Nightclub owner ready to rally against ban (Greeley, CO Smoking Ban potential re-vote coming!)

The Greeley Tribune ^ | 6/14/04 | Jesse Fanciulli

[NorCoGOP]

A Texas man who owns the Cactus Canyon nightclub in Greeley is hoping voters might rethink a smoking ban that is sucking away his business.

Cactus Canyon owner Keith Lawyer is preparing for a petition drive to change Greeley's smoking ban.

Lawyer still needs to work out some of the details, but he said the general idea is to ask voters to permit smoking in places that don't allow minors, such as nightclubs and bars.

But getting that kind of question on the November ballot will take some quick work: City Clerk Betsy Holder said Lawyer will need to gather 1,428 signatures of Greeley voters within a few weeks.

The deadline is so tight because Holder is legally bound to perform a number of tasks and meet several deadlines before the smoking question is eligible for ballot certification in September, she said.

Lawyer did not speculate on when he expects to start collecting signatures but the controversial nature of Greeley's smoking ban almost guarantees he will make some instant friends as well as enemies.

Several owners of Greeley bars and restaurants that used to be smokers' hangouts say their customer traffic slowed significantly after the ban went into effect last December.

Those claims appear to be backed by internal finance department surveys, which show that sales at several businesses that used to cater to smokers has declined compared to last year, when smoking was still legal.

At least two of those formerly smoky businesses -- The Beetle Beanery and the Union Colony Brewery -- are closing down.

Lawyer is unsure whether the bar owners who are still in business will join his fight because they may already be battle-worn. Business owners have had no success in convincing the city council to alter the smoking ordinance or grant them exceptions.

"I may be the Lone Ranger on this," Lawyer said.

The proposed ballot question is one of two ways that Lawyer is fighting back. He also filed a lawsuit challenging the smoking ban in federal court. The case is still active but is moving sluggishly.

Greeley antismoking activist Frank Fronek, who helped pass the smoking ordinance, said he doubts that voters will agree to change the law they passed by a sizable majority.

"Fifty-nine percent of voters passed it," Fronek said. "And I don't know how they are going to get that many people to bounce it back." Fronek said.

If Pueblo is a case study in voter sentiment about changes to strict smoking bans, Lawyer might indeed have a tough time winning his case at the ballot box.

In the last election, voters in Pueblo rejected a ballot question that would have exempted bars from a citywide smoking ban in public places.

Smoking bans have been approved at least 17 of 19 times in Colorado city and county elections.

"The votes show these bans are widely supported by the public," said Erin Leary, Colorado advocacy director for the American Heart Association.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report

[at bay]

"Still don't understand the concept of private property, eh?

My lungs are my private property and you don't get to fill them with your toxic smoke. The government has a right to ban poisons sold for consumption and should ban the sale of all tobacco products forthwith:

"I complained I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet."

[Madame Dufarge]

My lungs are my private property and you don't get to fill them with your toxic smoke

So as far as I can determine, your take on private property is "What's mine is mine, and what's everyone else's is mine, too."

That about right?

By the way, have you ever pressed charges against the evil-doers who apparently dragged you onto someone else's private property where smoking is allowed?