Smoking ban kicks customers outdoors, but clears the air for wait staff and nonsmokers

BRISTOL, Va. – Chuck Hawkins views Virginia’s new smoking prohibitions as a further erosion of freedom.
Seated at a table outside the Wing Doctor Restaurant on Sullins Street on Tuesday afternoon, Hawkins and several companions puffed away in the warm December sunshine. A day earlier, they could smoke inside.
The new law, which took effect Tuesday, bans smoking in most restaurants or forces restaurant owners to segregate smokers into rooms with separate ventilation systems or on outdoor patios.
“I think we’re losing all of our freedoms in America,” Hawkins said. “I can sit home and smoke if I want to. This is just going to hurt the small businesses. It really is.”
Hawkins, who typically patronizes the Wing Doctor two or three times a week, expects the new law will mean fewer visits.
Restaurant co-owner Carolyn Cline worries others also will stay away.
“About 85 percent of our patrons smoke,” Cline said. “They’re saying they can sit at home and smoke. Who’s going to want to sit out on that patio when it’s cold?”
Cline said the state is “kicking” business owners while they’re already “down” amid a sluggish economy. The restaurant’s owners have already cut their staff from 15 to eight this year, in response to the sour economy, Cline said.
“We built the patio just because of the law. It will be great in the summer and fall, but not during the winter,” Cline said.
Patron Gary Lynn offered a less dire view.
“It’s good for people who are looking out for their health. I don’t really have a problem with it,” Lynn said. “I’m a smoker, but it’s only an inconvenience if I’m not able to smoke inside. I’ll take that back seat.”
A few miles away, “no smoking” signs are now prominently displayed on the doors and windows of Bonnie’s Family Restaurant on Lee Highway.
“I don’t know what it [law] will do to us,” owner Bonnie Jones said. “We’ve already had some customers who are upset. We’ve already had a few today who complained, but everybody has to do it, so what do you do?”
On Tuesday, patrons also were dismayed to learn they couldn’t go into the restaurant’s bathrooms to smoke, Jones said.
A smoker herself, Jones said she must now go outside to light up.
With her clientele about equally divided between smokers and non-smokers, Jones has always seated non-smoking patrons in a separate room and has a heat pump system to draw smoke away. However, she can’t afford the additional ventilation system required to comply with the law.
“I rent this building. If the owner wants to put the ventilation system in, that would be fine, but we can’t afford it,” Jones said, adding that it would likely cost about $35,000.
Violators and restaurant owners who fail to enforce the regulations face a $25 fine. The law will be enforced through inspections by local health departments.
Virginia joins 27 other states and the District of Columbia to ban or segregate smoking in most restaurants. Smoking is still permitted inside Virginia’s private membership clubs.
About 70 percent of Virginia’s full service and fast-food restaurants already had banned smoking prior to the deadline, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
In Tennessee, smoking is prohibited inside restaurants and all other enclosed work places, but allowed in bars or private clubs where people under age 21 aren’t allowed.
Pizza Plus, a Blountville, Tenn.-based regional restaurant chain with 60 locations in the two states, has experienced few problems, President Daniel Morrison said Tuesday.
“We have allowed it [smoking], but a year ago we tested Claypool Hill as non-smoking and it’s not been an issue at all in our stores,” Morrison said.
Pizza Plus stores in Virginia have received few complaints since they began converting to non-smoking about two months ago, Morrison said.
“With second-hand smoke as dangerous as it is, I think most people can respect others and not do it,” Morrison said.
dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532