BRISTOL, Va. – Roy Wesley decided to ban smoking in the Pepperjack Grille after he noticed a shortage of smoke-free restaurants in the area.
Soon, he may see a serious increase in competition with his Bristol Virginia eatery.
An effort to make all restaurants in Virginia smoke-free once again will be pushed by Gov. Tim Kaine in the Virginia General Assembly, which convened Wednesday.
The legislation aims to protect the health of restaurant employees who are exposed to large amount of second-hand smoke while on the job. Yet, the potential for a forced ban has divided area restaurant workers and owners.
The solution seems simple for Elizabeth Justus, the bar manager at Fast Lane, a sports bar in Bristol, Va.
"If you want to be at a restaurant that’s non-smoking, go to a non-smoking restaurant," she said.
Justus guesses that 90 percent of Fast Lane’s customers light up. The negative impact a smoking ban would have on business outweighs the opportunity to work in a healthier environment, she said.
Diners at Wither’s Hardware in Abingdon, Va., can choose to sit in either the smoking or non-smoking sections of the restaurant.
The restaurant’s owner would like to see the law give her the chance to do away with the choice altogether.
Hazel Ramos-Cano said she wants to see smoking banned in restaurants, although she knows it will cost her business.
"I know it will impact me [financially], I’m not ignorant. But New York and California did it and nobody died," she said.
Virginia would be the 29th state to have legislation forbidding smoking in restaurants. A law prohibiting smoking in all enclosed public areas went into effect in Tennessee on Oct 1.
The "non-smoker protection act" offers a loophole for restaurants in Tennessee to continue to allow smoking if all employees and patrons are at least 21 years old. Kaine’s legislation has no similar stipulations, staff members at the governor’s office said.
The governor’s new proposition, announced Monday, builds on a similar bill that failed in the legislature last year. The major change is a more clear, all-encomposing definition of a restaurant.
The bill calls for a ban only in restaurants, which are defined as "any food establishment – including dining establishments of public and private clubs – where food is available for sale and consumption by the public and includes the areas of a restaurant where food is prepared, served or consumed," according to a release on the governor’s Web site.
For now, restaurant-goers who prefer a smoke-free environment are left with restaurants that have decided independently to ban smoking, like the Pepperjack Grille.
Angie Wright, a manager at Pepperjack, said she’s not encountered a customer who objected to the no-smoking rules since the restaurant opened two months ago.
Justus is sure she wouldn’t be so lucky at the Fast Lane, where a special ventilation system is used to treat the murky air.
"I think I may quit my job before I have to do that," she said with a laugh. "We have some pretty rowdy people in here."
BRENT CARNEY is a Media General multimedia intern and can be reached at (276) 645-2568 or bcarney@bristolnews.com
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement