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Most business owners aren't fired up about smoking ban

BY SCOTT FITZGERALD, THE SOUTHERN

Sunday, December 30, 2007 10:13 PM CST

CARBONDALE - Early Sunday afternoon, patrons at PK's bar and grill heard a siren from a law enforcement vehicle.

Someone remarked that everyone needed to extinguish their cigarettes because the police had arrived to enforce the state's new smoke-free act, which includes prohibiting smoking within 15 feet of any building entrance, exit, window that opens or ventilation intakes that serve an enclosed no-smoking area.

Many of the patrons laughed, knowing the law kicks in New Year's Day and immediate changes are forthcoming.

"We'll just have to tell them to put it out and you've got to go outside," said Chad Shaffer, a PK's bartender, about enforcing the new law.

Judging from a sample of independently owned food and drink establishment owners and a quick response from the City of Carbondale finance director Ernie Tessone, people are accepting the new health measure and peppering their response with humor.

"I feel like Margaret Meade in the village and will see how the natives are dancing," said Elaine Ramseyer, general manager of Longbranch Coffeehouse.

Speaking from her own experience as a smoker, Ramseyer said smokers possess inherent feelings that they should quit or at least smoke less.

Longbranch has tried to suit all patrons by offering a smoke-free rear dining room and an air filter in the front dining room.

"In the long haul, we've been lucky suiting smokers and non-smokers. We're very excited about the new law because it will simplify things and create a much nicer and welcoming environment."

Longbranch could potentially offer a smoking area outside with some major structural work, but Ramseyer said she is going to rely on feedback from her patrons before arriving at a major decision.

She said the state law is timely and supersedes what could have been a drastic economic impact if Carbondale had acted on its own and passed its own city ordinance prohibiting smoking in public places.

"If we had just a city ordinance prohibiting smoking, people would have said, for example, 'Hey let's go to Marion and watch the game at a place where we can smoke.' Carbondale needs all the business it can get," Ramseyer said.

Regarding an impact on sales tax revenue, the city has no current information as to whether the new state law will have an impact, Tessone said.

He said he may look at what's happened in Springfield, a city of somewhat comparable size and makeup to Carbondale, which passed an earlier city ordinance prohibiting smoking that is similar to the new state law.

Tessone said the city will not know the effect of the new law until sales tax revenues return that cover the first half of January.

Ryan Dantone, owner of The Gallery nightclub outside of De Soto, said he is not forecasting a drop in his business because of the new law.

He thinks bars should be exempt from prohibiting smoking like casinos, but is accepting the new law without any major gripe.

"It's something that is happening all over the country," he said about tougher public policies and laws against smoking.

Mike Mills, owner of the 17th Street Bar & Grill, said many of the provisions within the law and arguments about prohibiting smoking to curb secondhand smoke for the sake of non-smoking employees in particular, are nonsense.

"It should have been a business decision for small businesses," he said, disagreeing with the notion of public places that incorporates nearly all venues where people gather.

Retaliating against the argument that many employees in restaurants throughout the country have spoken out about secondhand smoke being a threat to their health, Mills said he wanted to experiment with his own establishment to see what would happen.

The 17th Street Bar & Grill recently prohibited employees smoking on the premises.

"We told them, 'We're doing this for your health.' I wanted to see the reaction. We still had employees sneaking outside to smoke," Mills said.

Mills said he foresees losing revenue early, especially from a projected drop in late-night patrons who drop in for a drink.

"It's a wait-and-see thing. I don't think it will be on the plus side. It's going to be interesting. I'm not nervous about it," Mills said.

scott.fitzgerald@thesouthern.com / 351-5076