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More newspaper articles that blow smoke in anti-tobacco's positive predictions
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| Jayx1 |
Smoking ban a cancer on business, bar owners say
More than 100 people rally outside a Montville bar to fight the law.
By JAMES WALKER
MONTVILLE -- For 45 years, John and Alice Longo laughed and joked with their regular customers while they wiped down the bar and took lunch orders during the afternoon at A and J's Cafe on Route 32.
But when they were forced to remove the ashtrays from the tables and bar, suddenly the laughter quieted.
"Around the corner is the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) and you can smoke there," John Longo said. "Our afternoon business is gone. We've lost quite a bit."
Bar owners throughout the region prepared Wednesday for a winner-takes-all battle with state legislators for the right to allow smoking in their establishments.
More than 100 bar and restaurant owners and supporters gathered on the patio at the Brown Derby Lounge, where many lit up cigarettes and cheered while Derby owner Douglas Adams demanded "equal protection under the law."
"We're going to fight it," Adams said. "I bought this business with good intentions and because it fit my personality. If I wanted a place where I couldn't smoke, I would have bought a movie theater. Either everybody goes non-smoking or everybody smokes."
The 14th Amendment that guarantees "equal protection under the law" falls under Section 20 in Connecticut's state constitution.
Gov. John G. Rowland signed a bill into law last year in May that snuffed out cigarette smoking in bars and restaurants. The ban in restaurants took effect in October and in bars in April. The ban does not affect private clubs or the American Indian tribe-owned casinos.
Bar owners claim they are losing as much as 60 percent of their business as smokers flock to establishments where they can light up. The owners are ready to fight back against a law they find ambiguous and tied up with legal mumbo jumbo that involves work-related health issues and liquor permits.
"We can't stand here and complain," said Diane Batte, owner of the Nowhere Cafe in New London. "We have to take action and do something."
Bar owners from as far away as West Haven handed over hundreds of dollars in cash and wrote checks for as much as a $1,000 toward the $10,000 needed to retain the services of Jan Trendowski of Trendowski Law Offices in Centerbrook.
Trendowski said it is a complex situation but winning the case would not set a precedent.
"It has been challenged in other states and successfully," he said, citing West Virginia as one of the states.
Lora Wilson, owner of Mugsy's Cafe in Oakdale, said she is losing $150 a day and is cutting back on shifts because she can't afford to pay her staff of four.
"I don't have people that are complaining (about smoking)," she said.
Diane Fuller, owner of The Rain Desert in Danielson, said things are tough enough for small businesses.
"To put this on us is senseless," she said.
Earl Roberts, whose brother owns Hotel Central in Central Village, said the ban which has resulted in fines and arrests of good people is blatant extortion.
"That kind of discrimination I do not like it and I will not live with it," he said. |
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| Jayx1 |
Banned in Connecticut!
by Brita Brundage - March 18, 2004
It's not exactly a celebration for smokers, since they'll be confined to the great outdoors beginning April 1, but it's definitely a night to thumb one's nose at the law. March 31 is the last evening smokers can indulge their toxic (but legal!) habit while simultaneously sipping drinks in a bar's warm interior throughout the state of Connecticut. At Boston Billiards in Fairfield and Danbury they're going all out for the special night with cigar and scotch tastings and a free buffet with smoked foods and candy cigarettes passed by old-fashioned cigarette girls. The hard-core smoking elite can reserve spots at the private cigar and cordial-tasting reception. Kurt Mathias, Boston Billiards' director of operations, talks about the smoking ban impact.
Fairfield Weekly: How many patrons actually smoke?
Kurt Mathias: It's over 50 percent of the people who come into our club. Pool is like golf. People who golf, the guys, smoke cigars. When they shoot pool they smoke cigars.
FW: Are you a smoker?
KM: I am a non-smoker, but I believe people should be allowed to smoke in bars. I'm not sure the government should decide that a private business has to be non-smoking.
FW: Do you foresee problems with people gathering outside?
KM: We've had to go non-smoking in Boston and that was a huge problem. People come in and out, they want to take their drinks outside, we can't let them. What happens if they leave their drinks at their table? A busboy or server comes by and thinks that they're finished and takes them away. People say you took my drink and you have to get them new drinks. At our Boston club we could have as many as 25 people standing outside our front door smoking cigarettes.
FW: How did the May 5 smoking ban affect business in Boston?
KM: We saw a huge drop in business. The smoking ban in Boston has probably cost us $300,000 a year in sales. |
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| Jayx1 |
Smoking ban thins business in border bars
By Sara Leitch
Associated Press
KITTERY, Maine - On a frigid weeknight, smokers huddled outside the Corner Pub despite the temperature plummeting to zero, two weeks after a new state law made all Maine bars smoke-free.
Bartender Heather Morin, herself a smoker, said she actually likes breathing cleaner air at work since the law went into effect. But, she said, the ban is driving away her customers who smoke.
"It’s been dead," Morin said. "Business has gone way down."
January is always slow for bars in Maine, owners and managers said last week. But business is down even more than usual at some bars near Maine’s borders, a half-dozen managers reported, and they blame the state’s new smoking ban more than the subzero weather that has gripped the state.
They say many longtime customers are traveling from Maine to bars in New Hampshire or Canada, where they can still have a cigarette.
"Six months from now I’ll be lucky if I’m in business," Corner Pub manager Centula Abrams said.
Dr. Dora Mills, director of the Maine Bureau of Health, said the cold weather has hurt sales across the board, not just in bars, and she believes the law will draw new customers - nonsmokers who eschewed smoky bars in the past.
She heard the same arguments when Maine’s smoking ban took effect in restaurants in 1999. If anything, the ban helped business, she said.
"I think they’re going to find that people in New Hampshire are going to drive to Maine," she said. "In other states and cities there’s not been a sustained drop in business."
Two bars in Kittery, on the New Hampshire border, are doing light business this January, while those in Portsmouth, N.H., just across the state line, are seeing more Maine customers than usual.
"There are a few people that I haven’t seen in a while coming across the bridge" from Maine, said Jason Stiles, manager of the Daniel Street Tavern in Portsmouth. "I would assume probably during the summertime there will be a big difference."
On Jan. 1, Maine became the fifth state to ban smoking in virtually all public places, including bars. Individual violators face fines of $100 per offense, and bar owners face fines of $100 for each day they are not in compliance.
Running afoul of the smoking ban also violates state liquor law, and bar owners who fail to stop indoor smoking could see their liquor licenses revoked.
At least one Maine bar has closed because of the ban.
Paul Beaulieu owned Jackie’s Bar in Madawaska for 19 years and shut his doors in October before the smoking ban went into effect. He will reopen later this month as a discount store, Dollar Deals and More.
"I knew this was coming into effect, and I didn’t bother staying around. I knew this was going to hurt me," Beaulieu said. "Everyone in Canada has poker machines and they’re allowed to smoke, so we knew that our customers would just go across to Canada."
Some bar owners are investing in windbreaks and other ways to let customers smoke in relative comfort.
At the Navy Yards Bar and Billiards in Kittery, smokers can stand inside a small plywood and plastic shelter, just outside the bar’s front door. During last week’s cold snap, some customers left their cars or trucks running outside so they could sneak out to smoke in the warmth of their vehicles.
"We won’t pollute the bars, but we will pollute the environment," said Jules Caouette, of Lyman.
The six regulars sitting at the bar were uniformly opposed to the smoking ban.
"You can’t legislate morality, they proved that with Prohibition," said John Nickerson. "It’s the small business owners that are suffering."
Former state Rep. John Michael agreed. He is advising bar owners to consider filing a class-action lawsuit to stop the state from enforcing the smoking ban.
"It’s a typical active Legislature bullying one group of people, in this case smokers, with absolute disregard for how difficult it is to keep a business running," said Michael.
Bars on Maine’s borders are not the only ones that say they’re seeing a dip in sales. Steve Harris, who owns two bars in Portland, said nighttime business is down 10 to 15 percent this month. He said some of his customers have simply opted to join private clubs, like the Elks.
"It’s hard to deal with when the clubs are still allowing smoking and every other service that we offer," he said. "It’s a really dumb law that’s hurting everybody."
Not all Maine customers and owners are opposed to a ban on smoking in bars, though.
Peter Grace, a nonsmoker from South Berwick, said he was glad to see the state take steps to protect people from secondhand smoke.
"Why should people that don’t smoke be inconvenienced by somebody’s habit that affects their health?" he said. "I think they made the right decision for the best interest of the people."
And one bar owner, also a nonsmoker, sees a silver lining in the smoking ban: no more cigarette burns in his carpets and no dirty ashtrays.
"I’m so glad it’s over with," said Bob Bouchard, who has two bars in northern Maine near the Canadian border. "Yesterday I compared my books and it was the same as last year in the first two weeks, if not a little bit better." |
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| Jayx1 |
| I love how the health dept and anti smoking activist always have some magical excuse for why the sales drop. Meanwhile dont you think its the proprietors themselves who would know best? After all its their paycheque and sales not the health dept's |
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| MarkT |
bah...the ban is here...deal with it.
$300,000 lost in sales per year...hahaha...I call BULL :rolleyes: |
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| TECHno addict |
| Ok, so you cant smoke inside anymore. WHO THE CARES. You leave the building without sore lungs, and your clothes smell fresh. |
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| Fir3start3r |
Isolated cases and they all appear American.
I'll state it again; there simply hasn't been enough time to even try to justify whether the ban is good or bad.
Sure some businesses won't like it, just like when seatbelts first came into existance, not everyone liked it but it's for the greater good.
And why bring up newpaper articles anyways as support anyways?
We're talking about a medium that gave us, "Flying Tires of Death on our Highways". Do we remember those headlines? So how come they don't write about those any more? The way those articles were written, we shouldn't be driving on the highways at all! :rolleyes:
My point is, using the sensationalistic newpapers as suppport for an arguement might not be the best route.
They tend to write articles to sell their warez and of course cater to the controversy of the day... |
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| St_Andrew |
| i think in ireland the total customers at bars and pubs and clubs had gone up quite a bit since they started the ban. and that is even though like 30% of irelands population smokes :) |
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| The Highroller |
at first i was extremely pissed about this bylaw, but after going to system last night, i LOVE IT!!
it's good because
1. your skin doesn't turn to the next day
2. you don't have that feeling of "yuck" the next day
3. your throat/eyes don't hurt when you come out
4. you can easily go outside for a smoke where lots of other people are chilling having one. you can socialize and catch a breath of fresh air.
i'm a smoker and i love this new law!! |
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| Rodrico |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fir3start3r
Isolated cases and they all appear American.
I'll state it again; there simply hasn't been enough time to even try to justify whether the ban is good or bad.
Sure some businesses won't like it, just like when seatbelts first came into existance, not everyone liked it but it's for the greater good.
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Bah, I smell Benthamite(sp?) utilitarianism at work here! |
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| j_spot |
why do you think buisness takes precedance over health concerns?
You can find money in other ways, you cant entirely undo the damage done by 2nd hand smoke. |
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| LoCa |
| quote: | Originally posted by St_Andrew
i think in ireland the total customers at bars and pubs and clubs had gone up quite a bit since they started the ban. and that is even though like 30% of irelands population smokes :) |
Uhm... i live in Ireland. That would be a negative to your statement :) |
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