CHAMPAIGN – Evgenii Sverdlov of Urbana had been a three-time loser in the smoking wars – until Tuesday night.

Sverdlov, a University of Illinois law student, has lived in San Francisco, New York City and Champaign-Urbana. During his time in each place, the city councils implemented indoor smoking bans.

So Sverdlov, smoking a cigarette outside of The Blind Pig in downtown Champaign on Tuesday night, was pleased to hear that he will be able to smoke inside many Champaign bars again, starting today. The city council, as expected, voted 5-4 Tuesday to repeal the three-month-old smoking ban for bars and private clubs.

"I'm excited it's going to be repealed," said Sverdlov, who is Russian. "We have self-determination in this country. It (the ban) is ridiculous.

"The smoking ban needs to be aimed at public places and restaurants, instead of places of ill repute, like bars," he said.

His friend, Nicholas Zeltzer of Champaign, also smoking, said he was pleased because the council's decision "is going to let the market decide."

"Now consumers have a choice if they go to a smoking bar or a nonsmoking bar," he said. "The nonsmokers have a place to go."

Zeltzer was referring to the fact that at least seven downtown bars, most of them owned by Carlos Nieto, have announced they will remain smoke-free.

A few feet away, Eric Dyer of Savoy and Jen Goeske of Champaign were sitting at an outside table and smoking, he Newports, she Winston Lights. Hardly smoking-rights militants, they sounded almost sad to hear that the smoking ban is history.

"I don't care," said Dyer. "I did at first, but now I kind of enjoy a smoke-free bar. The atmosphere in the bar is actually better."

"It (the ban) doesn't bother me," Goeske agreed. "I like not smelling like smoke. I've cut down on smoking quite a bit."

At the Champaign City Building, the rhetoric on the smoking ban was heated, though almost all of it came during audience participation. Council members didn't even debate the issue, casting a 5-4 vote without comment.

Mayor Jerry Schweighart and council members Deborah Frank Feinen, Karen Foster, Vic McIntosh and Michael La Due supported repeal, while Ken Pirok, Gina Jackson, Marci Dodds and Tom Bruno opposed it.

Dodds proposed postponing the repeal to Aug. 1, but the amendment failed in a 5-4 vote.

Audience participation lasted for more than an hour.

Dr. Donald Greeley, head of the pulmonary medicine department at Carle Clinic, said data from a U.S. surgeon general's report shows that nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at work or home increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25 percent to 30 percent and increase their risk of developing lung cancer by 20 percent to 30 percent.

He also said the council is sending the wrong message to young people, particularly UI students.

"The mayor and the city council should be out there leading the charge to convince young people not to smoke and convincing older smokers to quit," he said.

But Jon Bristow, co-owner of The Office II, 302 S. Country Fair Drive, said his bar business is down 23 percent during the past three months due to the smoking ban, which went into effect Jan. 31. He asked the council to allow for choice.

The repeal is expected to have a relatively short life. The Illinois Legislature has passed a comprehensive statewide smoking ban that would take effect Jan. 1 if the legislation is signed by the governor, which is expected.