Smoke-Free Ballot Measures in St. Louis County and Kirkwood Pass with 65% of Vote

From the St. Louis Beacon
...Voters in one of the county's largest communities, Kirkwood, also strongly backed a smoking ban, which go into effect next summer. Debra Hacke Cotten, a spokeswoman for the group Healthy Air for Kirkwood, said, "We are very excited. It was a very decisive victory. Obviously it was what the people of Kirkwood wanted."

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
...Voters in St. Louis County have overwhelmingly approved a ban on smoking in restaurants and most other indoor businesses. The vote means that smoke-free legislation approved by St. Louis aldermen -- which was contingent on a similar proposal passing in the county -- will also become law.

Both the county and city prohibitions will not go into effect until January 2011.  And both measures contain plenty of exceptions.

In the county,  "drinking establishments," defined as bars who make a quarter or less of their sales from food, can still allow smoking. In the city, "small bars," those with no more than 2,000 square feet of service space, will have five extra years to comply.

Casinos floors in St. Louis city and county will also be exempt.

The margin of victory leaves little room for interpretation. Though turnout was relatively light- about 20 percent -- the smoking ban won with 65 percent of the vote.