Locals react to pending smoking ban
Jump to full article: Mountain Xpress, 2009-06-03
Author: David Forbes
Intro: d Forbes in Vol. 15 / Iss. 45 on 06/03/2009
In January, something once considered unthinkable will come to pass. Across North Carolina--once the heartland of tobacco--smoking will be banned in bars and restaurants.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em (for now): Hookah Joe's owner Joseph McHugh and bartender Cara Diggins enjoy a puff. Hookahs fall under the new state smoking ban, which will take effect Jan. 2, 2010.
Smokers will have to go outside to indulge, and hookah bars will close down. The only exceptions the law allows are for cigar bars and private, nonprofit clubs.
"This is a bad idea," declares a man who identifies himself only as "Steve," finishing off a cigarette on the lower floor of Broadway's (smoking allowed inside). "Private enterprise allows a bar owner to choose whether or not to allow it in their establishment. That's the way it should be. It's a scary precedent for government to try to control people's choices."
But right beside him, "Raymond" (who's also an occasional smoker) couldn't disagree more.
"No, I think the ban's necessary,"
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