute. The biggest argument, from what I have seen, is not about the health risk. It's about non smokers not liking the smell of smoke. PERIOD. I don't care for the smell of beer, should I start protesting for a ban on beer? I think not. View it from a different side: Smokers are doing their part, pack by pack, in keeping everyone's tax bills down. If all the smokers stopped smoking, where do you think the state would regenerate the tax dollars from?

Posted by: J on Aug 23, 2008 at 10:29 PM
@Stunt Man Mike: This has *what* to do with secondhand smoke? If you run your car in an enclosed room, you can also die, but faster. Quit trying to change the subject - it only points up how weak your debating skills are. "Sheesh"

Posted by: Stunt Man Mike on Aug 23, 2008 at 08:43 PM
@J: What comes out of your vehicle you drive, perfume? Stay with me now... Sheesh.

Posted by: Newport Queen on Aug 22, 2008 at 10:10 PM
Honestly, I'm glad they lifted the ban because if people don't want to be around smoke....stay away from places that allow smoking. I know people who only smoke when they drink and for me I won't even go out because of this stupid ban. It's more convenient at home.

Posted by: To Non smoker on Aug 22, 2008 at 09:12 PM
As a matter of fact no I do not drink however I do SMOKE so I have been going to bars so i can smoke get off of smokers cases we have no rights like you do,

Posted by: ANON on Aug 22, 2008 at 08:23 PM
Vic you go right ahead and smoke it up if thats what you choose. But others dont want to eat a meal and breath in YOUR smoke. No one is saying to you dont smoke. Just keep it out of the faces and lungs of those that don't wish to die a soon death from smoking.I dont think I'm better then you Vic just smarter because I quit.

Posted by: Savannah on Aug 22, 2008 at 07:06 PM
Its not about smoking !!! Its about making money. " rob peter to pay paul" wonder is Alcohol will ever get this attention! it causes liver problems. No body really cares wh and how it effects others. just so they get a peice of the pie!!!

Posted by: nikki on Aug 22, 2008 at 05:00 PM
to vic if this is the land of the free why don't we go ahead and allow drugs to be legal or minors to drink alcohol whether you know it or not your smoking affects us non smokers and if i am having dinner with my family and kids there i do not want you to poison ous air we have tu have rules and standards obviously you don't

Posted by: Jen on Aug 22, 2008 at 04:10 PM
To Vic. The same could be said to you smokers..if you don't like it go somewhere else. I smoked for 16 years and my husband for 30 we both quit in Nov. I'm not on either side of this I'm just sick of the smokers with there poor us attitudes. Smoke at home. Or eat out then go to your car and smoke. What options do the none smokers have who want to eat out and not smells that gross smoke smell but want to enjoy a nice night out for dinner

Posted by: Jeff on Aug 22, 2008 at 03:11 PM
Vic, you're wrong. Non-smokers DID care. You say the non-smokers whined? Now you're on the other side, and look who's whining now!

Posted by: Non-Smoker on Aug 22, 2008 at 01:25 PM
It isnt about smoking or not. It is about choices. What gives the government the right to ban something that is legal? I believe you have a choice to go to a place that either allows smoking or not. That goes for working there too, if you dont like the smoke, then dont work there. It is pretty easy to figure out. I guess common sense isnt so common.

Posted by: GEJ on Aug 22, 2008 at 12:48 PM
It's not that non-smokers think they're better than smokers, we just choose our health over killing ourselves or something. THAT is the choice we make.

Posted by: J on Aug 22, 2008 at 11:34 AM
@Stunt Man Mike: Where do you want me to start? Carcinogen CAUSES a mutation in the DNA. Compounded mutations causes cancer. Whether the mutations compound depends on your genetics. What does driving have to do with this topic? And FYI, you meant "Devaney" being funded with cigarette taxes, not Memorial Stadium.

Posted by: Vic on Aug 22, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Why is it up to some people whether other people are allowed to smoke? Years ago everyone was free to smoke, anytime, anywhere and the non-smokers didn't care. Now all of a sudden these non-smokers have whined enough to make sure us smokers aren't where they want to be. This is America, people. It's land of the free, not land for non-smokers only. If you don't like where the smoke is, then stay away. We have as much right to smoke as you have the right not to. You non-smokers are no better than us, so stop thinking that you are.

Posted by: Stunt Man Mike on Aug 22, 2008 at 06:45 AM
Tell me J, do you drive? And could you also expound on the difference between "causing" vs. "contributing". For being so learned, you sure missed the point like everyone else. This isn't about smoking. Now that there is language I can understand.

Posted by: J on Aug 21, 2008 at 11:17 PM
@Mom of 2: Google "Second hand smoke risk" and you'll find plenty of evidence, all written in language you'll understand - from epa.gov, American Lung Association, cancer.org, the Washington Post, etc. No hard-to-read medical journals. There's even a nice article on "Parents Ignore Risks of Exposure of Secondhand Smoke to Children" which you should find especially interesting. Cigarette smoke is a known carcinogen, period. How each individual body processes that carcinogen - well, that's the wonder of genetics. I could go into the mechanics of cancer, but I don't have enough characters left, and I don't think I could convince you, but some people can smoke and not get it, some people don't smoke and get it, whether they live in Europe or not, happy or depressed. Your arguments are woefully undereducated.

Posted by: To JLL on Aug 21, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Amen JLL!!! It'll be us non-smokers subsidizing the iron lung for the smokers because they won't be able to afford it!!!

Posted by: RipVanWinkle on Aug 21, 2008 at 11:53 AM
I remember once seeing a sign that said something to the effect of.."blah, blah, blah,something or other... at your own risk". Wonder what happened to those.. hmm..musta been sleeping.

Posted by: Stunt Man Mike on Aug 21, 2008 at 11:26 AM
How many of you non-smokers will boycott attending any functions in Memorial Stadium, it was after all, built with that nasty, tainted tobacco tax money. Oh, I'm sorry,you're right...that's different. NOT!

Posted by: Relieved on Aug 21, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Everyone should be thankful that planes, trains and automobiles don't run on tobacco. I shudder to think of the consequences... You "sheeple" need to start thinking for yourselves.

Posted by: Stunt Man Mike on Aug 21, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Ok non-smokers,just prove that tobacco is a precursor in the manufacture of meth, it'll be illegal faster than you can put out a cigarette, problem solved. Just think of all the smokers you can incarcerate. Oh, wait a minute, it's already coming to that. You hicks slay me! Ha!

Posted by: Mom of 2 on Aug 21, 2008 at 10:26 AM
I would like to see conclusive proof that second hand smoke kills, and I'm not talking about puting 3 rats in a box that is virtually free of clean air and blowing smoke at them 24hours a day until they die. Anything in excess will kill you, including vegitables. Who are the non smokers to tell anyone weather or not they can kill themselves. It is a personal chioce, and keep in mind people who eat as healthy as I've seen and never smoke or drink, get cancer every day. It's time to realize, when your # is up, it's up. Look at europe, they smoke more, drink more, and generally eat more fatty foods and they are way healthier than us. Why? becase they are a HAPPIER society. Nobody whines as much as us americans, and no other country has as much as we do. Isn't that odd? Quit looking for a cause, you are not better than us smokers, and mind your own business before you end up giving yourself a stroke just on the basis of soapbox overload.

Posted by: D on Aug 21, 2008 at 10:02 AM
Great going. Let's get up in arms and gripe about having to tolerate a legal product that provides tax revenue. It's too bad all of these anti-tobacco efforts cannot be re-directed towards doing something about the horribly destructive meth problem that plagues the midwest. You anti-smoking "crusaders" are a big time joke.

Posted by: Neil on Aug 21, 2008 at 09:03 AM
I am sorry to hear that the City Council of Ralston gave in to a few whiners. As a former smoker, I am so glad I quit, I can taste and smell food better and I feel much better. Surely you can go without a smoke for a couple of hours when you go to a cafe. Give everyone else a break! I don't like going to a place and then come out smelling like a cigarette, so I do avoid those places as much as possible.

Posted by: JLL on Aug 21, 2008 at 08:31 AM
Here's an idea. Quit smoking and save your money for you health insurance/dr. bills that you will have to pay when you get cancer or another illness caused by smoking.

Posted by: B on Aug 21, 2008 at 08:29 AM
No matter what side you are on. It is not the governments responsability to tell busineses who they can or can't serve. While I'm a non smoker, you non smokers are acting like a bunch of fashist's.

Posted by: whatever on Aug 20, 2008 at 11:32 PM
I know...why don't all the non smokers go to one side of the room and close it off and the smokers go to the other side and close that one off too. that way the non smokers dont have to smell like ashtrays or worry about getting cancer from the smokers. I say quit whinning and nagging about it. Just cuz you dont like doesnt mean you have to be around it. CHOICE and FREEDOM. Isnt that what America is suppose to be about?

Posted by: Non-smoker on Aug 20, 2008 at 09:45 PM
To the smokers, you have every right to smoke, if you are old enough go right ahead, but why can't you understand that your habit is without a doubt impacting others? I have severe allergy problems and have to avoid anywhere that there is going to be smoking. And to "smoker" in Ralston, my guess if you are going to a bar to smoke you are more then likely drinking to, do YOU have a designated driver??

Posted by: Sally on Aug 20, 2008 at 06:32 PM
Looks like from the comments all the smokers are heading to Ralston. Yeah. Less walking ashtrays in the surrounding areas.

Posted by: john on Aug 20, 2008 at 06:24 PM
You know David, the non-smokers put up with the smokers, now its the smokers who can put up with the non-smokers for a change. What goes around, comes around.

Posted by: David on Aug 20, 2008 at 05:54 PM
It's about time that the non-smokers realize that they don't have to hang with us smokers, instead of imposing their bans on us! We don't appreciate your better than thou attitudes, and could care less of what you think of us!

Posted by: Anonymous on Aug 20, 2008 at 05:19 PM
Bill, Keno players are on the same slow route to death as smokers. You might as well let them smoke.

Posted by: Steve on Aug 20, 2008 at 05:18 PM
Good job city council ..we the people. The nagging nanny's and hypocrite do gooders that try to tell us businesses what to do. You don't pay my rent or salaries, you should have no say so in how I run my business.

Posted by: Anonymous on Aug 20, 2008 at 04:42 PM
Perhaps Ralston should think of the fiscal opportunities with lifting other restrictions. Imagine the money they could reap by lowering the drinking age to 15. How bout dog fighting, that might be lucrative. Perhaps a little leniency in the area of pandering would help the coffers. What's a little lung cancer when you can make real money?

Posted by: Emphyzema Lou on Aug 20, 2008 at 04:41 PM
Thank god! Good to know there is still a place in Nebraska to smell like an ashtray.

Posted by: Jack on Aug 20, 2008 at 03:59 PM
Good, now I at least have a place to eat, drink, and smoke until next year. I only wish my business was in Ralston so the prohibition didn't affect MY private business.

Posted by: O.K. on Aug 20, 2008 at 03:55 PM
Thank - You Ralston i know I will be visiting your city more now that you lifted the smoking ban. No I can play keno eat and smoke Thank - You Thank_you

Posted by: Anonymous on Aug 20, 2008 at 03:24 PM
The air could be full of cyanide and you people whouldn't care as long as smoking was banned. Has anyone even suggested a clean air law?

Posted by: Doug on Aug 20, 2008 at 02:59 PM
Anymore, it is just common courtesy to not smoke in any area where there are other people who do not smoke. I don't smoke, but I chew tobacco. I am thinking I will start a new trend and just start spitting on smokers to see how they like having to deal with someone else's bad habit.

Posted by: jim on Aug 20, 2008 at 02:58 PM
hats off and a hearty congrats to Ralston City Council. I've got my freedom to smoke in Ralston wherever and whenever I want to. I don't want no Commie, and I don't care if it's smoking or it's seat belts, to infiltrate my government and tell me what to do. Look at Georgia. Like Nikita Krushchev said, "We will bury you." This is just one example of how Ralston fights for our freedom. Omaha should take notice. Next thing you know, they'll be flying the Red Flag. cozying with the KGB (you know, the Committee for State Security) and the Kremlin. Keep up the good work.

Posted by: DougW on Aug 20, 2008 at 02:54 PM
Its about time! I will be shopping, eating in the Ralston area! !

Posted by: Jennifer on Aug 20, 2008 at 02:48 PM
Ralston, what you lose out in revenue from other people NOT going because of lifting the smoking ban, you will gain back in people who do smoke and getting discriminated against for doing something that is still legal. Thank you Ralston, non smokers have so many more options for dinning than those of use who do smoke, if you don't like it go somewhere where they already don't allow smoking.

Posted by: Joey on Aug 20, 2008 at 01:41 PM
I'll be spending my time and money in Ralston.

Posted by: Smoker on Aug 20, 2008 at 01:38 PM
Finally we can smoke again! By the way to all of you complaining about your health. Quit Drinking and Driving, your endangering my health! It does no matter if you have 1 beer or 6. Don't have that glass of wine with your meal, drink a coke. or Diet for the insecure fat people. By the way, Fat people, your going to die because of your weight not because of my cigarette.

Posted by: mandyv on Aug 20, 2008 at 01:15 PM
The smoke haters, who were never banned from investing their own money for smoke-free venues, have a choice, which is more than those who are forced into these bans. They are still waiting for all those antis who said they would fill up the pubs,clubs ect. They have not, all they have done is take the soul of of these places. The UK are losing 27 pubs a WEEK, thanks to the USA puritans. Good luck to all business when the State stick their oar in. Prohibition did not work the first time around, the wheel does not need re-inventing.

Posted by: Scott on Aug 20, 2008 at 12:34 PM
NON-SMOKERS UNITE!!!!

Posted by: ANON on Aug 20, 2008 at 12:30 PM
If you don't like the smoke stay away from it. Its a choice.

Posted by: To Anonymous on Aug 20, 2008 at 12:30 PM
That's the point - you do have a choice. And so does everyone else, including the business owners. The ban overturn doesn't mean that all businesses in Ralston HAVE to allow smoking. It means they have the CHOICE to allow it. Customers can choose to go to businesses that allow smoking. Or they can choose not to go to them. What's the big deal about giving people the freedom of choice?

Posted by: Anonymous on Aug 20, 2008 at 12:24 PM
What a crock ! Healthy working environment . OK there is NO concrete evidence that second hand smoke causes anything . The science was bad when the government released their trvial findings. This is just a red herring for all the crap that are used in bulding materials . All the gasses the government has released into our atmosphere. And last but not least . If you want to debate this then look up the governments findings. from 1992. Think people.!

Posted by: Economics on Aug 20, 2008 at 12:23 PM
Omaha can afford to fight lawsuits; Ralston can't.

Posted by: Millard on Aug 20, 2008 at 12:14 PM
I live just outside of Ralston and have often gone to eat in Ralston. I guess my dollars will stay in Omaha! Thank goodness for the smoking ban, I can dine without having to walk out of a restaurant smelling like an ashtray and suffering from my allergies!

Posted by: Bill on Aug 20, 2008 at 11:42 AM
Evidently, keno in Ralston is more important that a healthy working environment. At first they excluded Keno parlors from the smoking ban and after threat of litigation, they removed the ban all together. Would not it have been just as prudent to get rid of the keno exclusion and enforce the law that you passed? Great message to sent to the people of Ralston – we want you to live and play here but our Keno money is more important than your health. The mayor and the council should be recalled.

Posted by: Shawn on Aug 20, 2008 at 11:38 AM
Way to go Ralston City Council. No sense on doing something right or your duty. Go ahead and wait. Let the state fix your screw ups.

Posted by: M on Aug 20, 2008 at 11:20 AM
SPINELESS SOBs!!

Posted by: llr on Aug 20, 2008 at 11:01 AM
Too bad Omaha can't do the same thing. What's a year, more or less? Bars & keno parlors I've been to tell me they'll have to close up shop long before the state-wide ban takes effect.

Posted by: Anonymous on Aug 20, 2008 at 10:39 AM
Well Ralston smokers, you say I have a choice. I love your sales tax, and although it will hurt me financially, I will stay out of your city until the state ban takes effect.