LINDSTROM WANTS COUNTYWIDE BAN ON SMOKING IN BARS AND RESTAURANTS

DILLON - County Commissioner Gary Lindstrom, a former smoker, advocates a
countywide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, and he wants local
governments at least to discuss the topic.

"I smoked for 33 years, and I taught smoking cessation for 10 years,"
Lindstrom said. "It is a real hot-button issue with me. My mother and
father died from smoking. I really thing we should have a countywide
smoking ban."

Lindstrom conceded a public groundswell for a smoking ban has yet to develop.

His comments came Thursday before the Mayors, Managers and Commissioners
group, some of whom blew rhetorical smoke back in Lindstrom's face - and a
whole lot more.

Breckenridge Town Manager Tim Gagen said his town was planning a public
forum to test opinion on a smoking ban.

Gagen said bar and restaurant owners generally favored a smoking ban if it
is applied across the board.

"Our town council will hold a public forum to decide what the sentiment
really is," Gagen said.

Silverthorne Mayor Lou DelPiccolo, a former smoker who quit years ago
because he thought tobacco was soon to be outlawed, said a smoking ban
would be regressive, not progressive. He said rules against smoking are
like "spending billions of dollars on something else useless - the war on
drugs."

"In a way, we are going down the same pike by legislating the use of tobacco.

"Personally, I am in favor of legalizing drugs. That is the only way you
will take the money out of it. Of course, drugs are not good for you,"
DelPiccolo said.

The mayor said he doesn't use drugs but that he had smoked marijuana on
occasion.

Frisco Mayor Bob Moscatelli, who "abhors smoking," said he would hate a
government-imposed smoking ban even more.

"If my wife and I go into a restaurant and there is smoke, we turn around
and leave or never go back. It is our choice to do that," Moscatelli said.

He called for the public to make the choice about places which allow smoking.

On the other hand, Moscatelli agreed with banning smoking in Frisco Town
Hall, a place were he said people have to go. They don't have to go to
restaurants.

If government is going to ban smoking, it also should ban McDonald's and
Big Macs because people die of obesity, Moscatelli said.

County Commissioner Tom Long said if smoking is to be banned as a health
issue, driving, also a killer, should be banned, too.

"Smoking bans are not about smoking, they are about control," Long said.
"My problem comes from minding everybody in the world's business for them."

Long called the government's big-money settlement against tobacco companies
the "biggest goddamn extortion ever perpetrated on an American company."

Long expressed frustration that the money is going to cover state budget
deficits and to build roads instead of going to health care. Colorado is
one of the guilty states.

Silverthorne Town Manager Kevin Batchelder said that if the public wants a
smoking ban, it should petition for a ballot question.

It's not that Lindstrom stood without allies on the issue.

Dillon Mayor Barbara Davis said secondhand smoke kills 2,000 people a day,
and direct smoking kills 1,000 a day.

Smoking in bars and restaurants is a health issue for employees, she said,
brushing away the idea that it was merely a matter of personal choice for
patrons.

She also said smoking plays into rising medical costs and health insurance
issues.

Long said people could switch jobs if they didn't like smoke in their
workplace.

"But unemployment rates are high, and many don't know the danger of
secondhand smoke," Davis said.

County Commissioner Bill Wallace said he, too, dislikes government telling
people what to do, and the choice should be left up to the public.

For that remark, Lindstrom laughingly accused the Democrat of being a
Republican.

Lindstrom suggested each town council put the issue on a worksession agenda
and invite the Summit Prevention Alliance and anti-smoking coordinator
Laurie Blackwell for a presentation.

"I would like to see everybody agreeable for the discussion to occur, and I
will leave it at that. You can decide it beyond that point," Lindstrom said.