Posted on 03/03/2007 1:16:31 PM PST by SheLion
Several Colorado Springs bar owners are rebelling against the statewide smoking ban, inviting their customers to openly defy what they call an “illegal law."
Bruce Hicks, owner of Murray Street Darts, met with nearly two dozen other bar owners and managers Wednesday, encouraging them to join a “civil disobedience” protest that calls for businesses to collect $1 from each smoker for a “get out of jail fund."
The businesses will go to court to fight tickets they are issued for violating the smoking ban and use the fund to pay fines, Hicks said. The fines are $200 for a first offense, $300 for a second and $500 for any others written within a year.
The eight-month-old smoking ban has cost him 25 percent of his business since it went into effect, Hicks said. He began allowing smoking in the bar three weeks ago, he said, which has “brought back my 25 percent.”
Hicks said eight businesses had agreed to join the rebellion last week. Owners of three — the Adam’s Apple Lounge on Austin Bluffs Parkway, DJ’s Bar and Grill on East Fillmore Street, and Hicks’ bar on Murray Boulevard — confirmed their involvement to The Gazette.
Hicks said if business owners vigorously fight the tickets in court, prosecuting the cases will be more of a burden than the fines.
“It’s going to take the state of Colorado $6,000 to collect $200,” Hicks said. “How long do you think the public will allow that?”
Colorado Springs police are investigating two businesses suspected of openly violating the ban, according to spokesman Lt. Rafael Cintron. He would not say if the businesses are among the bars vowing to defy the ban, but said the department will take “enforcement action” against any business found to be in violation.
“As we become aware of those places, we are going to investigate,” Cintron said.
When it went into effect July 1, the ban made it illegal to smoke in any indoor public place except casinos, the smoking lounge at Denver International Airport, cigar/hookah bars, tobacco shops and businesses not open to the public that have three or fewer employees. The only bar in Colorado Springs that has qualified for the exemption is longtime downtown cigar bar 15C in an alley off Bijou Street.
The Legislature is considering a bill, approved Wednesday by the House, that would eliminate casinos’ exemption.
One local bar, the Dead Ant Tavern on Montebello Drive, has shown its opposition to the ban even before it went into effect by hanging a sign outside reading, “My business, my customers, our choice!”
Although the ban has cost him 20 percent to 30 percent of his business, owner Neil Hager said, he isn’t planning to join those defying it.
“I would join them if I thought it would do any good,” Hager said.
Rep. Michael Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, a supporter of the ban, called the protest “pretty much useless.”
“Civil disobedience has been used for much greater causes,” he said Wednesday. Business owners who have lost business because of the smoking ban “should look at ways to appeal to nonsmokers.”
During the meeting at Joe’s Bar with the other bar owners and managers, Hicks said the idea of a protest came to him when his wife told him that for the second time in a month, they could not afford to pay themselves a salary.
“That morning, I said, ‘Something’s got to be done,’” he said.
Hicks said he is aware of only one ticket written at a business participating in the protest. Charlene Runyan, owner of Joe’s Bar, said one of her bartenders received a ticket Friday because a customer was smoking inside the bar.
Customers were allowed to smoke that night, she said, but she doesn’t plan on defying the law along with Hicks.
“It’s been very, very devastating for all of us,” Runyan said of the ban.
Linda Picarillo, co-owner of the Adam’s Apple Lounge, said she let customers smoke last week. Since then, she said, business has picked up.
“People are sitting in here and they are staying,” Picarillo said. She called the law inconsistent, particularly with the exemption for casinos.
“If it’s a health issue, why aren’t they protecting them?” Picarillo asked.
Good for them! I'm not a smoker, but I don't support the smoking bans. Let the businesses decide.
“People are sitting in here and they are staying,” Picarillo said. She called the law inconsistent, particularly with the exemption for casinos.
“If it’s a health issue, why aren’t they protecting them?” Picarillo asked.
I think it might have something to do with all the money the casinos throw around. Call me crazy.
Hey Diana, does this remind you of the behavior of a certain Governor? :)
Good luck. I don't know if they can win or not because the government can get to them in so many other ways. It might have been better to join together and shut down until addressed.
Since Ohio's state-wide smoking ban went into effect this December, there are many bars and other businesses (tobacco stores) that openly defy the ban. I went to the tobacco store yesterday and even the clerks were smoking. Then, I went to my watering hole, and all the customers and bartenders were smoking.
Rep. Michael Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, a supporter of the ban, called the protest “pretty much useless.”
“Civil disobedience has been used for much greater causes,” he said Wednesday. Business owners who have lost business because of the smoking ban “should look at ways to appeal to nonsmokers.”
So this POS just ADMITTED the bans hurt businesses.
These idiots just refuse to realize that this affects the tax base of their community. Oh wait, they'll just hike the taxes on cigarettes! I'm glad I can't afford to go to bars these days.
ping
I agree - I am not a smoker, but I don't care one way or the other if others smoke in bars - nightclubs - etc. I don't see any of the usual places I go in the Columbus area where the ban is being observed.
Nice catch.
I've never smoked but I wish them success. If I find a bar too smokey I go somewhere else.
I'm sending this man $5 to help pay the fines and to help him and his wife give themselves a paycheck!
"Hey Diana, does this remind you of the behavior of a certain Governor?"
You mean "Craps" Doyle? LOL!
I honestly don't know why smokers don't band together and just smoke away at their favorite watering holes. As I've stated before, I'm even willing to START smoking to put an end to the Smoke Gnatzie tactics!
Can anyone shed light on that? Is it that smokers don't want to endanger the business owners who are most likely their friends and cornerstones of the community?
Or is it like herding cats in the vein of, "It's nearly impossible to get Conservatives to pull together in the same direction even when strapped to the very same sled?" :)
For clarification: I meant smokers that live in states (such as mine) that just roll over for this cr@p.
Either ban tobacco outright or STFU
I don't know what it is. Maybe they've been beaten down and demonized for so long they' losing the will to fight back.
I don't smoke and never have. Sometimes I see smokers do stupid things like tossing butts out of car windows and it ticks me off. And even after all this, it feels like I put up more of a fight than most of them do on this issue.
"And even after all this, it feels like I put up more of a fight than most of them do on this issue."
I know. I just don't get it. I guess it's easy enough to go underground on some issues and be subversive in your own way.
I feel that way about taxes. (But you didn't hear that from me, LOL!)
If Champaign, Illinois is any indication, they are too busy inhaling to do anything about it. We had a city council primary election the other day. Just 7% of eligible voters showed up at the polls. Smokers had a golden opportunity to make some noise and try to cancel the smoking ban that was just put into effect by the current council.
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