McMillan's Family Restaurant takes a step forward for the health of its customers and staff today as it goes smoke free.
McMillan's no-smoke decision follows the Perkins Family Restaurant decision to go smoke free in late 2004.
Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona was very clear in his June statement -- secondhand smoke kills and no-smoking sections are no protection at all.
Those were just two of the major findings in the surgeon general's report on secondhand smoke released in June. It is the most comprehensive scientific report ever produced on the health concerns of secondhand smoke.
We commend these two restaurants for taking the courageous step which will help save lives in Kandiyohi County.
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McMillan's manager Ron Guetter has been testing the smoke-free policy on weekends in recent months. The restaurant received positive feedback and finally decided recently to go smoke free all the time.
Perkins owner Don Vossen said the overall benefit of the no-smoking environment outweighed any customer losses suffered by the restaurant.
These businessmen understand the dangers of second smoke on customers and staff. The surgeon general's report states that more than 35,000 nonsmokers a year die due to heart disease, caused by secondhand smoke.
These business are smoking ban pioneers, just as Meeker County has served as a non-smoking leader with its public smoking ban implemented in 2005.
It is disappointing that the city of Willmar and Kandiyohi County are not displaying similar leadership on this issue but are instead waiting to follow others.
Kandiyohi County officials said in October that the county was looking into a smoking ban, but no action has yet been taken. If the county will not move on this issue, its time for Willmar to demonstrate leadership and adopt a public smoking ban.
The time is here for Willmar, Kandiyohi County and other counties in west central Minnesota to move on a public smoking ban.
