The Smokers Club, Inc. - IL Champaign Page 2

URBANA – An Urbana woman who was active in the successful campaign to make bars and restaurants smoke-free in Champaign-Urbana contends she was verbally assaulted Saturday night by the owner of a Champaign bar.

The owner of the bar denies he acted inappropriately.

Cheri Manrique, 40, of Urbana said she went alone to Memphis on Main Street, in downtown Champaign, around 9 p.m. Saturday to hear a band called ESP. Manrique said she is an acquaintance of one of the band's guitar players.

"It had been a long time since I heard him play," she said.

Manrique shared her recollection of events this week with The News-Gazette and also spoke Tuesday night to the Champaign City Council. An asthmatic, she is a member of the C-U Smokefree Alliance who often spoke to the Urbana and Champaign city councils last year urging them to pass smoke-free legislation.

Manrique, who does not drink alcohol because she takes medication, said she paid her $4 cover charge last Saturday, bought a diet cola and was seated at a table close to the band.

"I was having a really good time," Manrique said. "I was happy that after all this time I could finally participate in the local scene again."

Manrique said that a short while later, an angry-looking man walked past her and began to stare her down. She identified the man as Tom Sellers, owner of Memphis on Main Street.

"He was walking around my table and staring me down," said Manrique. "At first I just waved. He was really mad. He asked me what I was doing there. He kept saying, 'Who are you?' He said 'Are you one of the smoke-free people?' I said 'Yes, but I'm just there to hear the band.'"

Manrique said the encounter left her "totally shocked," and she called her husband on her cell phone. Her husband told her to leave if it happened again.

After the band took a break and then resumed playing, Manrique said that Sellers "started in on me again."

"He was even more upset," she recalled. "He said I and the smoke-free people 'should crawl back under the rock we came from.' He asked 'How am I going to make any money off of you? You're ordering sodas. This is a liquor-pouring establishment.'

"It was just intimidating. He leaned in over my table. He was in my personal space. It was not just a casual conversation."

She alleged that Sellers returned a third time, this time with a camera, and began taking pictures of her. That prompted Manrique to get up and leave.

Now crying, she said she went outside and called her husband, who advised her to call city police. She did that.

Sellers recalls the incident differently.

"That is a total lie," he said of her account. "I simply said 'Hi, you enjoying your drink?' She said it was Sprite. I kept walking. That's all I said to that woman."

Sellers confirmed that he took a picture of Manrique, but he said he later deleted the picture at the request of city police.

When advised that Manrique planned to describe the incident to the city council during public participation, Sellers responded: "Good for her. It's a free country."

Sellers has emerged as one of the most outspoken opponents of the city smoking ban in most indoor public places, which went into effect Jan. 31. He has a sign in his bar’s window urging a vote against council members Tom Bruno and Giraldo Rosales, who are up for re-election and who supported the smoking ban.

He also has yard signs in his bar for council candidates Deborah Frank Feinen and Karen Foster, and campaign literature for Foster on nearly every bar table. Foster supports overturning the ban, while Feinen supports overturning the ban for bars and clubs and has said she might support a total repeal if sales tax receipts indicate establishments are losing business.

Champaign Police Chief R.T. Finney said, after checking police reports, that officers who responded didn't believe an assault had occurred.

"We determined a crime had not occurred," he said. "The person has to be in fear of a battery. Obviously, there was some tension between the two, but it didn't rise to the charge of an assault."

Council member Rosales said he thinks Sellers should be warned by the city liquor commissioner, Mayor Jerry Schweighart, that any repeat of such an incident could lead to the suspension of his liquor license.

"They should not be able to harass the customers," he said. "Shame on the owners. It's not acceptable."

Scott Hays, president of the C-U Smokefree Alliance, said he found the incident disturbing.

"It's very upsetting, especially considering the restaurants and bars main complaint is loss of business," Hays said. "This is a clear indication they're not seeking to play by the rules."

Manrique has been with the alliance for four years, Hays said.

"All she ever wanted was to be able to hear some of the bands," he said.
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Smokefree Group Ties Its Support to Pledge on Paper
February 17, 2007
By Mike Monson

CHAMPAIGN – The C-U Smokefree Alliance intends to make retaining the local indoor smoking ban a key issue in Champaign's city council elections.

The alliance sent a letter via certified mail on Feb. 9 to the nine primary candidates for the three at-large city council seats in Champaign, asking them to sign a statement of support for Champaign's Clean Indoor Air Ordinance.

The statement indicates that the signer "will not weaken, reverse or repeal this ordinance" and would only support amendments that would strengthen the ban.

Candidates were asked to return the letter by this Sunday.

Candidates who sign the statement will get the group's backing in both the Feb. 27 primary and the April 17 consolidated election, group President Scott Hays said.

Those who don't sign or return the pledge will be presumed to favor a total or partial repeal of the smoking ban, Hays said.

"Our goal is to get the word out to the members of the Champaign community that support the smoking ban," Hays said. "Our goal is to not allow the issue to remain in the background this election."

Six at-large (citywide) council candidates will advance out of the primary. Three at-large members will be elected on April 17, along with a District 4 council member and the mayor. Mayor Jerry Schweighart, a staunch opponent of the smoking ban, is unopposed for re-election as mayor. Council member Marci Dodds, a smoking ban supporter, is unopposed in District 4.

Hays said he was told by several people that opponents of the smoking ban are working to elect a majority on the city council.

That convinced the C-U Smokefree Alliance to get involved in the election, he said.

Next week, the group will announce which council candidates support the ban. Alliance members will likely campaign door to door for candidates, Hays said. The organization also could spend in excess of $1,000 on election advertising, he said.

The group also will send an e-mail and letters to several hundred of its members and supporters, Hays said.

A survey by The News-Gazette showed that among the nine primary candidates, incumbent council members Tom Bruno and Giraldo Rosales and newcomers Annette Williams and Patricia Avery support retaining the smoking ban in its entirety.

Council candidates Michael Henley and Karen Foster support a total repeal, while Bill Glithero supports allow smoking in establishments with a Class A liquor license, which includes most bars, and veteran's clubs.

Deborah Frank Feinen also supports repeal of the ban in bars and veteran's clubs and said she would consider a total repeal if sales tax receipts show a negative impact on business.

Council candidate Freddie Gordon did not respond to a questionnaire by The News-Gazette.

The city council approved the indoor smoking ban in May 2006 in a 5-4 vote. The ban took effect Jan. 31 in Champaign. Urbana has a similar ban.

"My take on this is, it's about toxic environments in public places," Hays said. "It's a public health issue."

Council candidates Foster and Glithero said they won't sign the pledge, while Bruno said he has signed and returned it and welcomes the C-U Smokefree Alliance's help.

"The way it's written is heavy handed and, no matter what happens in the future, you're bound by it," Glithero said.

"I favor businesses having a right to choose," Foster said. "I'm not a smoker. The health issue, I feel everyone has a right to choose if they want to walk into a place."

Asked if she's worried the issue could hurt her campaign, Foster responded: "The voters are going to choose."

Bruno said he's proud of his vote and doesn't think local bar business has suffered.

"I'm convinced we did the right thing," he said. "I would say by a 3-to-1 margin, people favored the Clean Indoor Air Ordinance."
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Secondhand Smoke is not a Health Threat - Letter to the Gazette

September 11, 2006
As a concerned citizen, I am beginning to wonder if my letters are falling on deaf ears or if the truth is beginning to get to people.

I am very surprised that no one commented on my letter dealing with the U.S. Surgeon General's report on the effects of secondhand smoke. This leads me to believe that I have hit a nerve. I certainly hope so.

There is no conclusive evidence that secondhand smoke causes cancer, heart disease, asthma or any other disease, for that matter. Business owners' rights are being trampled in the name of public health when there are no grounds for doing so. The rights of smokers also are being trampled.

Did anyone bother to ask people how we felt about taking our rights away? Apparently no one did or they did not care.

Until tobacco products are illegal, there is no reason why they should be banned in private enterprises.

If this ban is not reversed, most bars and restaurants will see at the very least a 10 percent loss in revenue, which for most is their profit margin. Some businesses will close, and people will lose their jobs.

People in Champaign-Urbana should think about their pocketbooks. Do they really want their cities to lose tax revenues and spend less on public works?

JAMES EILBRACHT
Mahomet
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Letter to the Editor (News-Gazette) letters@news-gazette.com

August 2, 2006

Re: Smoking Ban Takes Effect Today with Mixed Feelings - Champaign/Urbana, IL
Let supporters of this dictatorial smoke free ordinance patronize the restaurants Champaign-Urbana are forcing to go smoke free. Smokers enjoy a cigarette prior to and after a meal, and not as second class citizens who are required to go outside or leave the premises to smoke. Addiction is not the issue. This is a matter of personal choice. If a hospitality venue is unable to cater to its clientele's preferences, then the clientele should no longer patronize the business. If you can't smoke, don't go. Keep your wallets shut!!!

'Strong predicted that, in three months, the smoking ban will be so well accepted in Urbana that it won't even be a topic of debate.

"If your addiction is so severe you can't go an hour without smoking, you should thank me for pointing out the severity of your problem and seek help immediately," he said.'

Garnet Dawn
The Smoker's Club, Inc.
Midwest Regional Director
The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter - http://www.smokersclubinc.com
Illinois Smokers Rights - http://www.illinoissmokersrights.com/
mailto:garnetdawn@comcast.net - Respect Freedom of Choice!

Champaign-Urbana bar owners unite to fight smoking ban

By Mike Monson
June 28, 2006
About 18 bar owners and representatives attended the CU Bar Owners Association meeting at Memphis on Main in Champaign on Tuesday.

CHAMPAIGN – Local bar owners are organizing to fight a smoking ban in Champaign-Urbana and to represent their interests on other city issues.

An organizational meeting for the CU Bar Owners Association at Memphis on Main Street, 55 E. Main St., C, attracted about 18 bar owners and representatives. About 50 liquor license holders were invited.

"It's an important thing to do, to have an association," said Eric Meyer, a part-owner of Kam's, 618 E. Daniel St., C, Pia's, 1609 W. Springfield Ave., C, and Bentley's, 419 N. Neil St., C.

"We would like to see licensees here a lot more organized and to have a voice that means something when we go before the council," Meyer said. "It means something when you say you represent 50 liquor licensees."

Bar owners have organized in the past, and there is a local chapter of the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, Meyer said. But local bar owners have tended to get together only "in a time of need," he said.

Bar owners at the meeting seemed united in their opposition to an indoor smoking ban that has been approved by both city councils. When that ban will take effect is up in the air, as Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing has not signed the ordinance passed by her city council and says she wants the implementation date for a ban changed to Jan. 1. That could require new action by the Urbana council at its July 17 meeting.

If the Urbana council were to make the changes Prussing wants and unify its ban on indoor smoking for restaurants and bars to Jan. 1, then Champaign's smoking ban would take effect Jan. 31. Urbana might then delay implementation of its ban to Jan. 31 to have a unified date for implementation in both cities.

Meyer said bar owners intend to play a role in the spring elections in Champaign, when the mayor's office and four council seats will be up for election. He said two candidates who are "pro small business" and sympathetic to repealing a smoking ban are interested in running. He declined to identify them.

"One is committed to running; the other is interested," he said. "And we anticipate recruiting two or three more (candidates)."

"We may have to hold fundraisers for them," Meyer said. "There are a lot of people frustrated by this, and they are nonsmokers."

Jim Cross, who with his wife Linda owns Huber's, 1312 W. Church St., C, said he was concerned about the potential for fights if nonsmokers and smokers get into arguments about smoking in a bar. He also spoke about the need for bar owners to organize.

"We've been scattered," Cross said. "We all worried about our own businesses, not the business as a whole. I've been trying to do this for two or three years. This finally got us organized."

Meyer said the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, a not-for-profit association that represents the interests of bar owners, would be filing a lawsuit today in Sangamon County Circuit Court challenging Springfield's smoking ban, set to take effect in September.

He said the association is prepared to spend up to $100,000 fighting Springfield's ban.

The suit will seek to prevent the Springfield's ordinance from being implemented. The suit will contend that the state's indoor clean air act defines a public place as excluding bowling alleys and places where the primary business is the sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises.
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Schweighart sends council list of ideas on smoking ban

June 22, 2006
Mike Monson

CHAMPAIGN – Mayor Jerry Schweighart, who adamantly opposed a smoking ban in Champaign, is now talking compromise.

Schweighart, in a June 15 letter to the city council, offered up a variety of possible compromises, all of which would weaken the comprehensive smoking ban passed by the council in a 5-4 vote on May 16.

The Champaign ordinance will take effect Jan. 31, if and when Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing signs a smoking ban ordinance approved by her city council on June 5. Otherwise, Champaign's ordinance would not take effect.

In his letter, Schweighart said he was presenting several ideas "to help make this a win-win situation for the city of Champaign."

"I feel that we have created a situation which is nonenforceable and puts business owners in a position of enforcing this new ordinance that restricts their ability to freely run their business," he wrote. "We are putting the business owners in jeopardy by asking them to enforce this ordinance, which is not their job."

He called his ideas "merely suggestions" and he asked council members who are interested to reply to him as soon as possible. He said he would be back from vacation on Monday.

Among the ideas Schweighart suggested for restaurants:

– Grandfather in restaurants as smoking or nonsmoking, their choice.

– Any new restaurants would have to be nonsmoking.

– Grandfathered restaurants could require all children to sit in the nonsmoking section.

For bars:

– Any bar that serves alcohol only, except for bar snacks like chips, could offer smoking.

– All bars could allow smoking, but bars that go smoke-free could get a liquor license at half price.

Other ideas:

– More Class A (bar) liquor licenses could be made available for nonsmoking establishments.

– Tax rebates or other incentives could be offered to bars and restaurants that go smoke-free.

– Bars and restaurants could be required to pay more for a city license if they want to offer smoking.

– Smoking could be permitted after a particular hour.

– Enhanced and certified ventilation could be a key concept in permitting limited smoking in bars or restaurants.

– Extended hours could be offered for nonsmoking establishments.

Champaign council member Michael La Due distributed the letter to council members Tuesday night at the council meeting.

"He (Schweighart) is wanting to see if any council person would come back with any ideas," La Due said. "He's using these as talking points."

Council member Ken Pirok, who voted for the smoking ban, said he doesn't think Schweighart's proposals are going anywhere.

"I don't think there's five people interested in anything on that list," Pirok said. "This is the kind of thing the mayor should have been doing between the months of September and May (when the council enacted a smoking ban).

"It's too late now," he said.
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Butts out C-U: Bar owners pledge fight
Ordinances pass but the smoke has yet to clear for owners, customers

Frank Radosevich II
6/12/06

The mood was relaxed and amiable at the Esquire Lounge on a cool Wednesday evening. Men sat in booths puffing on cigars and sucking on the occasional pipe as swirls of smoke hung lazily above their heads.

But one mention of the recently approved smoking ordinances in Champaign and Urbana and their mood became as acrid and gloomy as a plume of smoke from a lit cigarette.

Pat Callaghan, owner of Jon's Pipe Shop, 509 E. Green St., shook his head as he sold cigars to patrons in the bar.

"The bar crowd is a group that tends to be smokers or smoker friendly," Callaghan said. "Economically, this is a disaster for the bars."

Callaghan, like many bar owners, perceives the bans as a direct threat to business, even his own store.

"Where are people going to smoke my product? A lot of my customers buy cigars to go out with their friends ... where are they going to go?"

Scott Hays and Daniel Lewart, the key proponents of the ordinances, could not be happier.

"We were elated" when the ordinance passed, Hays, founder and president of C-U Smokefree Alliance said. "We basically interrupted the (Champaign City Council) meeting with shouts and cheers."

Lewart echoed Hays feelings for the Urbana ordinance.

"I feel very good about it," Lewart, the vice president of C-U Smokefree Alliance said. "This is a great historic day for Champaign-Urbana and shows that city councils care about public health."

The ordinances prohibit smoking in a number of public places: from ballrooms and bowling allies to grocery stores and gymnasiums. Most notably, and contentiously, the bans include restaurants and bars.

Several exemptions are given, such as outdoor seating at establishments and retail tobacco shops.

Those caught violating the ordinances face stiff fines, ranging anywhere from $135 to $195 depending on the city or offense.

As of now, the ordinances are slated to take effect for all establishments on Aug. 1. However, a last minute amendment adopted by the Urbana City Council pushed the effective date for bars to Jan. 1, 2007. If or how this will alter the Champaign ordinance, which states it will take effect 30 days after Urbana's does, remains to be seen.

Supporters say the ordinances will benefit businesses both economically and medically.

Allen Strong is the owner of two smoke free restaurants in Urbana: Silvercreek, 402 N. Race St., and Courier Cafe, 111 N. Race St.

His first place, the Courier Cafe, was originally a smoking restaurant, and after years of wear and tear from the smoke stains, dealing with non-smokers' complaints and trying in vain to separate the smoking and non-smoking sections, Strong opened Silvercreek as Illinois' first smoke free restaurant in 1990.

"It's kind of like having a 'no peeing' section in a pool," Strong said about creating smoking and non-smoking sections.

The gamble paid off, and he recently made the Courier Cafe smoke free, too.

For Strong, the economic doom predicted by other restaurateurs is overblown and healthier customers and employees will eventually thank owners for the change.

"It became so overwhelmingly the choice of customers that it was just the clear thing to do." Strong said. "And the fact that it's just a nicer environment."

Seated in Murphy's Pub, Claire Feeney, senior in Communications, also welcomed the ban. As a non-smoker and a campus bar employee, Feeney is looking forward to her new work environment.

"People will still go out the bars, people will just complain about it more." Feeney said.

Brenda Faul, an Urbana resident, disagreed. Smoking Virginia Slims at the Illini Inn, 901 S. Fourth St., the news made her worried for the bar owners' future.

"I think it's really sad that a few members were able to make the decision for every resident of Champaign-Urbana and the bar owners," Faul said. "I know I'm going to stop going to the bars in January when it becomes effective because I can smoke and drink in my house."

Even though the bans have passed, the smoke has yet to fully clear the room. Crucial questions on who will enforce the ordinance, how will it be enforced and what are the obligations of owners are tricky to answer. Both the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District and the police departments have expressed reservations about their roles.

Another question is the uncertain future of Champaign's hookah bars, Nargile, 207 W. Clark. St., and Green Street Cafe, 35 E. Green St. With a business explicitly built around allowing its customers to smoke, the economic impact of the ban could be disastrous. Ken Pirok, a Champaign City councilman, suggested an exemption for the bars after the ordinances passed, only to have it fail.

"I hope they can find a way to adapt," Pirok said. "I think there is no doubt that it (the ordinance) will affect their business adversely."

Also, rumors of retaliation have circulated in the community. Some bar owners pledge to fight the ordinances, asserting that the councils' votes were not the last word on the issue. Some smokers even advocated committing acts of civil disobedience by boldly lighting up in their favorite hangouts.

"We are definitely not done fighting. We are not just going to lie down and let them dictate our business when they really don't have a clue on how things work around here," said Scott Glassman, owner of Crane Alley in Urbana, 115 W. Main St.

Conversely, Hays pledges his support to all council members who voted for the bans and is convinced that the ordinances will stay.

"We're confident that this issue is over," Hays said.
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Smoking ban hot topic of conversation

May 18, 2006

Christine Des Garennes

CHAMPAIGN – The Champaign City Council vote was a close one – 5 to 4 council members in favor of the smoking ban – so perhaps it is no surprise reaction to the ban was also mixed.

When bartender Eileen Ford arrived at the Brass Rail on Wednesday morning, the smoking ban was already a hot topic of conversation.

"Smoking is a big issue in this bar. A lot of people smoke here," she said. "I can understand banning smoking in restaurants, but a bar is a totally different place."

Before catching a bus to Danville on Wednesday, Lincoln resident Terry James dropped by the Brass Rail to have a Budweiser and a smoke or two.

He sure is glad a smoking ban hasn't come to his hometown.

"There are smoking and nonsmoking areas in restaurants; why can't there be different areas in bars, too? There's all this talk about the nonsmokers having rights, what about the smokers' rights?" he asked.

It was a different story over at Pickles, a Champaign restaurant that banned smoking a few months ago.

Once New York passed a statewide smoking ban, Bob Kelly of Danville expected a similar ban eventually would be proposed in East Central Illinois.

"My thing is eating dinner. I don't like it when we're eating and there's smoke around," he said. Ultimately, though, the ban will not have any effect on him and it won't change whether or not he goes out more or less, Kelly said.

Since Pickles banned smoking, business has been steady, manager Bob Coit said.

Like Kelly, Shirley Morfrey of Champaign also said the ban won't change any of her habits. She was pleased to hear the city council approved the ban.

"I'm not a smoker, and I don't want to smoke. I don't like smoke," Morfrey said.

Smoker Khaled Nafea doesn't go to bars so the ban will not have any real impact on him, he said, but the idea bothers him.

"I didn't imagine that it would go through. It is frustrating that some people are trying to impose this. I can understand it happening in big crowded cities like New York or Chicago, but not here in Champaign-Urbana," he said.

Back at the Brass Rail, Champaign resident Keith Yamamoto doesn't smoke, but many of his friends do. And he likes to drink with his friends.

"If people I know who smoke decide to go outside of town (to drink), I'd probably go with them," he said.

But that puts him in a tight spot. He prefers to hang out in certain bars.

"I don't want to hurt a bar I go to," he said.

Albert "Abby" Harshbarger also doesn't smoke, but he likes to go to bars to drink and listen to live music.

"I know the next day I'll have the secondary cough and my clothes will smell. It comes with the territory. My wife usually knows where I've been based on the smell," he said.

"Now my wife won't know where I've been," he laughed.

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Another Ill. city votes to adopt no-smoking rule

May 17, 2006

Champaign has joined the growing list of Illinois cities that have banned smoking in bars and restaurants.

The city council approved a no-smoking ordinance on a 5-to-4 vote late Tuesday night after hearing from more than three dozen people during the public comment portion of its meeting. The ordinance takes effect Aug. 1.

Tavern owner Jim Cross told the council that restaurants and bars in Champaign generate $4.5 million annually in city sales taxes.

"This revenue stream will certainly be affected by this ordinance," he said. "Our livelihoods and those of over 1,000 employees will be affected. The smoker will drive farther to smoke outside of our boundaries."

But supporters of the ban countered that business might improve at restaurants and bars without smoke in the air.

"This is a great day," Scott Hays, president of the Champaign-Urbana Smokefree Alliance, told The (Champaign) News-Gazette. "I think the Champaign community is going to love the smoke-free bars and restaurants."

The ordinance, which allows an exception for outdoor dining patios, passed after one council member changed his position from an earlier straw vote on the issue.

Councilman Ken Pirok had previously supported banning smoking only in restaurants, but said last night that arguments against banning smoking in bars as well were "not very compelling."

"This is not about the rights of business owners and smokers, this is about the rights of nonsmokers," he said. "When you think about it in those terms, the smoking ban makes sense."

The city council in neighboring Urbana is also considering banning smoking in bars and restaurants, and a vote is expected next month.

The Champaign City Council joins governmental bodies in more than a dozen other Illinois cities--including Bloomington, Normal, Springfield and Chicago--that have voted to ban smoking in restaurants and bars.
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