St. Louis County to Crack Down on Smoking Ban Exemptions

By Chad Garrison on Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 9:15 am

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Charlie Dooley

The Post-Dispatch this morning follows up on an issue Daily RFT has been monitoring closely: the staggering number of bars and restaurants attempting to work their away around the new smoking bans in St. Louis and the county.

The daily's story today adds a new wrinkle to the rankle over who is -- and isn't -- exempt from the smoking ban. According to the Post-Dispatch, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley will meet this week with the county council in an effort to rid the law of loopholes that has restaurant chains like Hot Shots believing they're exempt from the law.

"Something has gone astray," Dooley tells the paper. "What the County Council had intended when they crafted the smoking ban legislation has produced some unintended consequences. The result we have right now -- 110 exemptions -- is simply unacceptable."

We think Dooley meant to say: "Something has gone ashtray."