Posted on 12/28/2002 9:27:46 AM PST by Gabz
Month later, health officials pleased with Delaware smoking ban
By Drew Volturo, Staff writer
DOVER - The much-anticipated statewide smoking ban passed a milestone Friday, reaching its one-month anniversary.
The amendments to the Clean Indoor Air Act, passed in May and effective Nov. 27, bans smoking in nearly all indoor public places, such as restaurants, bowling alleys, bars, taverns and casinos.
The ban has been the center of attention for much of the year, as advocates and opponents lined up on either side of the issue while it was debated in the General Assembly.
With the signature of Gov. Ruth Ann Minner at the end of May, the ban became reality and gave business owners 180 days to comply with the new law.
It also gave the state 180 days to figure out exactly how it was going to enforce the new legislation.
It was decided that the responsibility of enforcement would fall on the shoulders of 18 environmental-health specialists in Health Systems Protection, an agency under the Division of Public Health in Delaware's Department of Health and Social Services.
The state set up a toll-free phone number for Delawareans to call to report any violations.
HSP Chief Kevin E. Charles said the first month has been "a great success."
"It has been a good investment," he said. "We have made improvements in protocol and enforcement, making them more efficient."
As of 4 p.m. Friday, the state had received 193 complaints against approximately 100 businesses, which are divided almost evenly between upstate and Downstate.
Mr. Charles said the success of the smoking ban could be measured in its compliance rate.
"There are more than 5,000 facilities in the state," he said. "Having greater than a 99 percent compliance rate is fantastic."
Two fines were issued earlier this month to The Coach House Restaurant in Claymont.
The ban completed its first month with a small bang, as four $100 fines for violations were issued Thursday, including the first Downstate locations, Stinger's Pub and Package Store and The Starting Gate, both in Georgetown.
Six fines issued from 193 complaints might not seem like a high percentage, but Mr. Charles said there are several factors involved in issuing a fine.
"We must come up with enough evidence that would hold up in an administrative hearing," he said. "We are proceeding with the ones we feel are solid, winnable cases."
Mr. Charles said there have been several complaints that couldn't be substantiated.
A series of calls were lodged against a business that was closed, he said.
Anonymous complaints, he said, are difficult to prove because there is no point of contact, and often the information provided is incomplete.
Despite the glowing review, Mr. Charles said there is a potential downside to the smoking ban.
"The ban has had a definite impact on our workload," he said of the agency. "Our staff has been super-busy.
"It will be difficult to maintain this pace of investigations as the busy season - spring and summer - heats up."
During those months, he said, the inspectors will be busy checking food services, recreational camps, public swimming pools and migrant worker camps.
However, the number of complaints received has decreased each of the past two weeks, from 62 during Dec. 4-10 to 54 complaints from Dec. 11-17 to 18 between Dec. 18-24.
"I hope by (the summer) most facilities will have figured out how to deal with the law," Mr. Charles said.
At the Touchdown Restaurant on U.S. 13 in Dover, customers have complied, but the clientele has changed, General Manager Ralph Figueroa Jr. said Friday.
"Our happy hours are way off," he said, "and our late-night crowd is not coming out.
"But our dinners are a little bit up. We're about level."
Mr. Figueroa said he doesn't want to lose any customers through this process and is a little concerned.
"Reservations for New Year's Eve are way down," he said. "Normally, we'd be full by now, but we only have two reservations.
"We have had a couple of walkouts on tabs, too. People get up to go smoke and keep walking to their car."
He said he is not making any financial investments in accommodating smokers until it is clear if any revisions will be made to the ban.
DPH is holding a public hearing on proposed revisions to the ban Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. at Delaware Technical & Community College in Dover.
Drew Volturo can be reached at 741-8296 or dvolturo@newszap.com.
SMOKING BAN 'SUCCESS'
And it was the headline writer that put the marks around the word success, not me!!!!!!
This is my regular hangout and they are enforcing the ban and the customers are complying. We have to - Ralph has been so vocal in his opposition to the ban that he would probably be targetted for non-compliance. And none of us want to hurt him any more than he has already been hurt by this assinine law.
Of course they're busy. They just made a crime out of behavior that has been accepted till well before this country was founded.
And as to maintaining their pace of investigations, would it come as any surprize to any one that they'll need a budget increase, shortly.
I know all the people in that picture - they are all smokers and hate this ban. But are loyal customers to a gentleman who has been fighting this thing tooth and nail.
My husband happened to stop by there yesterday, shortly after the reporter and photographer left, that's how I am able to say the picture is deceiving, there was only one person sitting on the other side of the bar.
The print edition of the paper had one other picture on the front page, it was of the one person on the other side of the bar outside smoking a cigarette.
Exactly. But what really bothers me, and should bother everyone else, is the next paragraph:
During those months, he said, the inspectors will be busy checking food services...........
When the ban first went into effect this same turkey was quoted in the paper as saying enforcement of the smoking ban would be the priority of the enforcement agents.
I for one will not eat in a restaurant in Delaware until priorities are changed.
It's very easy to determine the smoking policy of an establishment when one walks in the door - but conditions in the kitchen are hidden from public view. Maintaining sanitary conditions should be the number one priority of health inspectors.
And as to maintaining their pace of investigations, would it come as any surprize to any one that they'll need a budget increase, shortly.
HaHa - we're facing a $95 million shortfall in the current fiscal year and a projected $130 million for next year - there is already a hiring freeze and the governor is already calling for a cigarette tax increase to help make ends meet.
No surprise at all.... another bureaucracy is born. Another government mini-kingdom...another empire to be built....another place for public skool D-students to make a useless career.
The State has a budget shortfall?? IRRELEVANT!!
This evil behavior must be terminated at once!
Gosh! Why aren't they using the Tobacco Settlement money to balance their budget like the REST of the states!
I agree with you. I think when it comes to expanding the enforcement section of the Health Department the state hiring freeze will be ignored.
And of course that will be justification for an increase in cigarette taxes.
Month after Nuremburg laws, Hitler pleased with regulation of Jews.
Delaware is one of the few states where that can NOT happen. Following the signing of the MSA legislation was passed that precludes the use of the settlement money for anything but "health" related issues.
That actually looks like the road I travel every day!!!!
GOOD one, KS! Here's another that your familiar with:
Same for the parking nazis and IRS workers.
Here in Illinois the state has borrowed to the max against future Tobacco Settlement payouts and still can't balance its bloated budget.
We just stopped going out to eat, basically, until we found ONE SINGLE RESTAURANT in Montpelier, the capital city, where we can smoke at our table, with or without food. (So long as a business shows more receipts in alcohol sales than in food sales they are 'allowed' to have a smoking section.)
Praise the Lord for this last hold-out against the State! We always leave a hefty tip and try to thank the owner personally every time we visit. The owner is actually an ex-smoker, and hates the smell of cigarette smoke, but refuses to kowtow to the anti-smoking nazis in this. For him it is not an issue of liking cigarettes or having sympathy for smokers, but rather a deep resentment of a totalitarian system of government. If only more restaurant owners felt as this man does, we could have had an across-the-board refusal of compliance to these anti-American and unconstitutional regulations. There are far too many in modern day America who are unwilling to buck the establishment. I wonder where they draw their line? I wonder if I will see the revolution - the final straw placed on the camel's back, and the camel's refusal to carry it - in my lifetime?
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