Jump to full article: Montgomery (AL) Advertiser, 2009-11-10
Author: Marty Roney
Intro: Restaurant owners and residents addressed the Prattville City Council on Monday night concerning a proposed change to the city's smoking ordinance.
Councilmen Dean Argo and Tom Miller are backing the proposal, which would ban customers and employees younger than 19 from restaurants that allow smoking.
Jose Perez, owner of Jose's Cantina, told that council that the proposed change would hurt his business.
Perez operates the only restaurant in town that allows both smoking and non-smoking. By city code, the two areas must be separated by a physical barrier, and each side must be served by its own air-conditioning unit.
"About 40 percent of my business comes from that side," Perez said of the smoking side of his restaurant. "The economy is slow. If you do this, that business will go to Millbrook, and Prattville won't get the revenue."
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