By Matt Leingang
Enquirer staff writer

If Cincinnati bans smoking in most indoor public places, including bars and restaurants, will the suburbs follow suit?

Fairfield may enter the debate, but many of the government officials in cities and villages around Greater Cincinnati don't seem interested.

Newport likely will not press for a ban, said City Manager Phil Ciafardini.

"It's not an issue that's been brought up or discussed," Ciafardini said. "It's not something we're probably going to pursue. We've got too many other things on our plate."

Said Blue Ash City Manager Marvin Thompson: "It's not even on the radar screen. If it ever did come up, we would consult with our major restaurants and see what's best for them. We don't want to hurt their business."

So far, Cincinnati is the only local municipality willing to debate a clean indoor air law, a measure that already has been adopted in Lexington and Toledo. Columbus City Council could vote on the issue as early as June 28.

Cincinnati Vice Mayor Alicia Reece wants to have an advisory committee put together by August. But Fairfield could be close behind.

Fairfield City Council plans to talk about a smoking ban for restaurants in September, said Councilman Mark Scharringhausen. A resident had asked city council to ban smoking earlier this spring.

Scharringhausen said he favors a ban on smoking in restaurants without liquor licenses. He would exempt businesses with liquor licenses. He's more concerned with smoking in family restaurants, such as Bob Evans or Frisch's.

"That's where families and senior citizens congregate, and those are the people that I'm concerned about," Scharringhausen said.

Elsewhere:

• Norwood City Council recently decided not to pursue a smoking ban for restaurants and bars. A resident had raised the issue, and council members discussed it briefly before discarding the idea. "We felt it was best to let the individual business owners decide if they want to ban smoking," Norwood Mayor Tom Williams said.

• Sharonville discussed and rejected the idea many years ago, said Al Ledbetter, city safety service director. "There just wasn't the support for it," he said. The topic hasn't been brought up since, Ledbetter said.

• A smoking ban is not being considered in Glendale, Reading, Deer Park, Evendale, Springdale, Loveland, Lebanon, Mason, Hamilton, Wyoming, Forest Park or Madeira.

Clean indoor air laws protect employees and customers from exposure to secondhand smoke, associated with increased risks for heart disease and lung cancer in adults and respiratory disease in children, especially asthma, advocates say.

According to a 1993 report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about 3,000 lung cancer deaths a year can be blamed on secondhand smoke.

Other studies estimate that each year secondhand smoke causes 35,000 to 50,000 deaths from coronary artery disease. In April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned for the first time that people at risk of heart disease should avoid places that allow indoor smoking.

Sooner or later, Cincinnati's suburbs may be forced to pay attention to the issue. That's because advocates are planning to target the region.

The Hamilton County Tobacco Partnership may use part of its $385,000 grant this year to hire a person to spearhead the movement across the county, officials said. The agency is funded from the national tobacco settlement.

Hamilton County cannot enact a smoking ban for the entire county, said Tracey Carson, spokeswoman for the Cincinnati Clean Indoor Air Coalition. Ohio's constitution authorizes municipalities to govern themselves in local matters, so the cause has to be taken up city by city, village by village.

Townships are not incorporated, and thus fall under state provisions, Carson said.

Advocates, who frame the issue around public health and the right of employees to work in a safe environment, say their biggest challenge is erasing perceived notions that smoking restrictions are bad for business.

Covington Mayor Butch Callery said he's watching what happens in Cincinnati closely.

"If Cincinnati bans smoking in restaurants and bars, I think it will mean an economic boom for our area," Callery said. "People who smoke in Cincinnati will come over to Northern Kentucky."

Callery has no marketing data to support that assumption, however. "It's just an opinion," he said.

Ahron Leichtman, director of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition on Smoking and Health, said opponents of clean indoor air laws who try to scare people with dire economic predictions haven't done their homework.

He points to economic surveys in California and New York - both have statewide smoking bans - showing that overall revenues are up for the bar and restaurant industry.

"There could be a few small tavern owners who see revenues go down, but if this issue is properly promoted, business at most places will go up," Leichtman said. "I argue that if we are successful in Cincinnati, non-smokers - who are the majority - will abandon Northern Kentucky for Cincinnati's bars and restaurants."

Although smokers are a minority in Kentucky, the commonwealth leads the nation in the percentage of adult smokers: 32.6 percent. Indiana ranks fifth with 27.7 percent, and Ohio isn't far behind at 26.6 percent.

Poll finds support

A poll of 300 registered voters in Blue Ash found that 73 percent would support a smoking ban in restaurants, and 65 percent would support such a law for bars, pubs and taverns.

The results were released this week by the Cincinnati Clean Indoor Air Coalition. The poll was conducted by Fallon Research and Communications Inc. and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.6 percentage points.

It mirrors the results of a poll released by the group in April showing that 64 percent of Cincinnatians would support a ban on workplace smoking, including bars and restaurants.

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Enquirer reporters Steve Kemme, John Kiesewetter, Cindy Schroeder, Sheila McLaughlin, Travis Gettys, Liz Oakes and Erica Solvig contributed. E-mail mleingang@enquirer.com