sbeveridge@observer-reporter.com
The air in public spaces in Pennsylvania - from barrooms to bingo halls - will be clear of cigarette smoke beginning Thursday, when a new smoking ban becomes law.
As the days count down, though, some tavern owners are angry and confused over whether they must post "no smoking" signs as part of the state's Clean Indoor Air Act.
"Once again, they're sticking it to the tavern owners," said Joe Pintola, owner of Hungry Jose's in Washington and a member of the Pennsylvania Tavern Owners Association.
"You have to buy the liquor from the state, be enforced by the state, and now, here they are with more regulations," he said Thursday.
The law also known as Senate Bill 246 that was signed June 13 by Gov. Ed Rendell prohibits smoking in 95 percent of public places, except casinos, private clubs and what appears to be a small number of bars that don't sell a lot of food. It also does not permit workplace smoking.
The act does not apply to private residences unless they are licensed child-care centers, along with wholesale and retail tobacco shops.
It's designed to protect Pennsylvanians from the potentially deadly consequences of breathing secondhand smoke. The state will become the 24th in the nation to enact such a ban.
As expected, unwavering smokers are complaining about having to encounter more reasons to be sent outside with their cigarettes.
"We're reverting to being a communist country," protested Claudia Chappo of Washington, while patronizing Pintola's bar Thursday night. "They're taking away our rights one by one."
Meanwhile, fire departments with those nicotine-stained bingo halls will need to periodically stop pulling numbers to allow smokers to leave the games for cigarette breaks, said Scott Reese, fire chief in South Strabane Township.
"Now, I stand up and applaud it because I am not a smoker," Reese said. "But if they do have the habit, it's going to cause them some grief, even though it's going to be healthier for them to some degree."
Bar owners can apply for exemptions to the law if the total food sales in their pubs is no higher than 20 percent of the business's income, Pintola said. But there are hitches written into the act that will make it nearly impossible for many of them to qualify, he said. And the deadline to submit the application is Wednesday.
"It's a one-shot deal," Pintola said.
To qualify for an exemption, a bar must be in a building away from the restaurant, he said, and have its own entrance. The restaurant cannot include a second door into the bar and must have separate restrooms. If the exemption is approved, no one under the age of 18 will be allowed to enter a bar, not even those related to its owner.
Pintola also warned bar owners that once they become exempt, the state has the power to regularly inspect a bar's business transactions to make sure it maintains the sales quota.
"I'm applying," Pintola said, adding that the state does plan to re-evaluate the law's success in six months.
To make matters more challenging, the state Health Department, which is administering the law, sent nothing about its regulations to tavern owners to advise them of their responsibilities.
The state selected to leave it up to tavern associations to guide the bar owners through the law, said Holli Senior, Health Department spokeswoman.
"We know it'll take a while for people to get used to the law," Senior said, adding that a state survey determined 80 percent of Pennsylvanians support the ban.
The law also gives police authority to fine violators between $250 and $1,000, depending on the number of repeat offenses.
State or local police will not be patrolling bars for smokers but will respond to complaints from the public about individuals or taverns that violate the law, Senior said.
This debate is no issue at McGrogan's Taproom in Canonsburg because that micro-brew pub and restaurant has been smoke-free since it opened to success two years ago.
"Our crowd is pretty steady," said bartender Nikki Woodman.
"My boss is a nonsmoker. He didn't like going to a bar and coming out smelling like cigarettes. You want to taste the food, not someone's cigarette."
But Erin Flynn-Bruno, manager of Union Grill in Washington, is a bit apprehensive about how the ban will affect the trade.
"I don't know how the customers are going to react. Maybe the liquor business will go down," she said. "Our employees (who smoke) are upset."
The state looked into the impact of a similar law in New York and found that it didn't have an adverse financial impact on bars.
The health department also will establish a toll-free number and links on its Web site for providing help to people who want to quit smoking and others who wish to lodge violation complaints.
On the Net:
www.health.state.pa.us
www.pataverns.com