FoodWire: Clayton Smoking Ban Nears Approval

This is usually Daily RFT's beat, but now that it looks definite, I'll post the news here: The Post-Dispatch reports that Clayton is all but certain to pass a ban on smoking in restaurants and most other public places, effective July of 2010. In a nice touch, the only Clayton alderperson to vote against the measure did so because it wasn't strict enough.

Predictably, the comment thread is highly entertaining. I have to single out RFT favorite Bill Hannegan for special praise. He introduces a anti-ban argument that I'm certain no one else has ever considered:

The industrial air purification machines five Clayton restaurants have installed to clear their air of all the worrisome and bothersome elements of tobacco smoke also entirely filter out swine and avian flu viruses! Definitely a public health plus for Clayton restaurant employees that will be lost due to the ban.