GREEN RIVER - Sweetwater County has always been a bit of the country cousin to the rest of the state - a raw, blue-collar kind of place, with residents stubborn about their politics, proud of their Wyoming heritage, but always seeming to do things their own way.

So why should their proposed smoke-free ordinances be any different?

As smoking ban ordinances drift across Wyoming's southern tier like the secondhand smoke they aim to protect people from, the cities of Rock Springs and Green River are developing their smoke-free ordinances a little different from others.

Both city councils are in the midst of approving smoke-free ordinances. And both cities are bucking the statewide trend by considering exempting bars and private clubs from the bans.

Green River City Administrator Barry Cook called it Sweetwater County's own unique brand of no-smoking ordinance. "We always seem to do things a little different," Cook said with a laugh.

"Our ordinances are certainly different from the others that have passed," he said. "It's certainly a modification of what's been established before with the Evanston, Laramie and Cheyenne route."

The county's two biggest cities - which sit 14 miles apart in the center of the county - drafted strict smoke-free ordinances last month at the behest of city residents.

Green River officials said they based their ordinance on the Rock Springs draft, which in turn was based on other ordinances already passed in Wyoming.

But both cities - in Green River's case during the first reading of the ordinance, and during the second reading of the Rock Springs ordinance - offered up a compromise to area businesses and those who smoke. The councils amended the ordinances to exempt bars, lounges, taverns and private clubs.

Anti-smoking advocates said the bar exemption amendment is a bad idea that takes the teeth out of the smoking ban ordinances.

"We want to protect everyone from the dangers of second-hand smoke," said Jan Drury with Wyoming Chapter of the American Heart Association. "This is important, and it's pivotal for the cities … to take a stand and protect everyone."

Smoke-free ordinances are a growing phenomenon in Wyoming in recent years. The latest city to institute an ordinance banning smoking in all public buildings, including bars and restaurants, was Evanston in southwest Wyoming. The Evanston ordinance went into effect on Sept. 4.

Laramie passed and instituted a smoking ban ordinance in September 2004. The ordinance was upheld on a close referendum vote later that year. Opponents challenged the election, but a district judge ruled it valid.

Cheyenne followed suit in June 2006 with its own ordinance. Like Laramie's measure, the language forbids smoking in nearly every public building, including bars, restaurants and private clubs, and numerous public places, including restrooms, public transportation and city facilities. The ban also prohibits smoking within 10 feet of all public entryways, windows and passageways.

Casper voters, on the other hand, rejected a proposed smoking ordinance in 2000.

Workable compromise?

During public hearings on both ordinances, a variety of residents spoke both in favor and against the smoking bans.

Supporters cited various recent medical studies on the dangers of second-hand smoke and a University of Wyoming survey on voters' attitudes about smoking that showed support for restrictions on smoking in public areas.

But opponents of the bans argued that a smoking ordinance could drastically hurt some established businesses in the cities and could result in lost revenues for bar owners and liquor workers.

In Rock Springs, Councilman Neil Kourbelas - who strongly pushed for the original smoke-free ordinance, yet offered up the amendment Nov. 6 for the bar exemption - said it appeared that the original ordinance had little chance to pass with the stricter language after first reading.

"The way the ordinance is, in its amended form, isn't what I hoped it would be, and I haven't changed my views … but the reality of the democratic process is that sometimes compromise is necessary," Kourbelas said in a phone interview.

"In its unamended form, I don't believe I had the votes on the council to pass that ordinance," he said.

"So I had to make a decision. Did I want an ordinance that was really doing a lot of good and exempt a very small focus part of the community, or did I want nothing at all?" Kourbelas said.

"I'm willing to compromise in hopes that we will pass a very good and a very strong ordinance," he said. "What I'm hoping is that we have a very unified council behind the amendment at this point, and I hope the community will accept this ordinance in a very strong way. This can be a workable compromise in its amended form."

But Drury dismissed the amendments as "not the healthiest thing" for city residents. She argued that the amended ordinance ignores the health concerns of a whole segment of society.

"To say that bar workers, for example, don't deserve the same protection as the people in other public venues is just unfair," Drury said in a phone interview.

"Our mantra has always been to protect as many workers and families and children from second-hand smoke as possible, and (the amendment) is a step back," she said.

"I don't see how there can be a compromise when there's already a precedent in Wyoming … that shows a comprehensive smoke-free ordinance does improve air quality and does protect the health of people in those cities," Drury said.

Green River bartender Chris Ortega, who works at the Red Feather in the downtown area, was also hesitant about the amendment exempting bars and private clubs. She said as non-smoker who has worked a decade bartending, she would welcome a smoke-free workplace. She estimated about a third of her customers smoke while patronizing the Red Feather, but said the trend she's seen in recent years is that there are fewer smokers in the bar.

"I'd make it totally non-smoking right now, if I could," she said.

"I don't like smelling like smoke, that's the main thing, because I'm not a smoker," Ortega said. "But I don't think we would lose business … We might get a different crowd, but I think the same people would still come in here, and they would adjust."

Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.