California Smoke-Free Bars
California Smoke-Free Bar News
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- Just in case you've been in hibernation, I want to remind you that as of Jan. 1, smoking will no longer be legal in any bar or club in San Francisco. . . Vogue rebels Michelle Drinks, Sebastian and Harry Denton's Starlight Room respond to this outrage with a highbrow Prohibition Party where dudes and dames can burn one in decadence. On Tuesday, Dec. 30, at 7:30 p.m., you are invited to share a toke on our last day of fume freedom.
- Smoke-free bars will no doubt be a big hit in some circles, and hopefully, the new law, however poorly written and unenforceable, will encourage some pub owners to move in that direction. But until that time, bar owners are between a smoke and a closed place. And the best way out is for the state's lawmakers to come up with a reasonable standard so pub workers, butt heads and booze drinkers can peacefully co-exist.
- Hemingway's Fine Cigars & Wine Bar: The only glaring shortcoming in this smoking parlor is that it doesn't offer patrons a good Cuban cigar. . . Come January, Hemingway's may be among the very few public places where people are allowed to smoke. A new state law is intended to prohibit smoking in bars. Because the majority of Hemingway's sales are from tobacco, however, Hemingway's is exempt, Lazarus explained.
- There are those who still believe second-hand smoke poses no danger to non-smokers. However, it has been proven that each year, thousands of people die from lung cancer as a direct result of breathing the smoke from other people's cigarettes. . . Some see the smokefree bars law as an assault on smokers rights. But with 85% of Californians not smoking, the law actually acts as an affirmation of non-smokers rights. L.A. LINK is a tobacco control agency in LA County that works to educate businesses and the public regarding smoking related issues. . . Members of L.A. LINK are working to help bar patrons, workers and owners understand the reasoning behind this law to ensure a smooth transitional period as it goes into effect.
- If all goes according to law, as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, bartenders at California's 35,596 saloons will ask their patrons to snuff out their smokes, then gather up the ashtrays. If the patrons comply, California will be transformed into the first state in the nation with smoke-free bars and casinos. Those are two big ifs. Although anti-smokers hail the step, seeing bars as a major hurdle toward ridding public places of tobacco fumes, smokers are fuming.
- Mathis-Swanson, who heads a group called Tavern Owners United for Fairness, said: "We want to respect the law, but we won't turn our backs on the people who made us successful. If we end up getting arrested and have to litigate, well, let's just see how this plays out." . . ."Our industry needs to demonstrate vision, to rejuvenate itself instead of clinging to the unhealthy idea that we need to have a roomful of carcinogens to keep our patrons happy. We need to recognize that there's a big untapped market out there," Moench said. . . "In this age," he explained, "smokers represent the bad money because they're keeping the majority who don't smoke out."
- Finally, let's not overlook the class struggle. Some of the big-name players will exploit a provision allowing patrons of retail tobacco shops to fire up. (Sort of like trying on a dress at Nordstrom.) At Trophy's, for example, young swells will stroll with drinks into the cigar room and light up with the practiced insouciance of Gilded Age tycoons. Meanwhile, blue-collar cigarette smokers will stamp in the cold. Smokers deserve a little room to breathe. A warm one. This suffocating law should be stubbed out.
- California may be ready to impose a smoking ban at bars come Jan. 1, but Pat Martine is determined to go down in flames. "I'm trying to get in as much as I can," says Mr. Martine, as he sits at Arnie Morton's of Chicago, puffing away on his second cigar of the night.
- I'd like to see a lot of those people make it into the new year and for many new years to come. Maybe the new law will have absolutely no impact on most smokers. But there may be those who will consider this the straw that broke Joe Camel's back, and they will finally do what they have to do to quit. Like a lot of truly important things in life that require commitment -- marriage, parenthood, watching every episode of the next Ken Burns miniseries on KPBS -- deciding to give up smoking can take a lot of time and effort, but ultimately is wonderfully rewarding. But while you are making that decision, would you mind moving outside with that disgusting, stinky thing? Thanks.
- Judge Joe S. Gray rejected a request for a temporary restraining order filed by a group of bar owners and others to stop the ban from taking effect on Thursday.
- 12/30/97 Businesses Predict a Decline in Sales and Layoffs Due to Smoking Ban Palace Holdings PR Newswire
- "Our state legislators are letting down over 45,000 bar, hotel, restaurant, cigar lounge and gaming club owners in the state of California who contribute to the vitality of the state's economy," said Kate Nelson, owner of The Palace in Hollywood and president of the California Licensed Beverage Association.
- Opponents of the law have won the support of Brett Granlund, a Republican California assemblyman, who is himself a smoker. He has tabled technical questions to the State Department of Health Services, asking for a clear definition of "enclosed space". Mr Granlund contends that the definition contained in the no-smoking law - "four walls and a ceiling" - is so ambiguous as to be unenforceable. He argues that bars and casinos should be considered "open spaces" if they keep their doors and windows open.
- The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Tobacco Education Program has mailed Smoke-Free Bar Resource Kits to the 7,000 establishments in the county with an on-premises liquor license. The kits are designed to provide owners and managers with the resources they need for a smooth transition. The kits include clear explanations of the law, tips for implementing it, and resources for more information and assistance, as well as "No Smoking" signage, and patron-friendly reminders like bar napkins and table tents. . . For more information on complying with AB 13, business owners and managers can contact the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services at 800/427-8700 or the California Smoke-Free Bars Program at 800/622-2829.
- Can't we all just get along? Not, it seems, when the subject is smoking.
- The smoking ban is a delicate high-wire topic when breached at the pub where I, a former smoker of Marlboros, tend bar. I recently estimated that maybe as much as 50 percent of my customers are smokers. . . Then again, do I need the medical bills associated with a 25 percent increase in my chances of getting lung cancer?
- So here's my notion: We've had our fun with smokers. They're whipped. I propose -- this is radical, so stay with me -- that we start being nice to them again, treating them with the ordinary civility we accord to ordinary people. Hell, go all the way. Go out to the sidewalk and hug a smoker today.
- January. San Francisco becomes the first American city where it is illegal to smoke a cigarette in a bar, but OK to smoke a joint at cannabis clubs. Savvy bar patrons start spiking their cigarettes with pot. When bartenders try to stop customers from smoking, they produce notes from their doctors explaining that marijuana eases their stress-related health problems.
- Local 30 of the San Diego Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) called a morning news conference in Hillcrest to urge state legislators to repeal the newest provision of the Californians Smoke -Free Workplace law because it will cut into tips -- and possibly the work time -- of its 4,000 members.
- Members of Local 30, the San Diego Hotel Employees and Restaurant Union (HERE), today urged members of the California Legislature to repeal the statewide smoking ban to protect jobs.
- WHO: Kim Belshe, director, California Department of Health Services -- Ingrid Lamirault, director, Tobacco Education Program, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services -- Lou Moench, owner, Father's Office (bar) . . . WHERE: Father's Office 1018 Montana (cross street: 11th) Santa Monica 310/451-9330 WHEN: 11 a.m. to noon
- "It will be 'Happy New Year, put out your cigarettes,"' said Bob McNeil, manager of Plainfield Station, a bar and grill outside this Sacramento suburb. "I think we all might be having that last cigarette right at 11:55 p.m."
- Smokers will still have a few refuges, including bar and restaurant patios, outdoor workplaces, designated hotel rooms and lobbies and private smoking lounges attached to tobacco shops. But 82% of California adults are nonsmokers, potential victims of someone else's dumb habit, and this law is in everyone's best interest.
- "I think there's going to be some drop in business, but hopefully (customers) will get used to it and come back," said David Contreras, manager of Pacific Shores in Ocean Beach. Contreras estimates that about one-third of his customers smoke. But Manou Ehya, owner of the Mr. O's nightclub in Mission Valley, said that only 10 percent of his patrons smoke and he expects no change in business.
- "I'm quitting tonight. This is my last cigarette, and I'm enjoying it," Hoff said. "Thanks to this law, I'm never going to smoke again." . . "It's wild. You can actually see across the room"
- The new law banning smoking in bars threatens to stub out one of the hottest trends of the '90s -- cigar bars. But tobacco fans don't need to trash their Montecristos -- or that Cigar Aficionado magazine with Claudia Schiffer on the cover -- just yet. Clever bar owners are coming up with inventive ways to dodge the ban, which starts today and forbids bar patrons from lighting up pipes, cigarettes and cigars. One of the first is Barley & Hopps brew pub in San Mateo, where managers ordered up an 18-seat, airtight cigar bar and smoking lounge inside a second-floor billiards room. There, like smoking rooms at the airport, smokers can go into self-imposed exile behind glass windows.
- Presented with an 11th-hour attempt to delay employee health protections from secondhand smoke, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Joe Gray Tuesday denied a request for a temporary restraining order to delay implementation of smokefree bars and gaming clubs in California.
- The smoking ban in bars marks the end of an era. It won't go out with a bang, but with a thousand whimpers from smokers. They'll get used to it. Now, let's drink to our health.
- But other places have found a way around the law by accommodating cigar smokers in outdoor areas. According to the law, smoking is allowed in establishments without four walls and a ceiling.. . Tobacco shops like the Royal Cigar Society in Costa Mesa and the Lido Cigar Room in Newport Beach are more than happy to let their customers puff away in the comfort of well-appointed lounges, which are exempt from the anti-smoking law.
- "We expect better and better compliance as the year goes on," said Colleen Stevens, spokeswoman for the California Department of Health Services. "Once people get used to smoke-free environments, they cherish them."
- For Farrell Fullerton the new no-smoking order meant a simple balancing act. Planted in the doorway of Domenico's sports bar in Pasadena, the 56-year-old held his draft beer in one hand, inside the doorway, and his cigarette in the other, over the sidewalk. "This is how it has to be, one hand in and one hand out. You can't have beer outside and you can't smoke inside," Fullerton said.
- But Jack Simpson was happy to leave his Camel Lights behind when he came to a bar here to watch New Year's Day bowl games. Simpson's reason: He had quit his 10-year, two-pack-a-day habit the day before. "I'd be at home right now if they didn't pass that law," said Simpson, 43, of Santa Ana. "I'm too new to the nonsmoking thing. I'd have wigged out." Simpson was chewing gum and straws, drinking iced tea and wearing a nicotine patch on his right shoulder as he watched college football in the smoke-free Legends Sports Bar and Restaurant.
- Because they are under federal authority, Indian reservations are exempt from the state law that takes effect today banning smoking in bars and gambling halls. But despite the exemptions, San Diego County's three tribal casinos have long-established nonsmoking areas. The reason? Basic business -- to bring more people in the door.
- Consider our generosity: We pay for $510 million in various health programs . . . After the bad, bad smokers' money runs out, will you ask the "good" state taxpayers to contribute a little more? Oh no, that would be political suicide. No new taxes, read my lips, except for bad people. It makes me so angry, I might just have to quit to spite the bastards.
- It is a smoking ban for the middle class, because the ban, like smoking itself, will be obeyed by the people who don't smoke or have already quit smoking, the people in the middle. When Minnesota crafts its own version of the bar-smoking ban, it could save a lot of time and hypocrisy by acknowledging that two groups of people still smoke in what is left of this democracy, the poor and the rich. . . It will also work the same way when California leads the nation by banning alcohol in bars and then steak in restaurants.
- It may not rise to the level of anti-war and anti-discrimination protests, but the reaction reported from California on New Year's day was civil disobedience nonetheless, the kind which, when engaged in by otherwise law-abiding people, generates more contempt than respect for the law-making and law-enforcement process.
- There is no move in Ohio to ban smoking in bars, but California's ban on smoking in bars, nightclubs and hotel lobbies is generating lots of controversy, headlines and comment.
- Health nazis are claiming a massive victory. In the meantime, smokers who patronize bars will have to content themselves with other healthful activities, such as drinking--or if they're feeling a little low, they can light up some medical marijuana, which is perfectly legal.
- When restaurants were going smoke-free in January 1995, tobacco industry propaganda said businesses would close, and tourists would stay away from California. The tobacco industry must be disappointed that restaurant sales and tourism have increased with smoke-free restaurants. . . Enforcement of the new smoke-free law will be the same as for restaurants.
- In the entire state of California, a fragile plate cracked head-to-toe by the sheer force of political extremes, you can no longer enjoy the leaf in the gin mill of your choice. And so on Jan. 1 you get into a car--because that's still legal in Los Angeles, despite a midday sky that spreads like an underarm stain from Burbank to Buena Park--and you go to the places you know will defy the smoking ban that went into effect a few hours earlier.
- "I like to smoke cigars, and I do it when I go out. But I also bartend, and I hate being on the other side of the bar with smoke being blown at me constantly," Hubins said. "And let's face it -- cigars are hideous. I can't stand the smell of them if I'm not smoking one."
- The bar owners traveled from as far as Imperial Beach and Santee to sign a petition calling for an end to the ban. The crowd, mostly affiliated with small establishments, also began organizing their efforts to repeal the law, which went into effect Jan. 1. And in true protest form, many of them smoked, even though the bar was open for business at the time. "It's still correctable," said Stephen Zolezzi, executive vice president of the Food & Beverage Association of San Diego County. "Let's get it (changed) so that we can get on with our lives."
- An overlooked casualty of California's new smoking ban: swank hotel bars. . . Tipplers at the Top of the Mark in San Francisco's Mark Hopkins Intercontinental hotel are pointed 19 floors south to the lobby when they need a drag.
- Down in San Mateo, Barley & Hopps brewery-restaurant-night club has spent $30,000 (!) constructing a classy (and thoroughly legal) Cigar Bar & Smoking Lounge. The 320-square-foot room features cherrywood floors and paneling, high-backed leather chairs, cocktail tables and TV. Of course, it also boasts a state-of-the-art ventilation system. In order to comply with provisions of the law that prohibit indoor smoking in the presence of employees, the lounge is equipped with an intercom system that patrons can use to place orders at the bar. Their order is then delivered outside the lounge door, where customers can step out of the room to pick it up. Not exactly the epitome of service, but . . .
- AMID THE whining, griping and threatened lawbreaking that have accompanied California's most recent smoking ban, a question keeps coming up: How the hell did something like this ever get passed? The answer: Slowly. Against all odds. And despite millions of dollars of tobacco industry money being hurled at it.
- Only a small minority of businesses is expressing an unwillingness to comply with the ban, Carol St. Cook of the county Department of Health Services said. Because many of those vexed also have been very vocal about their position -- for example, Nite Owl in Pacific Beach -- violators have been easy to track. Known violators should receive a heads-up warning notice from Health Services this week. Most complaints actually are coming from bar owners who are complying with the law, St. Cook said. These owners grumble about losing business to bars that still allow smoking.
- "The good guys are getting hurt," said Applebaum, who has become a regular caller to the county's complaint hotline. "If you're cheating, you're reaping the benefits."
- If you are a customer, a bar employee or a bar owner who wants to report a violation, you can call the 24-hour complaint line at the county Health and Human Services Agency's Tobacco Control Resource Center: (619) 515-6693.
- The fact that the smoking ban may fit into a larger pattern -- with wider political implications, and the potential for nasty backlash -- may not occur naturally to these guys. Most people don't connect these dots.
- A reasonable approach to smoking in bars would be to segregate smokers and nonsmokers. This could easily be accomplished by cordoning off smokers in bar areas specially ventilated to remove smoke. This alternative is supported by bar owners and their smoking patrons. It ought to get a serious hearing in Sacramento.
- But two weeks into the new year, the biggest losers are a host of large companies with household names. They include upscale bars, restaurants and hotels, many of which catered to cigar-smoking customers. While many of their smaller and lesser-known counterparts look the other way, these companies are complying with the law, and it's starting to hurt.
- On behalf of its more than 300,000 members and adult smokers in California, the National Smokers Alliance continues to oppose the California smoking ban and is working with California businesses and individuals to urge repeal of the ban.
- Courts: Law is held constitutional, even if it threatens owners' livelihoods. Plaintiffs' lawyer vows to fight on.
- Sacramento Superior Court Judge Joe Gray closed the books on the latest challenge to the regulation, which took effect Jan. 1 _ well after smoking was outlawed in other indoor spaces. Bar owners failed to get a court order to block the smoking ban Dec. 30, then heard Gray's final decision today after they argued it is threatening their livelihood. The judge declared he wouldn't issue an injunction against the law because it's his job only to interpret it, and the Legislature's to make it.
- Today, Judge Joe Gray, Sacramento Superior Court, ruled to keep bars, taverns and gaming clubs in California smoke-free.
- "I'm going to smoke anywhere I want to," said Costa Mesa resident Charlie Reilly. "To hell with them." Valenti, a former Newport Beach police officer who has owned the local bar for 16 years but is in the process of selling it to a new owner, said he and dozens of other local bar owners are frustrated by the new law that went into effect Jan. 1.
- Los Angeles County health officials have sent notices to at least 104 Los Angeles-area bars where authorities say patrons or employees ignore the new state law against smoking. But county and city authorities acknowledge that the letters may be meaningless because enforcement of the ban, which took effect Jan. 1, is likely to be spotty. They said the statute is riddled with loopholes that could allow smoking to continue in bars.
- "As fewer people are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), the more they reduce their risk of developing a range of serious diseases of the eye, such as: cataracts; histoplasmosis (inflammation of the eye caused by a soil fungus in tobacco); macular degeneration; diabetic retinopathy; optic neuropathy (caused by reduced blood flow to the eyes); and tobacco amblyopia (loss of vision in both eyes)," said Dr. Elliot Finkelstein, President of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. "Clean indoor air policies not only protect nonsmokers from involuntary exposure to ETS, but also have been found to be an effective means of encouraging smokers to quit. Any reduction in the rates of smoking and exposure to ETS contributes to good preventive eye care," Dr. Finkelstein concluded.
- University of California San Francisco professor Stanton Glantz has now publicly admitted using the wrong data in his study of smoke-free bar ordinances, which analyzed the economic impact of bans in bars in seven communities in California. In a letter to the editor published in The Dominion Post in Morgantown, West Virginia, Glantz wrote: "In his attack on our work Auxier (Gary Auxier of the National Smokers Alliance) did identify one error we made. Two of the bar ordinances covered unincorporated areas of counties and we used data from the entire counties." . . "We have attempted, time and again, to bring Glantz's abuse of his university position and taxpayer grant money to the attention of the university, the media, the courts and the people of California. Perhaps now someone will pay attention."
- Sa cramento County health officials, getting five complaints a day, are mailing letters to bars warning them to comply with the new statewide smoking ban.
- Culture: Ban on smoking is driving players away from parlor games. That hurts profits and charities that get funds.
- Law: Hundreds Puff Away At Lucky John's Too In Westminster To Protest Ban On Lighting Up In Bars.
- ow that the smoking ban is in effect at restaurants and bars, smokers will have to find alternative places to light up. David Peck, owner of the Lido Cigar Room said, "Lido Cigar Room is exempt from the smoking law and is offering a location for all those needing a place to smoke and enjoy all of the amenities of a bar: TV, drinks and a comfortable environment." And there is no charge to use the facilities.
- They want just three days. Three measly days, they say. Three days to light up, blow smoke and turn back the clock. What kind of a host city for the Super Bowl will San Diego be, asks the Food and Beverage Association of San Diego, if one can't smoke in bars. Imagine the confusion out-of-towners will face when they are told to take it outside, thanks to the new get-tough law that bans smoking in nearly all bars and taverns, says Stephen Zolezzi, the association's executive director.
- Restrictive smoking laws are predicted to hurt bars and taverns more than they do restaurants, according to a study released today. More than 80 percent of bar and tavern owners predict that a government-mandated smoking ban will cause overall revenues to fall. . . Dr. Michael Marlow, professor of economics at California Polytechnic State University, presented his findings at the National Licensed Beverage Association (NLBA) annual conference. The study was based on an economic examination of a data set containing information from owners of over 5,500 restaurants, bars and taverns nationwide and was conducted for Philip Morris Management Corp.
- The Los Angeles County Health Department Wednesday announced that it has received few complaints of smoking in bars from either bar patrons or employees since the smoke-free law became effective on Jan. 1, 1998. According to the health department, complaints have been filed on only 115 bars, or restaurant/bars, representing less than 1.5 percent of the 8,270 establishments that are impacted by the new smoke-free law. "Contrary to a few sensationalized media reports, we have no evidence to indicate that Los Angeles County doesn't fully support this new law," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, acting county health officer.
- On two occasions, BREATH has distributed false information to bar owners. In one flyer, BREATH incorrectly said that the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) would investigate non-compliance during regular inspections and that these "violations could have an impact on the renewal of a liquor license." Another BREATH flyer said that state law required bar owner's to "put away ashtrays." Manual Espinoza, Chief Deputy Director of ABC, has since confirmed that ABC has "no legal authority that would support taking disciplinary actions against ABC licenses for violations of those statutes (the smoke-free workplace law)." Espinoza further stated that the agency "would not be the enforcement mechanism" for violations of the smoking ban.
- Some bar owners are so upset about losing business due to California's new law banning smoking in their establishments that they are trying to hurt the state by refusing to sell lottery tickets. In the past two weeks, daylong and weeklong lottery boycotts have been organized in three counties. In additional, organizers are trying to put together a 24-hour blackout of the keno-like Hot Spot game on Feb. 2.
- Once considered the "weekend of all weekends" for business, bar owners now believe business will be substantially affected as a result of the smoking ban.
- Two weeks into the new ban on smoking in bars, my buddy and I are at a midtown French bistro puffing away in a rush of teenage deviance when our waiter passes, stops suddenly and reaches to pick up the pack that has fallen to the floor. "Excuse me," he says, "but were these yours?" We sink in our chairs, flushed, nodding. But he returns the pack to the table and flashes the coy smile of one turning the other cheek: "So would you be wanting more Cote de Rhone?"
- More than half the bars in Humboldt County refuse to recognize the ban, said Loreen Hamilton, owner of the Riverwood Inn in Phillipsville. County saloon keepers are so steamed at the state that they are pulling the plugs on their Lotto machines.
- Diners at The Arches Restaurant now get an unexpected bonus with their usual orders of steak and seafood: a pack of cigarettes to go. It's owner Dan Marcheano's inventive way of luring back business lost from the state's new no-smoking law for restaurants. He handed out 180 packs in the first 10 days. With smokers angry enough to seek out restaurants with patios, and some eateries flouting the new law completely, Marcheano just wanted a way to keep wavering patrons from taking their money elsewhere.
- Green Bay Packers fan Rob Gorr elbowed his way through the crowd at The Bitter End tavern, stepped outside to the sidewalk and joined the other outcast smokers in lighting up a cigarette. Gorr knew about California's ban on smoking in bars before leaving his Kenosha, Wis., home near Milwaukee for the Super Bowl, but he wasn't troubled by it.
- It's proving difficult, if not impossible, to get Californians to obey the new state anti-smoking law that bans lighting up in bars. The no-smoking law, which took effect on New Year's Day, is simply being ignored. Fire Captain John Kitchens, whose job includes enforcing the law in Los Angeles, says the vague nature of the law makes it hard for him to do his job.
- "We're asking people to shut off their machines as of today and through the Super Bowl," said Steven Evans, who turned off the Lotto machine yesterday at the Casino Inn in Alpine. "It is just one way that we have of getting people's attention."
- As ban on lighting up in bars takes hold, not everyone is observing the rules--and enforcement is a problem.
- Wayne Drackman, a bar owner, said: "I think I get the most compliments from out-of-state people ... especially a place like New York, where people aren't used to a no-smoking environment. ... They love it." Bar owner Steve Zolezzi said that the law has had a "negative" effect and "that we just can't stand for that."
- Saying the state has finally gone too far, bar owners throughout Northern California met to plot the overthrow of the smoking ban they say is unpopular and is hurting business.
- [T]the Assembly late Wednesday narrowly approved lifting the ban. The measure to repeal California's first-in-the-nation law to ban smoking in most taverns was approved on a 42-24 vote and sent to the Senate, where it's fate was uncertain. The bill requires Senate approval and the governor's signature to take effect. The bill proposes suspending the smoking ban starting next January for two years -- or until federal authorities set national ventilation standards to reduce smoke to safe levels.
- The state's tough new anti- smoking law is being blamed for the layoff of 75 people at Bay 101, the long-controversial card casino in San Jose. Bay 101 officials announced yesterday they were laying off 75 of the club's 600 employees and shuttering the casino's two restaurants.
- Capp's Corner II 1600 Powell St. Smoking in bar area Informational warning provided; Occidental Grille 453 Pine St. Smoking in bar area Informational warning provided; Reflections 1160 Polk St. Smoking in bar area Informational warning provided
- From all appearances, the reaction against California's month-old bar smoking ban has been widespread, strong and spontaneous. But although the owners' complaints are real, behind them is a highly sophisticated public relations campaign, much of it orchestrated by a nonprofit, tax-exempt, tobacco industry-backed group based in Virginia and called the National Smokers' Alliance. Assisting that group is one of the world's largest public relations firms, Burson-Marsteller. The company has a long-standing account with the tobacco industry and is renowned for its ability to generate news coverage.
- Although legislation to lift California's 30-day-old ban on smoking in bars won surprisingly easy approval in the Assembly, patrons shouldn't plan on lighting up anytime soon. The bill, backed by the tobacco industry, now heads to the Senate, where it is likely to be snuffed out.
- Assemblyman Edward Vincent, who is spearheading the effort to repeal the ban, says his measure will allow people the freedom to drink and smoke without suffering criminal penalties.
- Few predicted that implementation of the bar ban, the last phase of the 1994 law, would be easy. The early evidence is that many bars and customers are complying while some are not. Still, one month is hardly a fair test of this law, and repeal is not only premature but ill-advised. This bill now moves to the state Senate, where, we hope, it will meet the skepticism and scrutiny it deserves. To his credit, incoming Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) opposed efforts last year to delay implementation of the ban. He should do so again.
- Gov. Pete Wilson lent a sympathetic ear Saturday to bar owners angered by a month-old ban on smoking in their establishments, but he stopped short of favoring a bid to repeal the prohibition. Wilson, whose administration has prided itself on making California more business friendly, suggested that he supports establishing refuges for bar smokers. "For those who want to smoke, there should be clearly delineated smoking bars or within a bar some sort of sanctuary that permits them to do it," the governor said in a brief interview.
- South Bay bar owners weren't blowing smoke when they complained that the new state-imposed smoking ban would hurt business. While some of the bars and clubs surveyed by The Business Journal couldn't quantify a drop in customers since the law took effect Jan. 1, nearly all said business is down.
- A group of 40-50 Orange County bar and tavern owners have banded together in opposition of the statewide smoking ban. The group, named Americans for Individual Rights (AIR), is urging repeal of the smoking ban and has vowed non-compliance in each of their establishments.
- Bar owners may be the commandos and the tobacco lobby the brass. But in the great war against California's new smoking ban, the anonymous grunts are surely the bingo players and their unlikely beneficiaries--charities. In the month since the law took effect, bingo parlors across the region have reported profit losses as deep as 20%. The cause: the inability of many mavens of the board to forsake their reliance on the leaf. In moving to protect its citizens' health, it seems, the state Legislature underestimated the powerful link between smoking and gambling.
- This is a tale of two bars. Well, actually, a tale of two types of bars. The neighborhood bars are ready to call in Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson and the Duke himself and go to war over the new law, the first of its kind in the nation, which went into effect Jan 1. But some upscale bars actually see a benefit to the new law. "My clientele is more inclined to come in and socialize," Dobson said, noting how the bar and restaurant attracts many of the city's powerful.
- California demonstrated enlightened leadership when it became the first state to ban smoking in bars. It should not back off now.
- You report that they acknowledged that nicotine is addictive, and that it is addictive "as the term is commonly understood." Yet they failed to define that "common understanding," leaving open a loophole the size of Marlboro Country.
- He is a guest in our health-conscious state, so when Whiskeytown singer-guitarist Ryan Adams lighted up a cigarette during Wednesday night's Casbah show, it was only fair that someone warn him that he was breaking the law. And it was only fitting that Adams kept right on puffing. "Go ahead, throw me in jail," said Adams, 23, peering at the smoke-free audience through his mop of black hair. "I'll probably like it."
- The ban on smoking in California bars went into effect on Jan. 1. By Jan. 28 the State Assembly was voting to suspend it for at least two years. Why the quick change of heart? . . . The National Smokers Alliance (NSA) says that the coasters, toll-free telephone hotlines, and Web site were all just part of a good old-fashioned "grassroots" movement against "the continuing demonization of smokers." But it turns out this grass is more like Astroturf--bought and paid for by someone with deep pockets. That someone: the tobacco industry.
- One month after the first law in the nation banning smoking in bars went into effect, tavern owners are knocking themselves out to find ways to keep their patrons lighting up. A happy, smoking customer, says Chris Breed, president of the swank supper club, is a customer who will in the course of an evening shell out for a fine Montenegro and two cognacs.
- SACRAMENTO, Feb. 10 (UPI) _ Defenders of California's law against smoking in bars promise to fight new state legislation to overturn the ban. The American Cancer Society, Heart Association, Lung Association and California Medical Association announced a new coalition today to lobby for defeat of the bill in the Senate, which killed a similar measure last year.
- A 100-seat all-weather terrace at ELROYS restaurant and bar is a 1,400 square-foot loophole in the smoking ban recently implemented by the California legislature. . . Because the 1,400 square-foot heated and covered terrace at ELROYS is outside, it is unaffected by the California smoking ban that went into effect January 1, 1998. The ban only regulates smoking within enclosed spaces.
- [B]arflies and crusty bar owners have become Sacramento's newest crop of lobbyists. It's all part of an orchestrated effort to sell the human side of one of the hottest debates in the Capitol: whether to lift the month-old ban on smoking in bars, taverns and cardrooms. A slick campaign with the face of a grass-roots movement is being run by the National Smokers' Alliance, a tobacco-industry group, and Burson-Marsteller, the world's largest public relations firm and a tobacco industry client.
- Bill Ostrander said he would fight charges that he allowed patrons to smoke in his bar. Ostrander, who owns the Almond Tree Lounge in Roseville, about 26 miles (42 km) northeast of Sacramento, said he should not be held accountable for what his customers did in his bar. The World War Two veteran, who has been a smoker himself since the age of 15, said he had taken all requisite steps to comply with California's new law -- including posting 'no smoking' signs in the tavern and asking customers to sign a statement saying they understood the new statute.
- Ticked-off resignation -- that's the exclusive finding of a night- long Chronicle investigation this week that included $2 Millers at the Killarney, California Grand Casino in Pacheco and Elliot's in Danville. . . But if nicotine addicts really are as disgruntled as claimed -- remember, the state Assembly already has voted to lift the ban -- watering holes like these should be in active rebellion. Instead, I met smokers like Susan Taufer of San Ramon. "I actually think it's a good thing," Taufer shrugged, sipping a Kahlua and coffee at Elliot's. "I have friends who are really annoyed, but the atmosphere is a lot more pleasant."
- Even if the state's newest no-smoking law is repealed, cigarette lovers still will be banned from lighting up in local saloons, city officials said this week. Months before the statewide no-smoking law took effect Jan. 1, the council passed an ordinance banning smoking in bars. The city law would take effect if the state ban were delayed.
- Bill Ostrander, 70, faces what is believed to be the first trial challenging California's statute banning smoking in more than 35,000 bars and casinos. "My wife asked me to please plead guilty and just pay the fine," Ostrander told a crowd of fellow tavern owners outside the courtroom. "But I can't do that. I fought a war to keep this country free," he said. "They tell me I can't smoke in my own bar? The state didn't buy that bar for me. I worked hard to buy that bar."
- Egged on by a smokers' rights group heavily funded by the tobacco industry, a growing number of California tavern owners are thumbing their noses at the nation's only statewide ban on barroom smoking, allowing patrons to light up and blow smoke in the face of authority. Although the six-week-old smoking ban provides for escalating fines for bar owners who allow smoking, reports from around the state indicate that enforcement by local jurisdictions depends mostly on response to complaints. Even at that, it has been spotty at best, with compliance in many areas but open defiance in others.
- One barkeep puts out shot glasses as ashtrays. Another erects a sign: "Check us out. There's lots to do. Games and tunes and smoking too. Legally." A third posts its "No Smoking" signs in Chinese, Spanish and Vietnamese.
- "It's so much nicer not having to breathe that smoke all the time," [Matt Wallace] says. "Some places, the smaller places, sometimes don't care. But at the music venues, this new law is not hurting business. I've seen just the opposite. The crowds are bigger and it seems people stay longer."
- The vast majority of Los Angeles County residents who have been to a bar since the state's smoke-free bar law took effect on Jan. 1, 1998, say it is important to have a smoke-free environment in bars, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Los Angeles County Health Department. Of bar patrons surveyed, 70 percent said it was "very important" or "somewhat important" to have smoke-free bars. The survey also found that 85 percent of bar patrons report that they will go to bars more often or not change their bar-going behavior as a result of the new law. . . "Public health policy should not be dictated by well-funded tobacco industry front groups," said Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles County Supervisor, Third District. . . "They will stop at nothing to overturn a law that is fully supported by the residents of L.A. County. Gloom and doom reports of loss of business and widespread law breaking are nothing more than tobacco industry propaganda."
- A Los Angeles County Health Department bar patron survey released today is invalid because it failed to include any former bar patrons who may have already opted not to frequent bars because of the smoking ban, the National Smokers Alliance (NSA) said today. "This so-called survey cannot and should not be taken seriously by anyone with even a basic knowledge of professional survey standards," said Gary Auxier, senior vice president of the NSA. "It's an embarrassment. To screen out individuals who have chosen not to frequent bars because of the smoking ban is dishonest at best."
- Anyone who believes the barroom smoking ban is working should be tested for drugs. Two months into this Dark Age, one conclusion is clear: The law must bend or it will be broken into a million pieces of civil disobedience. . . And for those who want to allow smoking in their bars, require them to clean the air so waitresses and bartenders -- and musicians suffering from the hazy blues -- are breathing easily and safely. That's the point of AB 297, which passed in the Assembly but is held up in the Senate. If this bill becomes law, Cal-OSHA will be forced to set an air standard for licensed premises. If a bar with employees fails to comply, no smoking.
- Bar owners from three counties rallied at a San Jose lounge yesterday to condemn California's new law banning smoking in bars, and to celebrate the gathering of 25,000 petition signatures demanding its repeal. Beverly Swanson, a Santa Cruz bar owner, said two boxes full of petitions were delivered to the San Jose office of state Senator John Vasconcellos yesterday afternoon. . . Swanson said her lobbying group, Tavern Owners United For Fairness, formed in Santa Cruz County with support from about 10 bar owners. But the group is attempting to increase its clout by joining forces with bar owners and workers in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. . . . She said the petition drives are a purely homegrown movement. "My group is 7 years old, and people from around the state have been calling me," Swanson said.
- The tobacco industry -- not bar owners -- is behind efforts to repeal a state law that bans smoking in nightclubs, restaurants with bars and gaming establishments, a Los Angeles city official said Wednesday. "We can focus on the bar owners," Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. "But, really, the culprit here is the tobacco industry. Most people prefer non-smoking establishments. . . This campaign to repeal this state law is not being fueled by the bar industry -- it's being fueled by the tobacco industry . . . They're spending tens of millions of dollars to do it in campaign contributions, in public relations, in ads, and in letter-writing campaigns. And as soon as the Legislature understands that, I think they will get a second wind of courage."
- "My bar is actually making the best out of this, and `it's not so bad after all,' according to many of my smokers who are patting each other on the back because they are actually smoking less." . . So let's drop this "we're protecting the poor working stiff" excuse and 'fess up to the fact that if you really cared about the people who work their feet off serving you drinks and food and providing entertainment, you'd do the classy thing and take it outside.
- On this, my second visit to Ireland's 32, a Van Nuys pub, I had expected otherwise. After all, smoking had been banned in bars by state law, hadn't it? . . . The bartender with whom she had a few words wouldn't budge. He said disingenuously that if customers chose to light up, there was nothing the bar could do but provide ashtrays. She asked if that meant it was OK to smoke marijuana too, since both were now illegal. He didn't see the parallel.
- A Superior Court judge says the statewide ban on smoking does not apply in two Sacramento bingo parlors because the only paid personnel are security guards not subject to the law. Judge John R. Lewis on Friday granted a preliminary injunction sought by Palace Bingo Inc. and Hiram Johnson Warriors Boosters Club who want to let players continue to smoke
- When police detectives struck the Nite Owl Cocktail Lounge, looking for violators of the new barroom smoking ban, they hit the mother lode. According to patrons, many of the 30 people inside Thursday night were puffing away. "Several of them ran outside when they saw the vice squad," said Helen Evans, owner of the lounge on Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach and an opponent of the regulation. But nine others were caught with lighted cigarettes and given citations.
- It was San Diego's city-owned Sports Arena, where people were seen smoking -- a lot -- during the 17th annual Bob Marley Festival Feb. 16. People smoked on the floor of the arena. They smoked in their seats.
- A crusty 71-year-old bar owner was convicted of two infractions for allowing patrons to light up in violation of the new state anti-smoking law. . . He was acquitted of a third infraction. Ostrander's attorney said he would appeal the fines.
- A Placer County judge has handed down two guilty verdicts in what's believed to be the first prosecution for violating California's controversial smoking ban in bars. The judge convicted 70-year-old Almond Tree Lounge owner Bill Ostrander on two counts but acquitted him on a third count. He was originally issued four citations but a National Smokers' Alliance spokesman said one was thrown out on a technicality.
- A 34-year-old computer technician pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that he refused to extinguish a cigarette inside a Dana Point bar, in violation of a new state law, a court clerk said. Craig Etling of Dana Point is believed to have been the first Orange County resident cited by sheriff's deputies under the new state ban on smoking in bars. Etling was in Harpoon Henry's, a restaurant and bar overlooking Dana Point Harbor, when he lit up Jan. 17. The restaurant owner, Bob Mardian, said his employees asked Etling to use a patio area catering to smokers, but that Etling refused. Etling is accused of interfering with business and smoking in an enclosed business, the court clerk said
- Assemblyman Edward Vincent, a star running back for the University of Iowa and the L.A. Rams in his playing days, is barreling across Inglewood in his bone-white Cadillac, carrying the ball for a new team. "It's not about smoking or health . . . It's about choice. It's about this country." Vincent--a nonsmoker who lost a sister to lung cancer last year--is presenting his standard argument for why it should be OK to smoke again in bars and casinos, which has been illegal since a statewide ban took effect Jan. 1.
- An opinion poll on California's smoking ban in bars, released today by the American Cancer Society, should be greeted with the utmost skepticism by the media and the general public alike because the American Cancer Society refuses to release the complete results, according to the National Smokers Alliance (NSA). "We don't know what they are trying to hide," said Gary Auxier, senior vice president of the NSA, "but it is shocking that the American Cancer Society didn't even provide documentation of its key finding, let alone the complete results."
- By nearly a two-to-one margin, Californians support upholding the state's prohibition on smoking in bars, taverns and gaming clubs, according to a new poll released today by the American Cancer Society, California Division.
- Sen. Watson says panel will review rules for bars, casinos. She urges bill's author to narrow its scope.
- The proposed bill is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday before the state Senate Health and Human Services Committee panel chaired by Sen. Diane Watson, a Los Angeles Democrat who opposes it. John Miller, Watson's chief of staff, said . . Miller said the committee cannot hold a vote on the bill without the author's consent. But because Vincent was unlikely to grant this consent knowing full well that such a move would kill his bill, the panel may end up simply hearing the arguments over the bill but not taking any action.
- DESPITE DISCONTENT among bar owners and a tobacco industry-funded lobbying campaign, a bill that would repeal a controversial ban on smoking in bars faces an uphill battle in the state Senate. The measure, AB297, which passed the Assembly in January, is slated to get its first hearing in the Senate on Wednesday, but observers say the bill lacks support on the committee that will consider it. The bill is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Health Committee. But Assemblyman Ed Vincent, D-Inglewood, said through a staff member that he was not planning on presenting his bill to the committee.
- The vast majority of Los Angeles County residents who have been to a bar since the state's smoke-free bar law took effect on Jan. 1, 1998, say it is important to have a smoke-free environment in bars, according to a survey released by the Los Angeles County Health Department on March 4, 1998. Of bar patrons surveyed, 70 percent said it was "very important" or "somewhat important" to have smoke-free bars. The survey also found that 85 percent of bar patrons report that they will go to bars more often or not change their bar-going behavior as a result of the new law.
- Democratic Assemblyman Ed Vincent's attempt to repeal California's 84-day-old ban on smoking in taverns and casinos was heard by the state Senate Health and Human Services Committee chaired by Sen. Diane Watson, a Los Angeles Democrat and a staunch supporter of the smoking ban. Vincent failed to appear before the panel, and under committee rules a vote could not be taken on his measure. The assemblyman's failure to present his bill caused it to become "stalled," and Watson effectively killed the measure when she vowed to hold it in her committee but not bring it up for a vote.
- We noted, with great interest, Chairwoman Watson's suggested possible alternative to California's smoking ban . . . As we understand her concept, it would require business owners to provide notice to patrons and obtain informed consent from employees to allow smoking in hospitality establishments that wish to do so. . . We would welcome the opportunity to work with Senator Watson and the legislature to quickly provide relief to those who need it.
- "Get over it, and get used to it." Senate Health Committee Chairwoman Diane Watson, D-Los Angeles, offered that advice Wednesday to people angry about the ban on smoking in bars. . . During a three-hour hearing Wednesday, the committee heard from bar owners who have laid off workers after losing customers, non-smoking San Francisco waiters who nevertheless experienced smoking-related health problems and health groups that warned of the dangers of second-hand smoke.
- The Senate health committee staged an unusual hearing to declare that it has no intention of approving a measure to lift California's ban on smoking in bars, bingo parlors and gambling halls. But the testimony offered little to gauge whether lawmakers may yet pass legislation to modify, if not repeal, the 3-month-old ban.
- Many bars, customers are openly violating the new state ban on smoking. Officials concede there's no clear-cut policy of enforcement.
- After two-and-a-half hours of testimony during which the author of the bill never showed up, Watson unilaterally decided there would be no vote on the bill, it would just stay in limbo, trapped in her committee. "The author has not come. The tobacco industry has not come," Watson said. "The evidence is in. This bill will stay with the committee. I don't think we need to bring it up again. "I think the author needs to get over it and get on with his life," she concluded. . . Lungren told reporters . . . "I would sign a bill that would allow some flexibility so that you could smoke in bars. That's controversial, what the hell. While they're drinking themselves to death, let them have a cigarette. With the death penalty you used to allow someone one last smoke."
- SACRAMENTO, March 25 (UPI) _ A new poll by the American Cancer Society has found that Californians support the state's ban on smoking in bars and casinos by nearly a two-to-one ratio. The society says 61 percent of the registered voters polled support the measure, with 53 percent saying they strongly favor it. Thirty-four percent expressed opposition to the ban, while another 5 percent said they were undecided.
- If the state's ban on smoking in restaurants and bars is overturned as an infringement of individual rights, Jack Tavares may very well be the puffer's Patrick Henry. Tavares, owner of Crazy Jack's Country Bar & Grill in Burbank, pleaded not guilty Friday to violating the state's smoking ban, becoming the first bar owner in Los Angeles County to challenge the 4-month-old law in court.
- Despite the ashtrays and the smoke that fills Crazy Jack's Country Bar and Grill, owner Jack Tavares insists he is an innocent man. On Friday, he got to tell it to a judge as the first barkeeper in Los Angeles County to be charged under the state's three-month-old ban on smoking in bars.
- Republican Dan Lungren became the first gubernatorial candidate Wednesday to say California's ban on smoking in bars should be repealed, while one of his Democratic opponents vowed to defend the prohibition. "While they're out there drinking themselves to death, let them have a cigarette," Lungren said. A spokesman for Democratic Lt. Gov. Gray Davis said Davis supports the ban and would veto an attempt to eliminate it.
- If it passes the Senate, I will be able in 30 years to tell my grandchildren that I was lucky enough to live during that Golden Age of 1998 : when it was safe to go into bars and not have to trade some lung capacity for a Coors. . . I'll hoist a cold one to the majority leadership if they snuff this bill. Here's to the Golden Age. I remember when.
- The National Smokers Alliance has become a major force in public smoking battles in California and elsewhere, while portraying itself as "a nonprofit, grass-roots membership organization with more than 3 million members." . . But a review of the group's annual reports to the Internal Revenue Service shows that a tiny fraction of the putative members pay the nominal $10 dues the group says it charges. According to the IRS reports, of the $45.9 million amassed by the group in its first three years, very little came from dues. In fiscal 1996, for example, when total receipts were more than $9 million, dues contributed just under $74,000. In other words, the group collected enough dues for 7,400 members.
- Can smokers get tickets for lighting up in Burbank bars, or does the citation go to the bar owner? Inquiring minds in city government want to know. City Councilman Ted McConkey on March 17 requested the City Attorney's Office and other departments come up with an interpretation of the law that will tell Burbank officials exactly when, where and how to enforce the state's smoking law.
- "Don't think for a minute this battle is over in the California Legislature this year," says Gary Auxier, senior vice president of the National Smokers' Alliance in Virginia. The alliance, a nonprofit organization established by tobacco giant Philip Morris in 1993, has mounted a public relations campaign to give voice to the concerns of tavern owners. The debate is framed in terms of big government bearing down on small-business owners. Bar owners argue that some cities and counties all but ignore the law while others issue stiff penalties, making the whole thing unfair.
- Congratulations to the state Senate Health and Human Services Committee. A move to overturn the ban on smoking in bars, bingo parlors and casinos has been rejected. That means, of course, that the grumbling, the widespread civil disobedience, the confusion over enforcement, the us-vs.-them intransigence ~ all will continue, and perhaps even escalate, until the ban is either clarified or overturned. In the meantime, we reiterate some points made here earlier, and add one or two new ones, now that we've had the law for three months: * No one in any public, closed evvironment should have to be subjected to a smoker's pollution.
- The laws regulating drinking establishments are tough--and necessarily so. That's why City Councilman Ted McConkey's request for clarification of the state's new no-smoking-in-bars law was such a good idea. . . McConkey should be commended for kick-starting the process of clearing up a dilemma that has plagued owners of drinking establishments for months. It's just too bad the city didn't start doing it Jan. 2.
- Barkeeps in Barstow aren't the only ones keenly interested in California's 100-day-old ban on smoking in pubs and gaming clubs. In yet another indication of California's global reach, state and local officials involved in passing or monitoring the ban, the toughest such measure in the U.S., say they've received inquiries from communities as far-flung as Perth, Australia, and Nottingham, England. . . So far, it appears the law is working. In Los Angeles County, noncompliance complaints have been filed against fewer than 5% of the 8,200 county establishments the law covers.
- Los Angeles County bar employees are reaping the health benefits of cleaner air this holiday weekend as the smoke-free bar law reaches its 100-day anniversary on April 10. . . Recent information reveals that the law is working in L.A. County. Less than 5 percent of the 8,270 establishments impacted by the new smoke-free law have had complaints filed against them with the L.A. County Health Department. "Contrary to a few sensationalized media reports, we have no evidence to indicate that L.A. County bar employees and patrons do not fully support this law," said Fielding.
- In the case of the Dana Point defiant smoker, the defendant wanted the jury to take a stand for personal freedoms and the little guy. But in the end, the jury filtered all that out. "Excuse the pun, but it was a smoke screen," juror Ann Van der Weide said after she and 11 other nonsmokers found Craig Thomas Etling guilty of disrupting a business with his Jan. 17 tirade at a local bar after he was asked to snuff his Marlboro Light.
- It took 12 nonsmoking jurors less than an hour Wednesday to convict an Orange County man of interfering with a business and refusing to put out his cigarette at a Dana Point restaurant and bar. . . Defense attorney Michael B. Stone argued that the restaurant violated his client's freedom of choice. But jurors disagreed. "We talked about it for two minutes ... but they kicked him out for interference, not smoking,"said jury forewoman Rosa Turi, 27, of Laguna Niguel who was a smoker for five years.
- A national group representing bars and other establishments with liquor licenses has canceled its August board meeting in San Diego to protest California's ban on smoking in bars. The National Licensed Beverage Association, whose 75 board members had planned to meet at the Horton Grand Hotel in downtown San Diego this summer, is also urging its more than 16,000 members to avoid the Golden State as a place to hold future meetings or conferences. It is believed to be the first national boycott to protest the smoking ban.
- Creative owners open special lounges to get around law banning lighting up
- Since the nation's first statewide ban on smoking in bars went into effect in California, customers are drinking less and fighting more. That is the conclusion of a new survey by the Washington-based American Beverage Institute, which found that bar business has been off by an average of more than 26 percent since the new law went into effect Jan. 1. At the same time, more than half the bars surveyed reported a decrease in tips and an increase in barroom fisticuffs.
- Hoping to stir up interest in its news conference to "launch a boycott of California," the National Licensed Beverage Association announced in bold letters at the bottom of the fax it sent to news offices: "Cocktails and Beverages Provided." . . In California, the announcement of the boycott had no one trembling in trepidation. The board of the National Licensed Beverage Association is hardly the Republican Party, which brought 40,000 visitors to San Diego for its convention two summers ago, or even the American College of Physicians, which had 15,000 people there at its meeting in April. Sean Walsh, a spokesman for California Gov. Pete Wilson, said: "Tell them to take a ticket and get in line. We've got people boycotting us every day. I hate to tell them, but California is a trend-setter. What happens here spreads across the country.
- :Would you folks please go inside and smoke, so we can get some fresh air?'' John and his buddy ask the four. This vignette is starting to get Seinfeldian. The point is, as bar owner Jim Brandt told me: ``The rebellion is here.''
- A judge Wednesday threw out two of the three counts against a bar owner accused of encouraging patrons to defy the state's restaurant smoking ban, saying the barkeep sincerely tried to enforce a "very confusing law." Jack Tavares, the first bar owner to challenge the 5-month-old law, was found guilty only of smoking a cigarette in the bar himself, for which he was fined $270. He could have been hit with more than $800 in penalties on all three counts,
- Local enforcement of the ban falls on the Ridgecrest Police Department, whose officials are currently working on a more comprehensive enforcement plan. "We are enforcing the law, but looking for some modification to be put in place in the near future," said Sgt. John Skaggs.
- Californians strongly support the state's six-month-old ban on smoking in bars, even as some lawmakers and pro-smoking groups look for ways to undermine the law, a Los Angeles Times Poll found. In a poll of 1,514 adults in California last week, 50% said they strongly favor the bar smoking ban, and an additional 10% somewhat approve of it, compared to 26% who strongly disapprove of it and 9% who somewhat oppose it. Support for the measure, the nation's first statewide law prohibiting smoking in bars, crossed party lines, gender, income levels and age. "This is not a divisive issue," Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus said, noting that almost twice as many people strongly support the bar smoking ban than strongly oppose it. "Most people are in agreement. Even 25% of smokers approve of the ban."
- JOHN JOHNSON, owner of several Orange County bars and taverns, filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Westminster Police Department challenging their enforcement of California's smoking ban in bars, taverns and gaming clubs. The lawsuit, filed by attorney RON DAVIS in Santa Ana Superior Court, claims that Johnson holds an exemption from the ban provided for businesses that employ five or fewer individuals. The action seeks to prohibit the Westminster Police from enforcing the ban at Johnson's establishment, LUCKY JOHN'S TOO. In addition, Ron Davis filed a lawsuit on behalf of Lucky John's Too manager VIKKI SCHULTZ, claiming that she was being denied her constitutional right to control her bodily integrity. According to Davis, the state cannot compel someone to take a substance against their wishes. Davis contends that, in addition, the state may not preclude someone from taking a lawful substance, such as cigarettes, without a compelling state interest.
- John Johnson, cited for allowing patrons to light up despite ban, is dealt temporary setback in his civil rights suit against city of Westminster.
- A California Department of Health Services survey released today confirms, rather than contradicts, what the National Smokers Alliance has been saying for months -- that non-compliance with the ban is high, that a significant number of Californians disapprove of the law, and that smokers are more likely to be bar patrons. "Despite the fact that the Department has released months-old data and despite the fact that only selected data have been made available to the media, the survey tends to support the National Smokers Alliance's call for relief from the ban," said Gary Auxier, senior vice president of the National Smokers Alliance (NSA).
- The vast majority of California's bar patrons say it is important to have a smoke-free environment in bars, according to a survey released Wednesday by the California Department of Health Services. The survey was conducted by Field Research Corp., a leading independent opinion research firm. Of bar patrons surveyed, two-thirds (66 percent) say it is "very important" or "somewhat important" to have smoke-free bars. And 67 percent say that they are concerned about the effects of secondhand smoke on their health.
- Organized labor and anti-smoking groups denounced the attempt, and some Democrats predicted that the effort would fail. However, the latest gambit means the fight over the smoking ban is likely to rage until the Legislature's session ends in August. Sen. WILLIAM "PETE" KNIGHT (R-Palmdale) is carrying one of two bills to overturn the ban. His is sponsored by the tobacco industry-backed NATIONAL SMOKERS ALLIANCE. Senate Republican Leader ROSS JOHNSON of Irvine is carrying another, more simply worded measure.
- California Board of Equalization sales tax data released June 24 for 1,161 of California's smallest bars show a 1.06 percent sales increase (comparing January 1998 to January 1997) and the American Lung Association continues to point to the success of smoke-free bars in California
- Sacramento ‹ An Assembly committee will hold a hearing Monday on a bill that would allow smoking to resume in bars and gambling clubs if no employee objected or if the owner installed a state-OK'd ventilation system.
- The fight over the nation's first statewide bar smoking ban is about to flare up again in the California Legislature.
- Health advocates raised alarm Wednesday over what they called new legislative efforts to try to overturn the much-debated smoking ban in California bars. But the Republican state senators authoring two newly amended bills involving the ban said they are just trying to respond to the concerns of small businesses and constituents penalized by the law.
- State Sen. W.J. "Pete" Knight has reignited the smoldering debate over California's smoking ban by agreeing to carry legislation to allow some bars to exempt themselves from the law. The bill by Knight, R-Palmdale, would let smoking resume in bars, taverns and card clubs if employees consent to working amid cigarette smoke or if bar owners install state-approved ventilation systems.
- Legislation clarifying the right of bar owners to allow smoking in special break rooms for employees has cleared the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee. Proponents conceded today that the bill by Sen. Ross Johnston, R- Irvine, falls well short of extending smoking privileges that were prohibited for patrons in January. But they say it's a small step toward loosening smoking restrictions by giving bar and tavern employees the same option enjoyed by their counterparts in other businesses.
- The Assembly Governmental Organization Committee votes came amid heavy lobbying by tobacco representatives, and a significant showing by bar owners organized by the National Smokers' Alliance, a group largely funded by the tobacco industry. After a series of late afternoon votes, the committee blocked a bill by Sen. William "Pete" Knight (R-Palmdale) that sought to permit smoking in bars and casinos that obtained special smoking licenses, and could meet as yet undetermined standards for ventilation.
- Contrary to the claims of bar owners and the tobacco industry, paying customers overwhelmingly support California's bar- smoking ban, according to a new state survey to be released today. The poll, conducted by the Field Research Corp. for the state Department of Health Services, found that 85 percent of patrons said they will go to bars at least as often, if not more frequently, now that smoking has been outlawed.
- Defying the tobacco industry's woeful predictions, sales figures from 1,161 small drinking establishments actually showed a 1.06 percent increase in January, according to a report released yesterday by the state Board of Equalization. The numbers come with several caveats, but they are nowhere near the double-digit declines that bar owners and the tobacco lobby had forecast.
- Perhaps the most obvious solution would be to add a hardship exemption to the new law. Rather than reverse the smoking restrictions entirely, the new law simply could be amended to allow individual bars or gaming clubs to become exempt. . . No Californian wants to see hard-working bar and restaurant employees tossed out of a job. But most would like to be able to go visit a bar or restaurant without inhaling someone else's tobacco smoke. Hardship exemptions would strike the right balance.
- Health: Managers and some customers want end to state ban but doubt recent ruling on secondhand smoke will provide much ammunition.
- Barley & Hopps, the entertainment palace that was going to lead a revitalization of downtown San Mateo nightlife, has closed, a victim of unfulfilled expectations, insurmountable hurdles and the state's tough anti-smoking law. . . Then, the new anti-smoking law came along, and it took a big enough bite out of B&H's business that Ferer and his partners decided to shut the place down. . . .The game room featured an extensive array of cigars and beers from Barley & Hopps' own on-site microbrewery.
- The American Lung Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties will honor bar employees and the new smoke-free bar law. New York recording artist Leslie Nuchow will perform and talk about her unique story. . . WHEN: Friday, August 28 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. . . WHERE: Upstairs at the Blue . . WHY: . . In California, thanks to its smoke-free workplace law, breathing arsenic, formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and ammonia is no longer a condition of employment for bar and restaurant workers.
- Although the two candidates do not appear headed for a major confrontation on health care questions, they have sparred with one another over their records on tobacco control. LUNGREN has said he would sign a bill repealing the statewide ban on smoking in bars. "I hate smoking. I don't like it in my air, I don't like it in my hair. But I haven't been a prude about it," he said. DAVIS supports the bar smoking ban, as well as Proposition 10, a November ballot initiative that will further raise tobacco taxes. "My wife was a flight attendant for 19 years, inhaling other people's smoke. I'm not about to jeopardize the health and well-being of people who work as bartenders and waitresses," said Davis.
- some Los Angeles area residents are scoffing at how little the city is doing to enforce the law. Businesses that allow smoking are packed, while many of those that push "no smoking" are hurting. "I can take you to five bars around here that are nonsmoking and you can shoot a cannon through them," said 46-year-old Wally Sabourin . . . "I'm not pleased with the ineffective enforcement that's going on," said Chick, chairwoman of the council's public safety committee. "We need to make this law meaningful in our city." City Fire Capt. Mike Little said the department has only six inspectors charged with enforcing the ban, in addition to their numerous other department responsibilities.
- But with each municipality having its own way of implementing the statute -- using local prosecutors, police and fire departments or health officials -- uneven enforcement has resulted in little action against bars. Statewide, there have been hundreds of complaints . . . But they're rarely followed up . . . LAURA CHICK, a Los Angeles City councilwoman and head of a public safety panel, has directed her staffers to come up with a better way of enforcing the law. Between Jan. 1 and the end of June, the sprawling city of Los Angeles received 408 complaints from residents about alleged smoking violations. How may of those ended up in fines? "We have had three citations issued," Chick said. "Three? In a city the size of Los Angeles, that's ludicrous. That says to me no enforcement."
- But not everyone abides by the law, which went into effect in January and prohibits people from smoking in bars and casinos. Without a strict enforcement mechanism in place, smokers are taking advantage of the lenient law. . . Bar owners . . . said they have seen a dramatic loss, estimating business is down by half. Some owners have their own unwritten "rule." For example, one bar owner said he allows customers to smoke after his kitchen is closed. He added that most bars lose their late-night business because of the change.
- The National Smokers Alliance (NSA) today released never-before-seen research commissioned by the California Department of Health Services (DHS) and conducted by the Field Research Corporation. The research documents widespread bar-owner opposition to the state's smoking ban in bars as well as significant levels of non-compliance with the law, which was instituted on January 1, 1998. In February and March 1998, the Field organization conducted two separate statewide research surveys for DHS. The results of the first -- which interviewed bar patrons -- were partially released on June 24, 1998, during the state legislature's consideration of bills to change the law. The second survey -- which interviewed bar owners, managers and employees -- was suppressed by DHS and never released.
- Released Monday, the survey was the second conducted for DHS this year by the Field Research Corp., a leading independent opinion research firm. A similar survey was conducted in February/March. Results show that of bar patrons surveyed, 65% approve of the smoke-free law, up from 59% in February/March. Notable increases in the percentage of patrons who approve of the law were among regular bar patrons -- those who visit bars once a week or more -- (from 46% to 59%) and patrons of stand-alone bars (from 46% to 56%). In addition, more than two-thirds of bar patrons -- 68% -- say it is "very important" or "somewhat important" to have a smoke-free environment inside clubs, bars, lounges and restaurants with bars. Also, 68% say that they are concerned about the effects of secondhand smoke on their health.
- If someone working at a bar
suffers from respiratory problems, or any other irritation from cigarette smoke, he or she should quit and find another job. Sacrificing
the personal freedom of those who choose to partake in a legal activity for the alleged--and highly disputed--benefit of those who
choose not to do so is unacceptable in a free society.
- News of bars not complying with the anti-smoking lawban comes as no surprise to members of the National Smokers Alliance, a nonprofit organization attempting to overturn the ban. Eric Shippers, one of the group's senior vice presidents, said Tuesday his staff inadvertently received a copy of one of two surveys conducted last Spring by the California Department of Health Services. The first survey, Shippers said, supported the health department's anti-smoking position. The second, however, tells a much different story. Analysis of the results Shippers' group received reveal that 61.8% of the owners, managers and employees of bar establishments across the state interviewed by the health department disapprove of the smoking ban.
- Nearly a year after a state ban
on smoking in bars took effect, compliance has grown in Contra Costa and Alameda counties, officials said Tuesday. But a leader of the
pro-smokers' group contended that non-compliance and non-enforcement are the order of the day statewide, though he did not have Bay
Area data. . . Legal battles over the law and defiance of it have erupted in several communities elsewhere and enforcement efforts have
varied.
- LOSER
Smoking Legislator Smoking's most tireless legislative advocate, ASSEMBLYMAN BRETT GRANLUND, failed to persuade the state Department
of Justice that bars and taverns can comply with California's no-smoking law simply by opening their doors and windows.
- Jonathan FIELDING, M.D.,
Los Angeles County director of public health and health officer, is available for interviews regarding California's smoke-free workplace
law and its impact on Los Angeles County residents.
- It isn't just Graves who's incensed. A
year after the law took effect, the county's crackdown seems plagued by uneven enforcement and faltering compliance, frustrating
business owners, patrons and those charged with upholding the ban. A Mercury News examination reveals three intertwined issues:
- ``You don't have to look very far to
find a bar owner, a city official, a bartender or an enforcement official who will tell you that the ban isn't working,'' said TOM HUMBER,
president of the NSA. ``Whether from lack of enforcement, non-compliance or business loss, the ban has resulted in a patchwork of
consequences. We are confident that when the media and legislators see first-hand that the law isn't working, they will agree the purpose
and effectiveness of the ban should be reevaluated.''
- Yet the first year of
California's ban has been a qualified success. While a small, vocal group of bar owners and patrons openly defies the law, most bars
are smoke-free. Statewide estimates of compliance range from 68 percent for stand-alone bars to 90 percent for combination
bar-restaurants. . . But the law doesn't have to put out every cigarette in every bar to be a success. A year ago, it was nearly
impossible for non-smokers to sit in a bar or work in one without breathing cigarette smoke. Today, it's the smokers who have to
hunt for a place to light up. That's progress.
- One year after the controversial no-smoking
law went into effect, some bar owners continue to allow smoking--which allows their businesses to prosper. They can do so because they
receive few complaints from patrons, and local authorities don't have the resources to actively enforce the code.
- Since the law: which banned smoking in bars and casinos:
went into effect Jan. 1, 1998, only one Martinez resident has been fined, police said. And the City Attorney's Office did not receive one
complaint over the smoking ban in 1998, Karen Hansell, a legal assistant, said. Still, county health authorities believe Martinez, like other
California cities, is not circulating enough fresh air inside its pubs, and city bartenders are still grumbling over the law. Faced with possible daily
$1,000 fines, some bartenders are only now: reluctantly: beginning to enforce it.
- The U.S. Junior
Chamber of Commerce (JAYCEES), with a $232,750 grant from BROWN & WILLIAMSON TOBACCO CORPORATION, will launch a unique new
program nationwide designed to combat pre-teen youth smoking. . . JAYS will involve members nationwide working with their local middle
schools. Jaycees will offer 6th grade science and health teachers a five-day interactive program for preventing underage smoking. . . The
program will identify the health risks of smoking; teach students the facts about secondhand smoke; describe ways to deal with peer
pressure to smoke; and teach ways to help students quit smoking if they've already started. [There is nothing about this program at the
JAYCEE's site, or at their 61ST CONGRESS OF TEN OUTSTANDING
YOUNG AMERICANS page.]
- Under a new
directive, teams of police officers and health inspectors will make surprise visits to drinking establishments with orders to issue tickets to
owners, employees and customers who are in violation of the state ban. The cost to patrons of a first-time offense: $76. The first step may
be convincing bar owners and customers that the crackdown is serious.
- Since the ban became law a year ago, enforcement around the state
has been haphazard. Some municipalities contend they lack the staff to enforce it and others claim it is the duty of health or human
services agencies. Not in San Diego. Here, a special vice squad of detectives in blue jeans and leather jackets blends in with bar patrons
and lies in wait for violators. In nearby National City, the assistant city attorney said police have other priorities. . . Police ``have other
things that are more pressing than dealing with enforcement of the smoking law,'' said Rudolf Hradecky, assistant city attorney for
National City.
- Police Chief Fred
Lau this week sent a letter to all 2,400 bars and restaurants in San Francisco, declaring that police will soon begin busting bar patrons
who defy the law by lighting up anyway. . . "Visits will be unannounced and will focus on bars or taverns where there have been
complaints about patrons smoking," Lau wrote. "We recommend that you inform your patrons who are smoking at your business that
they will be subject to penalty."
- The Sheriff's Department will soon unleash 45 deputies from its community policing unit to crack down
on smoking in bars in the cities and unincorporated areas it patrols. . . Klippert announced the plan for increased enforcement yesterday at
a news conference attended by representatives of the American Lung Association, the San Diego Police Department and the county Health
and Human Services Agency, all of which seek stricter enforcement of the ban on smoking in bars and taverns.
- But each takes note of David Babin, who is playing pool. He has a lit cigarette dangling from his lips. And
suddenly, those five men and two women are breaking cover. They round up violators and write tickets. For smoking. Welcome to a San
Diego police vice unit smoking sting.
- For 15 years, she had worked as a singer and pianist in smoky bars. Often
sitting up front and center, she was in direct contact with lots of smokers. "I felt like I couldn't breathe," she said. "I would wake up at 8 a.m.
and cough straight until noon. That scared me." . . Claudette Mannix, general manager at Buffalo Joe's bar and restaurant downtown, said it
did not hurt business last year. The employees think it's great because they don't go home smelling like cigarettes, she said. "Truthfully, I don't
know what we did before with it being so crowded with people smoking. We are just as crowded as we were before. People go out front to the
designated areas."
- Change the elitist law. I'll grant you this after a year of puffing dangerously: The anti-smoking law has succeeded in demonstrating
the benefits of crystalline air in bars that cater to tourists and younger crowds. . .Simply stated, a bar would become a licensed "smoking
optional" establishment if it purchased or leased top-quality air-cleaning machinery that vented the smoke outside. The permit could be
regulated by Alcoholic Beverage Control.
- Very distraught, wild-eyed
crazies have captured the power structure in San Francisco! The city is collapsing around you in moral decay, while these blithering idiots
want to use police resources to round up smokers in bars!
- AT ISSUE: California's year-old no-smoking law affecting bars is being loosely enforced, if at all, in many Westside saloons, as reported Jan.
24 in the Westside Weekly. Here's what readers had to say about how the ban is working:
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