Some in Roselle hope to snuff out smoking room plans
If she could, she'd kick their butts out of town.
It's not that Deanna Eichholz has anything personal against the owners of Tobacco Lounge in Roselle, but she'd like to snuff out their plans for a smoking room.
Eichholz is asking village board members in Roselle to reject Tobacco Lounge's request for a place to puff on cigarettes, cigars and hookahs - even after the state's smoking ban goes into effect in January 2008.
"Roselle endorses Character Counts," she said. "They send DARE officers to schools telling the kids not to drink and smoke, but Roselle is OK with this."
Eichholz and a small group of other residents say they don't hate smokers.
Their problem is that the tobacco store on Irving Park Road, near Park Street, is located in a strip mall with a Dairy Queen where children often hang out.
This month, the village's planning and zoning commission recommended against giving the business a permit for the smoking room.
But the final decision will be made by the village board.
And most of the village board members appear to support the smoking room idea.
Village officials say opponents simply don't like the fact that a tobacco store exists - and has existed for some time - at that location.
A business selling tobacco has operated in that area for more than a decade. The land is zoned to allow such a business.
The village board also argues that the business has agreed to install a sophisticated ventilation system. It's highly unlikely that people outside of the building will know someone is smoking indoors.
"It's still legal for adults to do that (smoke)," said Roselle Mayor Gayle Smolinski, a non-smoker who supported a smoking ban for Roselle.
"If you go in there to buy tobacco, you're not going to be offended by someone smoking," Smolinski added. "I don't see how a private smoking room in the back of a tobacco store that has existed for years is going to corrupt our youth."
Roselle Trustee Terrence Wittman said people need to stop using children or "hiding behind them" as an excuse to ban other people's rights. Though he's a non-smoker, he supports issuing the permit.
"I'm not going into the smoking room, but there are people in this town that may want to," Wittman said. "Smoking is legal. People have a right to what's legal."
The requested permit would allow smoking in the tobacco store after the state's smoking ban goes into effect because it is a business dedicated solely to smokers.
Village attorneys verified with the smoking ban's sponsors that the permit is legal. The board may vote on it Nov. 12.