Court upholds city's smoking ban

A Greene County court has upheld the city of Springfield's smoking ban, but the court challenges are likely not over.

Jean Doublin, owner of Ruthie's Bar on Commercial Street, filed the lawsuit in June seeking to stop the ban. The lawsuit claimed the Springfield ordinance violates state law and therefore is invalid.

The suit cites Missouri law, which allows taverns to make nonsmoking areas unavailable indoors as long as signage is posted outside the bar that says "Nonsmoking Areas are Unavailable."

Those signs appear on every door at Ruthie's.

Doublin said she was disappointed, but not surprised by Judge Jason Brown's ruling upholding the ordinance. Doublin said she's lost close to 75 percent of her business since the ban went into effect. She also said she hasn't seen some of the proponents of the ban patronize her tavern.

"Not one quarter," she said.

Advocates said Brown's ruling adds to a growing set of legal precedents that allow cities to enforce a smoking ban in the name of public health.

"I think it's a continued victory for public health, which is what we view this ordinance to be," said Stephen Hall, communications director for the American Heart Association in Springfield.

Hall is also the volunteer chairman for the One Air Alliance, a group supporting the ban.

The ban, approved by voters by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin in April, generally prohibits smoking inside any place where people work or where the public has access, as well as outdoors in playgrounds and other areas. It went into effect June 11.

Brown wrote in his ruling in the case, issued Wednesday evening, that he doesn't entirely side with the city's argument in support of having the authority to ban smoking, but he said he feels bound by a previous decision in the Western District Appeals Court on a similar ban.

"Unlike those of the Springfield city council, (the court's decision) is not one of public policy, nor is it a commentary upon the pros or cons of restrictions on smoking in public places," Brown wrote.