Through six months, four testimonies and two last names, Kelly Dolan Kessler has begged the Howard County Council to ban smoking in county bars and restaurants ? even sneaking away from her honeymoon Monday so she could get her point across.
“It?s time. You know it?s time. We know you want to protect us,” said Kessler, a cancer survivor and vice president of program services for the American Lung Association.
With a start date of June 1, 2007, the bill was sponsored by Council Member Kenneth Ulman, D-District 4, and Democratic County Executive James Robey.
It is the fourth in a series of partisan bills the council has wrangled over since November. But it is the first with enough support to become law, with the three Democratic council members ? Ulman and Council Members Calvin Ball, D-District 2, and Guy Guzzone, D-District 3 ? and the county executive standing behind it.
Despite the measure?s tumultuous past, advocates on both sides were still determined to reach the Howard County Council at the public hearing.
Bar and restaurant owners pleaded for exceptions for small bars, smoking after 9 p.m. and more time to adjust tothe mandate.
“My employees chose this job. They assume the hazard for the money. That?s the USA ? to have the power to choose,” said Rick Winter, owner of Ellicott Mills Brewing Co. on Main Street in Ellicott City.
“You?ll probably solve Ellicott City?s parking problem, because everyone will be in Catonsville.”
Health advocates argued that the government should protect its constituents? health.
“If the health data is there, we must clean the air,” said Glenn Schneider, legislative director for Smoke Free Howard County.
The first version of the bill, sponsored by Robey and Ulman in November, had a start date of Jan. 1, 2008. It was tabled by Council Members Christopher Merdon, R-District 1, Charles Feaga, R-District 5, and David Rakes, D-District 2, who recently resigned.
The second version of the bill, sponsored by Rakes in December, had a start date of March 31, 2008. It was approved by the council and then vetoed by Robey.
The most recent version, proposed by Merdon with a July 1, 2008, start date, was tabled early this month.
What?s next
» The Howard County Council will vote on the proposed smoking ban at 7:30 p.m. June 5 in the Banneker Room of the George Howard Building on Court House Drive in Ellicott City.
