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Smoking Ban Not All Bad, Bar Owner Says 

Jeff Wagner Wants More Nonsmoking Customers
Jump to full article: KCCI- Channel 8 (Des Moines, IA), 2009-06-27

Intro:

A year after Iowa's statewide smoking ban took effect, one bar owner who worried the ban would sink his business has changed his tune.

Last year, Blues on Grand's Jeff Wagner marked the final hours of smoking by handing out free smokes. His bar had waitresses dressed as communists, offering a tongue-in-cheek resistance to the government intervention.

"I have to go into this optimistic," Wagner said at the time. "I love this place."

He said he was worried that the smoking ban would essentially ban smokers. He said that after a year, it hasn't happened.

"The number of people coming in here is the same," he said. "There are obvious positive changes. It smells better in here. I don't have to clean my smoke eaters as often."

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