Smoking ban in Delaware County bars, clubs upheld

A judge in Muncie has denied a request for a temporary injunction against a smoking ban in Delaware County's taverns and fraternal organizations.

The Star Press reports Delaware Circuit Judge Marianne Vorhees denied a request to block an enhanced smoking ordinance passed by Delaware County commissioners in August.

Voorhees wrote in her order Friday that efforts to obtain the injunction should have taken place before the ordinance went into effect Aug. 11.

The Delaware County Licensed Beverage Association, four local fraternal organizations and a tobacco shop are suing the permanently block the ordinance. A trial date has not been set.

The new smoking ban follows one enacted in 2006 that excluded taverns and fraternal lodges. '); } if (param != '') { jQuery('div#body-section-'+param).css({'display' : 'block'}); } else { jQuery("div.body:eq()")0.css({'display' : 'block'}); } } function changePage(page, id) { location.href = '/smoking-ban-in-delaware-county-bars-clubs-upheld/PARAMS/article/30035?page='+page; window.status=('Continuing story on page '+page+'....') }

IBJ Conversations 7 Comments Add Comment

The media refuses to print the truth about second hand smoke and about business losses due to smoking bans. All this nonsense is made up and marketed to gullible City Council members by the company that benefits from smoking bans. That is Johnson and Johnson. They PAY all these once respected "non profit charities" to be their lobbyists, as it is illegal for a drug company to lobby for legislation. THe Cancer Society and the Heart and Lung Associations have made a fortune in lobbying for bans, and the ACS made over 9 MILLION last year running the Quitlines, which promote the use of J&J's Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol, Nicoderm CQ. NOW do you understand why media, who sell ad space to J&J, won't tell the story?

Good work Delaware County. So what happens when the students at Purdue, IU, DePauw & Ball State come back to Indy for the summer - or look for a job after graduation? They take their $$ and themselves elsewhere. Once you get used to breathing when you are out at night, it's not an easy transition back. And let's not forget all of the students working a second job - or only job - in a bar.

Isn't it Indy's turn to go smoke-free yet?

It should be noted that the suit to obtain the injunction was filed two (2) weeks prior to it taking effect.

Mitch should have pushed for a state-wide comprehensive smoking ban years ago and we would not have all this wasted time in each county and/or cities & towns. Not sure what bars in Chicago you are referring to, but Rush street bars are always packed when I am there during the week; bars are packed in California, Florida and Ohio where I have been this year. Heck The Ram in Fishers was packed Friday and they instituted a voluntary smoke free bar 2 years ago. Smoking is just unhealthy - no way around it. No one should be subjected to 2nd hand smoke especially the children in half of the cars I see.

I'm glad to hear the temporary injunction didn't pass. Delaware County's policy is a great opportunity to protect all workers from secondhand smoke. We need to give it time to work and not have a knee-jerk reaction.

As for the Chicago bars, Chicago's policy is one reason that I travel to Chicago to meet friends rather than have them come to Indy. It's much nicer to spend a night on the town in a smoke-free city.

These laws are passing all across Indiana and the country and Indy is starting to look backwards. We are supposed to be the leader in this state and in the Midwest! Yet, we are the largest Midwestern city left that isn't smoke-free. You can't smoke in any bar in Columbus, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Cincy, Clevland, Lansing, Springfield, Madison...the list goes on. It's time Indy catch up with our peers and stop being the ashtray of the Midwest.

The people who voted to stop smoking in bars should have gone to Chicago first!! The bars there aren't open thru the week now and waitresses lost their jobs as well as bartenders! The owners do all the bartending and cooking on weekends! The patron go to a liquor store, buy the choice of drink and stay home!! A lot of tax revenue went down the drain!! Just watch and see now what is going to happen!!