St. Louis Wing Week Returns April 8-15, 2024

Butt Heads (StC County)


St. Charles County	SUPPORT BAN? (Y/N/U)	SMOKER? (S/NS/Q)	PACKS (#/day)	BRAND	YRS SMOKED (#)	TIMES TRIED TO QUIT (� = SUCCESS)
NAME/TITLE
Steve Ehlmann, County Executive	BUTT HEAD
Don Boehmer (Ehlmann - Intergovernmental Rel.)	BUTT HEAD
Chuck Gross (Ehlmann - Director of Administration)	BUTT HEAD
John Sonderegger (Ehlmann - Communications)¹	Y	Q	<1	Marlboro, Winston	14	1^�
(Council 1) Cheryl Hibbeler²	Y^RS	S	<1	Virginia Slims Ultra Lights	39
(2) Joe Brazil³	N	NS
(3) Nancy Matheny⁴	N	Q	>1	Benson & Hedges	20	6^�
(4) Paul Wynn⁵	N	NS
(5) Terry Hollander	BUTT HEAD
(6) Jerry Daugherty	N	Q	3	Raleigh	15	1^�
(7) John White⁶	Y^S	Q	1		>20	1^�
Jack Banas, County Prosecutor	BUTT HEAD
Judy Zerr, Circuit Clerk	cnr
¹I used to smoke while covering the Cardinals [for the Post-Dispatch]. After the game I'd sit up in the box, write my story and puff away.
²I think the best thing a smoking ban would do, not only for the non-smokers but for myself and people of my era, is, the harder and harder you make it to find a place to smoke, the easier it becomes for people to eventually give it up. And isn't that what we really want?
³Don't get me wrong — I can't stand cigarette smoke. It's obnoxious, it's gross, it stinks.
⁴Personally I would go to a restaurant that is non-smoking or a casino with a non-smoking floor, etc., but to have it be non-smoking everywhere I think takes away some freedoms from some people, and that I am not willing to do.
⁵Let's say right now the government, they want to ban smoking. OK, the next people we'll pick on will be the obese people and trans-fats, and we'll tax the McDonald's chocolate shake and then they'll come after me for having too much sugary drinks. Over time they'll have eliminated everybody.
⁶We're opening a guest house in Illinois, where I'm from. It's all smoke-free, and it's just wonderful. Smokers seem to find a place to smoke outside. A lot of the bars have built patios so they still have their smoking business. I think there's a way to accommodate everybody.
KEY:
cnr: Could not be reached
Butt Head: Declined to participate or did not return message(s)
n/c: No comment

John Sonderegger, St. Charles County communications director When you stop smoking and you're around people who smoke, they stink. And their clothes smell. And if you get into a car with somebody who's smoking or has smoked you come home and you stink. When I was smoking, I didn't ever recognize that.

Cheryl Hibbeler, St. Charles County councilwoman, District 1 I only have about three cigarettes a day. I think I'm socially addicted rather than physically addicted. If I don't go anywhere and I'm at home, I have no problem not lighting up. If I go out and I'm having adult beverages, I revert to my younger days. A lot of times people go, "I didn't know you smoked!" I've never tried to quit, because I don't think I want to think for the rest of my life I could never ever have another cigarette.

Joe Brazil, St. Charles County councilman, District 2 When I was a city councilman in Florissant back in the Nineties, the [other council members] would smoke on the dais! So I had the city buy me a smoke eater for the front where I sat, to absorb the damn smoke so I wouldn't have to breathe it. People in the crowd were smoking, too.

Paul Wynn, St. Charles County councilman, District 4 I'd just graduated from West Point and I was immediately sent to Desert Storm. I was a tank officer and I wanted to be like George Patton. So a friend of mine gave me a cigar and I was gonna put it in the corner of my mouth, unlit, just for a picture. And he must have gotten something cheap, because my lips started tingling and getting hot! As soon as we crossed the border I spit it out. That's the only time tobacco has ever touched my lips. I guess it was Clintonesque.

Jerry Daugherty, St. Charles County councilman, District 5 I quit because the company I was working for shut down the week between Christmas and New Year's. I smoked Raleighs and they had coupons on the packs. I was sitting there counting my coupons on Christmas vacation, and I ballparked them at a dollar a pack, and I realized I had over 5,000 coupons. I said this is crazy, stupid, and I quit just like that. The kids were wanting me to go back to smoking because I was a bear. I was pretty crabby. It's a heck of withdrawal. Anyway, I'm glad them days are over. I feel a whole lot better.