When the restaurant smoking ban was first raised, the Daily was concerned.

We said that if you take a right away, it can only snowball.

Well, we told you so. Now the Ames City Council wants to ban smoking not only in restaurants, but in bars, too.

Herman Quirmbach, the City Council member who came up with the idea this summer, said the concept surfaced when the council was debating how to fight teen smoking.

“When kids go out to eat and they see adults smoking, that conveys a very strong message that smoking is OK. It’s the power of the bad example,” he said.

If teens are influenced to smoke by watching bar smokers, that’s a different problem altogether.

In fact, banning smoking in bars means smokers will have to go outside – where teens can easily see them.

The other justification for the ban in restaurants was public health.

People who go to bars are already hurting their judgment, their brain cells, their coordination and their livers.

Anyone who drinks is clearly not too concerned about health risks to begin with.

Going to or working at a bar is a matter of personal choice – no one is being forced to inhale secondhand smoke. Those who don’t want to be surrounded by smokers shouldn’t go to bars.

After the Maintenance Shop went smoke-free in 1998, attendance went way down. While the M-Shop used to be packed all day long, now there’s only a crowd during lunchtime.

Banning smoking is just going to hurt Ames’ economy by causing bar-goers to attend private parties or go to more liberal cities.

People go to the bars for the bar environment – the perfect mix of alcohol, smoke, music and bad pick-up lines.

Smoking and drinking go hand in hand.

Editorial Board: Carrie Tett, Greg Jerrett, Katie Goldsmith, Amie Van Overmeer, Andrea Hauser and Jocelyn Marcus