Posted on 01/06/2003 6:58:16 AM PST by SheLion
It's been in place for five years now, but many Yuba-Sutter bar owners and patrons said they have yet to become accustomed to California's ban on smoking in bars.
At establishments such as Stassi's Fourth Ward Tavern in Marysville this weekend, business owners were still fuming over the ban, which took effect in January 1998.
The ban - a first for the nation - was intended to protect bartenders from health risks posed by second-hand smoke.
Yet Roy Newlove, the owner of Stassi's for roughly 10 years, said it does nothing more than slow business and cause headaches for his employees. Like many, Newlove called the ban a misguided attempt to protect public health.
"I think if the government helps me one more time I'll be out of business," Newlove said as most of his customers nodded in agreement.
Many bar owners throughout the area agreed the ban is a nuisance that has diminished the charm of going out for a drink.
Debbie and Doug Erhardt, the owners of Field and Stream Tavern in Marysville, said business has fallen off by as much as $2,000 on weekends since the ban took effect.
Fewer people want to go to Field and Stream now because the smoking ban forces them to go outside whenever they want to have a cigarette, Debbie Erhardt said.
"Nobody wants to go outside in 100 degree weather or in the cold," Erhardt said.
Ernie Leach, owner of the Corner Bar in Yuba City, said the ban has not been a major obstacle to building a clientele. Since he opened the bar a year ago, Leach said he never had to face the difficulty of telling loyal customers to put out their cigarettes.
However, the ban often causes him to force customers outside when they want to light up, Leach said.
"I have people complain about it all the time, but they just have to go outside," Leach said. "I think a person ought to have a choice and especially at a place called a bar."
The ban also has caused frustration among bartenders, who say it has added stress to their jobs.
Nancy Simpson, 40, a bartender at Jack's Tavern in Marysville, said the ban hurts bartenders who smoke by forcing them to leave their customers behind whenever they want to light up.
The ban also encourages smokers to sneak drinks outside the bars so they can drink while smoking, she said.
"They walk out with their drinks and then I have to ask them to leave," Simpson said.
Newlove said the ban also adds noise to streets and creates unsightly - and sometimes unruly - crowds outside bars.
"As soon as you've got everybody outside you lose control," Newlove said.
Some bar owners have managed to circumvent the ban by taking advantage of areas not covered in its language. Since the ban is intended to protect bar employees - and not bar owners - some entrepreneurs have exempted themselves from the ban by making all of their employees part owners.
Since they technically have no employees, owner-operated establishments can apply for exemptions through county agencies.
In Sutter County, there are at least three bars which have obtained such exemptions. They include Yuba City bars such as the Spur, Dowers Tavern and the 21 Club.
No information was available Saturday on whether there were any owner-operated bars in Yuba County.
Mary Benedict, a part owner of the Spur, criticized the ban and said the exemption has helped her clientele stay steady.
"You're supposed to be able to smoke and drink in a bar," Benedict said. "Governments hurt small businesses too much anyway."
Some bar owners in Marysville said exemptions in Yuba City bars have affected their businesses.
George Matsuda, the owner of Daikoku restaurant in Marysville, said fewer customers want to come to the bar in his business.
"The people that like to smoke, they've got to leave and go to a place where they can smoke," Matsuda said.
Bar patrons also criticized the ban. Some called it an infringement on their civil liberties.
Smoking outside Stassi's Fourth Ward on Saturday, Strawberry Valley resident Dennis Travis, 61, said the ban sometimes makes him think of moving to a state where smoking bans aren't in effect.
Travis said public officials are going too far in their attempts to eliminate health risks.
"We're trying too hard to protect people," Travis said.
Marysville resident Carl Supler, 59, said the ban is an affront to veterans who fought in foreign wars in an effort to preserve civil liberties.
"It's just one more of our freedoms taken away," Supler said. "We fought for this country and most of us didn't come back. Now we've got these bleeding hearts telling us what we can and can't do."
How can one be free when they are a slave to a cigarette?
Another cry for acceptance. Once again butch up and understand that this is as good as you get.
You crave acceptance so much that you are blinded by smoking.
Since you crave acceptance so much, and apparently have not achieved it, perhaps just being a anti-smoking Nazi isn't enough. You might try to cultivate yourself into more than just that.
Finally, I like the way smoke smells and if it keeps you away from me then I will continue to smoke if for no other reason.
Eaker
Smokers are not "slaves" to cigarettes--that's just another empty, asinine comment straight from the anti-smoker talking points.
My question to you is: How can anyone be free when they are slaves to statists and unelected "health fascists"? At least people smoke because they CHOOSE to do so.
That's what YOU think.
Temper, temper...you're sounding more like Hitlery every time you post. If you'll keep your pant-suited nose out of places that welcome smokers, you'll have no reason to complain. Not that it would stop you from doing so...
Get off it buddy, you are addicted and until you decide that you can take control of you own life and stop being a pawn of the tobacco companies and spout your crap about how healthy, wonderful and charming your addiction is to everyone else, don't both typing to me with your sickening yellow teeth, and smelly nicotine fingers.
Wow! Imagine making such insulting accusations to and about someone you don't know...have never met...will never meet (if I have anything to say about it)...and with whom you allegedly share a conservative viewpoint!
BTW, I don't support the tobacco companies--I suggest every smoker buy loose tobacco from a small grower and make his/her own for about $8/ctn, which also keeps OUR money out of YOUR pockets, and I have no "addictions." I smoke, which I enjoy doing, and control freaks and pseudo-liberals are free to stay far away from me. Oh, yeah, my teeth, which are my own, are not yellow nor disgusting (according to my dentist who knows what he's talking about, unlike you), and my fingers are not stained. Not only that...I know how to type! Put THAT in your pipe and stick it where the sun don't shine.
How about setting the example for us all?
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