Posted on 12/01/2015 7:56:20 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Sandbar Lounge, a downtown Casper institution, will close for good Saturday, and its owner says the city's recently imposed smoking ban is to blame.
“The smoking ban destroyed the bar, as I foretold it would,†Nancy Goddard wrote Monday in a post on the Sandbar's Facebook page. “I have cried a million tears and will probably cry a million more again. I apologize. I tried and failed. God bless.â€
Casper residents voted Nov. 3 to reinstate a 2012 smoking ban on bars. More than 6,000 voters cast ballots, with 54 percent voting in favor of the ban.
Ban supporters, such as the American Cancer Society, said public health would benefit from cigarettes being outlawed at city bars. Opponents argued the issue was a matter of small business rights and said Casper bars would lose business to establishment outside the city, where smoking is allowed.
Rich Roberts sat at a table with five friends, discussing Sandbar’s fate over burgers and fries. The friends have been meeting for lunch every Monday at the Sandbar for years. Only one of them is a smoker, but they all were sad the bar was closing.
“People didn’t realize what was going to happen (as a result of the smoking ban),†said Roberts.
Bill Reed, who’d stopped in for lunch and has been a patron at the Sandbar for decades said he was angry about how the debate was framed.
“It’s more of a freedoms issue,†he said. “It has to do with your individual rights as the owner of an establishment.â€
Casper Mayor Charlie Powell said he was sorry to hear that Sandbar would close but noted the decision was ultimately made by the voters.
“I think the goal of the City Council was to put the debate before the electorate, and I have to assume that people who cast their votes for the ban knew that there would be hardship for some of the businesses that happen to rely on a smoking clientele," he said.
Saturday will be the last day of business at Sandbar, according to the Facebook post. Goddard was not at the bar when a reporter visited Monday, and she did not respond to a message left with a bartender.
“It’s just sad. Because of [the ban], there’s a granddaughter, daughter, sister that are gonna lose out,†Reed said, referring to family members who would have inherited the bar when Goddard retired.
Other Casper bars say business has declined since the ban went into effect.
It’s only been a few weeks, but Kristi Rainbolt said she had already seen a significant drop in income at TJ’s Bar and Grill. Rainbolt manages at TJ’s, one of the five bars that allowed smoking before the ordinance changed. It’s just like the drop in business in 2012, she said.
Rainbolt just hopes that she can survive the downturn. Small bars can’t afford to lose a portion of their clientele, she said.
“I feel bad for [Goddard]; it’s hard on her to close,†Rainbolt said. “I really hope we (at TJ’s) don’t have that happen.â€
Matt Galloway voluntarily went nonsmoking in his bar and bowling alley before the ban. His income took a dive in the short term, but revenue came back up eventually, he said.
While that may be true for many bars, some businesses aren’t able to weather the storm, Rainbolt said.
“Some of us can’t make it through that dip. We have to have [business] continually coming in to keep the lights on and the doors open,†she said.
Nanny State PING!
May they enjoy the loss of tax dollars from the lack of taxable revenue.
I bet if you were to ask the 54% of the people who voted for the ban if they thought businesses would have to close down because of the vote, close to 1/3rd would claim that they didn't think it would have any economic impact at all.
Welcome to a society full of adults without any common sense whatsoever.
He should have tried to hold on a little longer. The jugheads will be legalizing and taxing “the hell” out of recreational medical marijuana and people will be able to smoke in his bar again.
If you don’t want to patronize bars that allow smoking don’t patronize bars that allow smoking.
Perhaps it’s time for a smoke-in?
Exactly. Some places passed the ban on smoking in bars because “of health risks to the employees”. There’s health risks in a lot of occupations, but no one is forced to work there.
“Perhaps it’s time for a smoke-in?”
—
I’ll come-—and bring the coffee.
.
Yep we lack common sense and the ability to think things through; the ability to think about consequences of these decisions.
Ummmm. I’m a non-smoker...
Are you pro freedom or not?
You can stand outside and peek in. :-)
.
Very much pro freedom, to the degree that while interviewing in Texas some years back I had a nice talk with a lady (are all Southern women ladies? It sure seemed like it on that trip!) who was smoking at the table next to me.
I pointed out that in California what she was doing would be illegal, and that as a non-smoker I didn’t particularly like tobacco smoke, but that, that, smelled like freedom!
I finished with a caution to not let them pass similar laws there.
I could, I could even come in and join you, But Wyoming is too far for an issue that doesn’t dominate my life.
That doesn’t stop me from suggesting a peaceful way to start the process of breaking the nanny-state’s back.
Look at the changes a few melanin enhanced kids started just by sitting at the counter of a diner!
I was in Helena, MT many years ago just after they’d passed a similar no smoking law. I walked into an old downtown bar, and everyone there was smoking. I asked the bartender about that, and he said that the mayor and city council were welcome to come in, but they hadn’t ever before, and he didn’t expect they ever would. It turned out that the police chief said he would rather solve crimes than go around finding people sneaking a smoke.
I am sorry to hear that the communists have made that much headway in Wyoming.
That would make sense as he did it voluntarily before the ban. Just think of all the folks that would like to go to a place without a bunch of smoke in their faces all night. Probably enough for a few other places to call themselves smoke free and bring in some new customers.
As it is now with the state/city getting involved, everyone loses.
Casper is miserable to get around, never mind having a few drinks and try to navigate that mess! I’m sorry to say..if your bar closes, find a new state and begin a new business. It’s beautiful there, but it’s too cold, and too windy on top of everything else.
You can do better business elsewhere, I promise!! I have family there, and have enjoyed my visits there, but then, I visited in the country. It was a horrible chore trying to get through town, and the accidents I’ve seen there were unbelievable! I mean, cars turning out of an intersection hitting head on to parked cars waiting for the lights to turn! I watched the cars who hit the other cars, KEEP ACCELERATING and push the cars they hit, down the block as though they were totally unaware that anything at all even happened!
I’ve seen motorcyclists totally run down and run over like they were never even there! I’ve seen cars run 50 in the town stated 30mph, and slam into cars back ends, and keep on going!
But the nuts in charge of the asylum are worried that somebody might smoke a cigarette???? Holy Cow!
It’s beautiful country chalk full of loonie toons.
I’m skeptical that it was necessarily the smoking ban. Is every other bar in town closing too? Cigarettes have been banned in here for about 20 years now and plenty are still in business. Bars close all the time for reasons other than smoking bans. Maybe they should have called Bar Rescue.
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