Vote for Champaign smoke-free backers

The recent News-Gazette editorial bemoaning February's winter discontent failed to note at least one positive happening: the widely successful implementation of the city of Champaign's smoke-free ordinance. I have had the opportunity to speak with people throughout the community who have been patronizing the newly smoke-free places they avoided before. Less visible, but of primary importance, are the health benefits of communitywide smoke-free dining and entertainment we can all enjoy.

But now, two candidates for the Champaign City Council, Deborah Frank Feinen and Karen Foster, are running campaigns that highlight their intent to rescind Champaign's smoke-free ordinance. They are strongly backed by a few local bars that are self-reporting a downturn in their business during the coldest February since 1903 and attributing it solely to the smoke-free ordinance. Foster and Feinen want to ignore the positive public health impacts of a smoke-free city and reintroduce the toxin of secondhand smoke into our public places.