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Tom Fahsbender, 112 East Hilliard Street, urged the council to make bars, taverns, and bingo parlors exempt from the ordinance. He stressed that the tobacco question was an issue of choice and expressed his surprise that the issue was even being discussed by the council. He claimed that the City was being intolerant of smokers and wondered aloud what had happened to the idea of diversity in the community. Misha Seymour, 1313 Lincoln Street, commented that the discussion was an emotional issue. He urged the council not to let any businesses be exempt and urged bar owners to help their patrons "kick" the smoking habit. Lourdes Marte, 1313 Lincoln Street, urged that the ordinance become countywide. She opined that businesses would profit more by the patronage of more nonsmokers. Jack Dresser, 1715 Franklin Boulevard, spoke as the Oregon Research Institute's principal investigator of the study done on the results of the smoking ban in Corvallis. He noted that a study of the outlying areas of Corvallis had been done as well and projected that there would be no significant impact to Eugene businesses if the smoking ordinance was passed. Gary Parks, 2620 River Road, spoke as an Oregon Lottery machine vendor. He raised concern that a smoking ban would be passed by the City Council and harm his business. He commented that making adults smoke in their own homes would be worse for kids than if people had a place to go to smoke. James Hale, 1715 Linnea Avenue, related that he worked for a major grocery chain and did not feel like he was a drug dealer by selling cigarettes. He raised concern that the enforcement policy in the ordinance language was too strict. He urged the council to take a closer look at how the ordinance could realistically be enforced. Adam Bernstein, 1960 Emerald Street, commented that the ordinance was a civil liberties issue. He remarked that it was not the government's place to control legal behavior. He added that people had a choice to patronize businesses where smoking was not allowed and that the city was going about passing the ordinance in an inappropriate way. Michael Drury, 5015 Center Way, spoke representing the Black Forest Tavern. He commented that the patrons that he had talked to did not like the proposed ordinance. He raised concern that the ordinance would be too expensive to enforce. Mayor Torrey closed the public hearing and called for councilor questions/comments. Councilor Rayor observed that the issue was an instance of people being dissatisfied no matter what the outcome of the council action would be. Councilor Nathanson called for more information on the OLCC Responsible Vendor Program and how it would relate to the ordinance. She raised concern that there were many businesses and organizations that supported worthy causes by contributing to the harm of others. She used the sale of fireworks during the summer as an example. Councilor Kelly thanked staff for its work on the ordinance. He called for more information on separate smoking rooms. He noted that the Responsible Vendor Program had been taken into account when the ordinance was proposed. MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 11, 2000 Page 11 Regular Meeting