By Matt Leingang
Enquirer staff writer

Average citizens, business representatives, public health advocates and one of the city's political icons will shape the debate over a proposed smoking ban for Cincinnati's bars and restaurants.

COMMITTEE

People selected by the Cincinnati Health Department to study the need for a smoking ban in public places, including bars and restaurants: • Marianne Beard, special projects coordinator, American Lung Association of Ohio. • Lisa Owendoff, communications director, American Cancer Society. • Dan Zavon, North Avondale resident. • Marjorie Perry, member, Health Cincinnati. • Shari Einsel, executive director, Greater Cincinnati Restaurant Association. • Tracey Carson, regional policy coordinator, Tobacco-Free Ohio. • Martin Wade, business partner with Jean-Robert de Cavel, chef-owner of Jean-Robert at Pigall's on Fourth Street. • Richard Garth, sanitarian, Cincinnati Health Department. • Jeneene Brengelman, Westwood resident. • Matthew Coleman, member, Tobacco Prevention Coalition of Northern Kentucky. • Bobbie Sterne, former Cincinnati mayor and councilwoman. • Ahron Leichtman, director, Greater Cincinnati Coalition on Smoking and Health. • Ben Klopp, owner of Mount Adams Pavilion and Aliveone bar.

Members of a 13-member advisory committee were announced Friday.

Vice Mayor Alicia Reece called for creation of the committee in response to a national movement that seeks to protect workers and patrons from health problems linked to secondhand smoke.

Columbus City Council on June 28 approved a smoking ban in most public places, including restaurants, bars, bowling alleys and bingo halls. Opponents, however, are seeking to have a repeal of the ordinance on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Nationwide, 1,757 cities, including Toledo and Lexington, and 10 states have clean indoor air laws, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation in Berkeley, Calif. Some states, such as Florida and Idaho, make exceptions for stand-alone bars.

The most recognizable name on Cincinnati's advisory panel is Bobbie Sterne, the former mayor and longtime councilwoman who was known during her time in office from the 1970s to the 1990s as a champion of public health policies.

"I started out as a nurse, so once a nurse, always a nurse," Sterne said.

Other members include Shari Einsel, executive director of Greater Cincinnati Restaurant Association, and representatives of the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association.

Einsel could not be reached for comment Friday but has previously stated a belief that bar and restaurant owners should retain the freedom to decide their own smoking policies.

The Licensed Beverage Association of Southwest Ohio is also against any attempt by the city to snuff out smoking, citing fears that revenues would decline at Cincinnati's bars and restaurants.

Jeneene Brengelman, a Westwood resident who is on the advisory panel, supports clean indoor air legislation. Her interest lies in protecting the health of workers and patrons, as well as encouraging people to stop smoking.

"I love to dance and to enjoy live music, but I'm not willing to do it anymore because of secondhand smoke," Brengelman, 58, said. "And I know there are a lot of other people out there who feel the same way."

Names on the list reflect people who responded to invitations from the Cincinnati Health Department, said Assistant Health Commissioner Walter Handy.

Some invitations, including those to the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, have not been returned, so the advisory panel could grow, Handy said.

It's unclear when the panel will meet for the first time. Handy said the Health Department intends to schedule meetings in August, followed by a series of public forums.

Reece has asked the committee to file a report in November, but some members say they might need more time to ensure that the public has enough of an opportunity to weigh in.

Exposure to secondhand smoke, a carcinogen, leads to as many as 50,000 deaths each year from heart disease and 3,000 deaths from lung cancer, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati reported in a major study this week that they had identified the narrow region of genes that causes lung cancer. For people carrying a lung cancer gene, even a mild smoking habit or exposure to secondhand smoke can trigger the disease.

E-mail mleingang@enquirer.com