Defying public health professionals and others who pleaded with them not to do it, the Vanderburgh County Commissioners on Tuesday night reinstated exemptions for bars, taverns and nightclubs in the county's smoking ban.
The exemptions expired Jan. 2. Four days later, in their first public meeting, Democratic Commissioners Troy Tornatta and Steve Melcher voted on first reading to reinstate the exemptions. Republican Commissioner Lloyd Winnecke voted against it.
Tuesday night's vote on second and final reading means the city's and the county's separate smoking bans each contain exemptions that do not expire.
Before a full meeting room dominated by people wearing white "smoke-free" stickers, Tornatta and Melcher held firm despite the pleas of health professionals and others who said reinstating the exemptions would be embarrassing and harmful to the collective image of Evansville and Vanderburgh County.
Andrea Hays told the commissioners she moved to the area months ago.
"I, too, am a young professional," Hays said. "I'm also a mother of an asthmatic child.
"... When I was looking into moving here with my family, I was told that Evansville was on the move, that Evansville was making great changes, and I looked up the ordinances and I was excited to see what was happening - and I'm just really disappointed, and I really hope that you might change your mind."
But Tornatta, who was elected president of the commissioners last week, advised smoking ban supporters to "be patient."
"We have talked many times that there are two different ways to get to a common goal," he said.
Tornatta has said a comprehensive city-county smoking ban cannot be passed in the current political environment without the City Council's cooperation. Leading up to the vote, he insisted political realities dictated the county would have to bring its smoking ban into line with the city's before a tough city-county smoking ban could be passed.
Tornatta also cited several business owners in the county who believe they would be at a competitive disadvantage with businesses in the city, which passed a smoking ban with exemptions that do not expire.
Just before the vote, Tornatta said he would support a state law calling for a comprehensive smoking ban in Indiana. He also said he will write a letter to City Councilman H. Dan Adams, a retired cardiac surgeon who favors a tough city-county smoking ban, in a bid to open talks with the city.
But several doctors and health care professionals who spoke Tuesday said the Commissioners have a duty to lead the City Council now.
Linda White, president and chief executive of Deaconess Health System, asked the commissioners if a vote for reinstating the smoking ban's exemptions would be in the best interests of the majority who doesn't smoke.
White also asked whether such a vote would serve local employers, "who are jumping hurdles to decrease the cost of health care."
Ed Lahue, director of marketing and public relations for St. Mary's Health System, said the statistics on secondhand smoking leave little doubt about its effects.
"Experts believe secondhand smoke is to blame for about 3,400 adult lung cancer deaths and an estimated 35,000 smoke-related heart disease deaths in the United States each year," Lahue said. "... We urge you to vote in favor of the health and well-being of our community and all of its members."
Denise Bartholomew told the commissioners that a step toward uniformity with the city's smoking ordinance would be "a slap in the face to everyone in this city and county who has worked so tirelessly and diligently the last few years to make Evansville a progressive, health-conscious community."
"The argument we keep hearing from you is, 'It's all about leveling the playing field,' that it's only fair to have the county and the city the same," Bartholomew said. "But I have to ask, fair to who? Those few tavern owners? The minority of the people that still smoke?"
Winnecke said reinstating the exemptions would be "a disappointing day for Vanderburgh County from a public health perspective and from an economic development standpoint."
"And I think it's very sad that the politics of the City Council is influencing and now hindering the actions of county government," he said.
Melcher, who was a City Councilman before his election last year, said he takes seriously his responsibility to weigh all sides of an issue.
"Every vote we take up here is not taken lightly," he said. "We have to consider a lot of things when we vote."