Posted on 11/18/2007 7:13:28 PM PST by Libloather
Smoking ban leaves some bars smoldering
A few ignore state's six-month-old law rather than lose customers. Officials continue to issue fines
By Tracy Wheeler Beacon Journal medical writer
Published on Sunday, Nov 18, 2007
Billy McFrye, owner of Corky's Thomastown Cafe, in Akron, Ohio, stands Nov. 16, 2007, in the patio built in May for smoking customers. He is fighting for smoking to be legal in it. The business leads Akron in smoking complaints. (Gavin Jackon/Akron Beacon Journal)
In the first month of Ohio's public smoking ban, the little bar in a blue-collar Summit County neighborhood lost $1,000.
The reason was obvious: The bar's owner followed the law, telling customers they couldn't smoke. The bar's competitors didn't, and some even ''rented'' ashtrays to customers, with the money going into a kitty to defray any smoking-violation fines.
The bar-hopping customers stopped hopping into the little bar. And the regulars, although they kept coming, were buying fewer drinks.
''They'd spend 20 minutes at the bar drinking a beer, then 10 minutes outside smoking,'' said the owner, who spoke anonymously to protect himself from health department inspectors. ''Instead of drinking five or six beers, they were drinking one or two.''
After losing a grand in May, the bar owner changed course in June.
''I figured if that pace kept up,'' he said, ''I'd be out of business before anyone else. So I said, what I'll do is I'll let them smoke until we get caught. The next month, instead of losing $1,000, we made $2,500 more.''
And he hasn't been caught.
''I had to make a decision,'' he said. ''I just decided to break the law and be done with it. It's like speeding on the highway — you're breaking the law, but until you get caught, you're going to keep speeding, I guess.''
Enforcing law
In that analogy, Terry Tuttle and Cheri Christ are state troopers for the Akron area.
It's their job to enforce the ban, which was approved by Ohio voters in November 2006. The issue outlawed indoor smoking in virtually all public places, including restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, and, for now — depending on court appeals — private clubs such as American Legion and VFW halls.
Tuttle and Christ have bad news for the scofflaws: If you're caught and you fail to comply with the law, you will be fined. After an initial warning, a second violation brings a $100 fine, which grows to $500 for a third violation, $1,500 for a fourth, and $2,500 for fifth and subsequent violations.
And the fines could go higher.
''If they're flagrant and admitting that they're allowing (smoking), basically, we can double the fines,'' said Tuttle, environmental health supervisor for the Summit County Health Department. ''We have the authority to do that.''
Business owners also could find themselves facing nuisance charges before the health board, which could lead to more fines or possibly even closure.
Since local health departments began enforcing the ban on May 3, the Ohio Department of Health has logged 17,900 complaints — an average of about 2,750 a month, or 92 a day.
Tuttle and Christ, the sanitarian supervisor for the Akron Health Department, said most businesses are complying with the smoking ban.
The state department's hot line — 1-866-559-6446 (OHIO) — has logged 1,077 complaints in Summit County. That number, though, is deceptive because most are multiple complaints against the same establishments.
''For the most part, it was a learning curve, and once (business owners) get our letter and see we're serious about this, for the most part, they have tried to comply,'' Christ said.
Top violator
In Akron, Corky's Thomastown Cafe on South Arlington Street has drawn the most complaints: 37.
Owner Billy McFrye is facing a $100 fine, on top of a loss of customers.
''People aren't coming out,'' he said. ''I've got numbers from last year to this year, and you can see it. It's unreal. It's gross. It's down at least 25 percent.''
He remembers hearing the argument that nonsmokers would come out to take the place of smokers who stay home. But that hasn't happened at Corky's.
''Nonsmokers don't go out anyway,'' McFrye said. ''They're the cheapest people breathing air. I've been in business 23 years, and I know there's nothing cheaper than a nonsmoker. I'm really upset with it. I wish the people who voted for it would get cancer, that's how pissed I am about it.''
McFrye built a patio for smokers so they could go outside and smoke without having to deal with rain, wind and snow. The health department, however, told him he couldn't allow smoking on the patio because the patio's roof and walls make it an enclosed space — and the law prohibits smoking in enclosed public spaces.
McFrye has an attorney fighting his fine and the health department's ruling on the patio. In the meantime, he's going to continue to let customers light up.
''I've got the signs up and ask them not to,'' he said, ''but I'm not going to fight with anyone over smoking.''
Christ has heard that before.
''I've had owners tell me that as long as they're open, they're going to allow their customers to smoke,'' she said. ''The next fine is $500. That might have a little bearing on that decision.''
New clientele
When the smoking law was passed, Ed Gazdacko, owner of Sto-Kent Family Entertainment Center in Stow, worried that business would suffer.
''The nature of the business — having a bar, having bowling — is conducive to cigarette smokers,'' he said. ''I was really concerned at first. I didn't know if they'd keep coming in.''
At first, some didn't. Bar receipts were down slightly, 3 percent or 4 percent, after the law went into effect. But bar business has since rebounded and is actually up compared with the spring. And on the bowling side, business is up by about 10 percent.
''It's worked out really well,'' he said. ''The atmosphere is better. I've got new families coming in here, and they tell me: 'We knew you kept a clean place, but because there was secondhand smoke, we didn't come here. Now we do.'''
In other words, nonsmokers have put their money where their votes were.
''I said that I hoped the people who passed the law would come in and patronize our business, and they have,'' Gazdacko said.
Creative solutions
Bingo halls had concerns, too.
At the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church on Portage Trail in Cuyahoga Falls, business dropped by 25 percent after the smoking ban went into effect, parishioner Matt Pagni said.
Instead of breaking the law to allow smoking, the church bought propane heaters to put just outside the gym doors, along with free coffee. This spring, the church built a patio with chairs, ashtrays and an awning. Volunteers will play patrons' bingo cards if they have to slip out for a smoke.
Now the church's bingo business is back to at least 95 percent of what it was before the smoking ban.
''It hurt us for a short while,'' Pagni said, ''but we reacted fairly quickly and did everything we could to accommodate smokers. We get comments all the time: 'Nobody else does this for us.' It's helped immensely to attract new players and keep the regulars coming.''
It's also attracted new volunteers, who used to stay away because of the smoke.
''Prior to the smoking ban, it was awful,'' Pagni said. ''You'd come home from bingo, peel off your clothes and head straight to the shower. For that reason, we had poor participation in our volunteer program. Since then, volunteers have probably doubled. That's an obvious benefit. And the gymnasium doesn't smell like an ashtray any more.''
Chilly reception at bars
Bars, though, are in a different situation, said Jacob Evans, spokesman for the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association.
''We're hearing from a lot of bars who are talking about drops in sales ranging from 30 to 40 percent, some 80 percent,'' he said. ''And some say they've had a 100 percent drop because they've had to go ahead and close their doors.''
And, now, winter is on the way.
''What's going to happen now when people have to step outside (to smoke)? If it's bad now,'' Evans said, ''it's going to be devastating with the cold weather.''
Liquor-permit statistics don't seem to support the idea that bars are going out of business.
As of December, Summit County had 819 permit holders (for on-premises consumption), said Matt Mullins, spokesman for the Ohio Division of Liquor Control. This September, the number was 834.
But just because bars aren't going out of business doesn't mean they're not hurting, said the owner of the neighborhood bar that lost $1,000 in May.
''I'm a nonsmoker,'' he said. ''I don't enjoy going home at night from my bar smelling like an ashtray. I go home, take my shirt off, and it just stinks. Smoking is obviously bad for people. At the same time, though, this is my business. I can't afford to go belly up.''
Good idea!
there are no very few neighborhood taverns in Los Angeles since the no smoking law - poof - gone...
But what about the chilruns????
They might want to play tag in the adult only dive bar full of fat asses and degenerate drunks. We can’t allow smoking there.
It’s like you’ve said, buddy, they are no more adults — we’re all children. Why do you think my brother and sisters and brothers-in-law all want to leave this sorry state. That was the topic of our conversation last month when we were all together. I’m happy to report that all of them are not lefties and children. I’m very proud of all of them.
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