Posted on 08/17/2003 11:04:26 PM PDT by Ronin
EDMONTON - A "sober bar" that caters to recovering alcoholics was told Thursday to get a liquor licence and start serving alcohol if it wants to let customers smoke.
A city bylaw inspector's warning creates a painful Catch-22 for the owners of north-side Keep it Simple club. If they stay dry and ban smoking, they say they'll lose 90 per cent of their business.
If they start selling liquor, they'll be tempting many patrons to return to addiction.
"The city is forcing us to promote alcohol as the only way we can keep smoking," co-owner Tom Charbonneau said. "Other restaurants and bars have that option, but we don't."
Charbonneau and Lawrence Lathe opened Keep It Simple two years ago to give recovering alcoholics, gambling or drug addicts a bar-like atmosphere without the booze they have to shun. They also hold meetings for Alcoholics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous and other 12-step programs in a back room.
Most former addicts smoke; it gives them at least one vice, Charbonneau said.
A bylaw inspector visited the club Thursday, for the first time since the July 1 start of Edmonton's anti-smoking bylaw, which only allows smoking in bars with a minors-prohibited liquor licence.
She let Charbonneau and fellow co-owner Lawrence Lathe off with a warning, but they'd need to get a licence to continue to allow smoking.
However, the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission refused to issue them a licence Thursday, because they weren't planning to actually sell liquor.
"They weren't looking for a liquor licence, they were looking for a smoking licence," said Alberta Gaming spokeswoman Marilyn Carlyle-Helms.
Charbonneau said he plans to ask the city if there is a way to get around the bylaw, without having to bring in alcohol.
"If they say I have to serve a 12-pack, I will buy a 12-pack of beer, sell it for $5 a can, call all the media, stand in front of our sober club and pour it all out on the ground, just to show them how ridiculous it is," Charbonneau said.
A city official said the rules are clear on the bylaw, and the owners knew about the restrictions well in advance.
"This is a decision that has affected a number of other establishments in the city," said Mark Garrett, manager of the city's development compliance branch.
Charbonneau had erroneously thought the nightclub would be exempt because it was a members-only facility. His adjacent Keep It Simple coffee shop went non-smoking on July 1 and has suffered a 30-per-cent drop in business, he said.
The bar has 300 members and Charbonneau said it serves juice, pop and food to 200 people a night.
Bar regular Les Labine sat at a table Thursday, smoking with a friend visiting from Ontario. He's avoided drinking for four months, and would come back less often if the club served alcohol.
"It's part of the recovery process to avoid a bar," he said.
And a smoking ban would also turn Labine away. He's not sure where he'd go, he said.
Charbonneau fears many avid smokers would start visiting the very liquor bars where their addictions began. Keep It Simple has been their refuge.
"This has been a mainstay in the recovery community."
jmarkusoff@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright 2003 Edmonton Journal
Yes, this is Canada, but I can easily imagine this kind of insanity coming to America in the near future.
However, the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission refused to issue them a licence Thursday, because they weren't planning to actually sell liquor. "They weren't looking for a liquor licence, they were looking for a smoking licence," said Alberta Gaming spokeswoman Marilyn Carlyle-Helms.
Isn't this just soo typical of the leftist do-gooders? The fact that they are dealing with a group of people who are engaged in a bitter and continious struggle against an insidious, debilitating addiction means nothing to them.
Yes, I know, smoking is an addiction too. But it causes a heck of a lot less damage than alcholism does.
Bingo. Problem solved.
Bingo. Problem solved.
Sorry, wrong move.
No need to go the the Alberta Provincial Authority for a liquor license, they don't sell liquor.
It's the City that requires liqour to be sold in order for smoking to be allowed.
A simple amendment or exception to the city's code would allow smoking in this establishment.
If you want to bash someone, go after the city council.
They are the true idiots in this situation.
There's no harm in that. The problem is that somebody doesn't have the right box checked on some permit form. There is no form for a non-drinking bar, so a non-drinking bar cannot be allowed to exist. All establishments must be formed to conform to the form.
Maybe if they introduced nude dancing girls and hookers, that would make the city officials happy...
George Orwell could have a field day with this one.
New phenomenon: the quagmire of unintended consequences.
The canucks have definitely gone off the deep end.
Control Freaks 'R Us got it covered:
However, the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission refused to issue them a licence Thursday, because they weren't planning to actually sell liquor.
This goes beyond Orwellian.
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