Green River No Smoking Ordinance

GREEN RIVER - The Green River City Council's next meeting could be a crowded one.  If the Rock Springs City Council meeting Tuesday night is any indication, the Green River City Council will have a passionate crowd on hand when they do a first reading of a "no smoking" ordinance at their next meeting.  That meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 6th.  Councilmember Pete Rust suggested adding that first reading to the council's agenda for their next meeting in order to get things rolling.  The ordinance would take three readings - and three meetings - to be enacted.  The Governing Body would have a ban on smoking proposed in Rock Springs, where taverns and bars could be exempt from the ban.  There were people on both sides of the issue in attendance at Tuesday's Rock Springs City Council meetings, with some folks carrying signs and others holding unlit cigars in their mouths.  Signatures were turned in from some Rock Springs bar owners supporting a smoking allowance in bars.  One person suggested that the Council put the issue on a ballot for the public to decide.  Some bar owners, as well as employees of the Elks and Eagles, said they use "smoke eaters", which claim to clean the air by 95 percent.  One Elks employee said they have a membership and that the members make their rules.  He insisted that the issue was a matter of letting people make their own decisions.  Even certain non-smokers spoke out against the ordinance.  John McDonald, owner of the first non-smoking bar in Rock Springs, Johnny Macs, said it is a personal right for business owners to decide what they want.  Only five states have no bans at all on smoking, with 26 states banning smoking and 19 states having cities that have banned it.