St. Joseph council snuffs out smoking ban

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) - The St. Joseph City Council has snuffed out a proposal to put a smoking ban up for a public vote.

After six months of debate, the City Council voted Tuesday to remove the proposed smoking ban from its agenda because of disagreements over allowing an exemption for a casino.

The St. Joseph News-Press reports (http://bit.ly/11xQIOH ) that the council was considering putting the proposed ban on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Council member Jeff Penland said he couldn't vote for a ban that treated the St. Jo Frontier Casino differently than other city businesses.

Casino manager Craig Travers told the council that if the ban was enacted, the state would sell the parent company's license to a community with no smoking ban and stop all discussions of moving the casino downtown.

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Information from: St. Joseph (Mo.) News-Press, http://www.stjoenews-press.com