North Carolina Passes Smoking Ban

We are on a roll… Okay, not really. This is getting out of hand. I have to wonder who people will go after once all tobacco is banned in public. There’s always gotta be a bad guy, and well, smokers, we’re losing the battles. What do you think about this?

North Carolina may be called “Tobacco Road”, but if you’re within the borders of the Tar Heel State after January of 2010, do not expect to light up at a bar or restaurant.

Thanks to a bill that narrowly passed the state House Wednesday, North Carolina smokers will be prohibited from smoking in bars and restaurants next year.

The change has ruffled feathers in Scotland County.

“I’m just tired of all of our rights being taken away and made into laws,” said Laurinburg resident Janet Schilling, who used to be what she called a “courteous smoker” before quitting.

For Schilling, bars and smoking go hand-in-hand.

“It’s just like if you buy a pizza, you might want to have a beer with that,” she said, adding that those who are concerned about second hand smoke are free to leave the area near a smoker.

Her husband, Jerry (a lifelong non-smoker), was less adamantly opposed to the new law, but still questioned its necessity.

“For years we’ve had smoking and non-smoking areas in bars, and that has worked out so far, so there doesn’t need to be a law.”

The Schillings also worried what effect the law’s passage might have on struggling area businesses.

Ron Riggins, owner-operator of Laurinburg’s Champs Fine Food and Spirits, which houses a bar and a non-smoking restaurant, expressed similar concerns about the law’s potential effects.

As an establishment near the border of a state with no such legislation on the books, Riggins wondered if customers might choose not to give North Carolina restaurants and bars their money, opting for the South Carolina alternative.

“But we have also lost customers because smoking is allowed,” said Riggins, who along with Champs General Manager Jeff Rollins feels that only time will tell what the ultimate impact of the new law will be.

Champs banned smoking in its restaurant over two years ago, a decision which Rollins said had a positive effect on business.

“Some smokers think they have more rights than non-smokers, especially when it comes to littering,” added Riggins, who has tried in vain for years to get smokers to dispose of their butts in receptacles designed for butt-disposal near his building’s entrance.

The law does not restrict, like similar laws in other states have, smoking outside of bars and restaurants, meaning that patios and other outdoor smoking areas would likely be permissible.

15 years ago Riggins, who also owns a Hampton Inn hotel, was lobbying to have half of his rooms be smoking rooms, in spite of franchise specifications, which would have called for approximately 15-percent being smoking rooms.

“Those smoking rooms used to fill up before the non-smoking ones,” said Riggins, who is now preparing to make the Hampton Inn an entirely non-smoking hotel due to the fact that smoking rooms are now difficult to rent.

“Things have changed a lot.”

Two Champs bar goers, who preferred to remain anonymous, approved of the smoking ban.

One of the patrons, who recently moved to the area from California (one of the first state’s to ban smoking in public places), supported the law, despite being a smoker himself.

“It will be nice to come home not smelling like an ash tray,” he said.

The other individual, who called himself “Canada Dave,” was in town for business. Originally from Canada, Dave said that he has seen the provinces there all enact smoking bans, despite the vehement protestations of Quebecois, for whom smoking is culturally accepted.

“There will be a lot of angry people in North Carolina,” Dave said, emphasizing the power of the tobacco lobby in the state which last year produced $686 million in tobacco sales, nearly half of the United States total.

“It won’t be easy, but it is better for the health of everyone.”

All that now separates the bill from becoming law is Governor Bev Perdue’s signature, which she pledged to give, calling the legislation “important and historic.”

The bill that passed the House with a 62-56 vote Wednesday was more focused than a similar bill that recently passed the senate. The senate bill would have seen smoking banned in all indoor public places.

23-percent of North Carolinians smoke, and according to a recent Elon College study, a similar percentage disapprove of a smoking ban in public places.

Those who violate the law after first receiving a warning will be fined up to $50 for their actions. The law also stipulates that owners and managers who refuse to enforce the ban after being warned twice could be fined as much as $200.

Owners’ and managers’ support in enforcing the law will be important, as it was designed to be enforced by local health directors, and not by traditional agents of law enforcement such as the police.

Lexington Democratic Rep. Hugh Holliman, a lung cancer survivor and one of the bill’s major proponents, lauded the legislature’s wisdom, saying that the compromise was a reasonable step towards ensuring the safety of restaurant and bar patrons as well as employees.

Opponents of the bill, including Harnett County Rep. David Lewis, a Republican, viewed it as a violation of establishment owner’s property rights.

Scotland County Senator Bill Purcell voted for the bill when it passed the Senate in its earlier incarnation last week. Purcell is a former doctor.

“The purpose of the bill is to prevent exposure to second hand smoke for (restaurant and bar) patrons and workers,” Purcell said.

Scotland County’s House delegation, Reps. Garland Pierce and Doug Yongue, both Democrats, voted in favor of the bill, as well.

The state of Wisconisn is also in the process of passing a similar bill.

http://www.laurinburgexchange.com/pages/full_story?article-NC%20smoking%20ban%20passes-%20locals%20react%20=&page_label=news&id=2563171-NC+smoking+ban+passes-+locals+react&widget=push&instance=special_coverage_bullets_right_column&open=&

No related posts.

1. 

   Misty says:

   December 31, 2009 at 8:29 am

   If we can’t smoke in a bar then drinking should be banned as well. Smokes are discriminated against.
2. 

   Mo says:

   January 14, 2010 at 4:50 pm

   You are putting other people in danger when you smoke in public places.