Where do diners who light up go when smoking is banned?
Bars' victory hazardous to health Our Opinion December 2, 2009 Bar owners are cheered that their side has "won," for now, the fight to stop Indianapolis from joining hundreds of other cities that have adopted comprehensive workplace smoking bans. Unfortunately, it was their customers, employees and the public at large who lost when the City-County Council on Monday night put concerns about tavern owners' profits ahead of the community's health. Council members chose to ignore overwhelming scientific evidence that workplace smoking bans save lives -- a fact the prestigious Institute of Medicine has concluded is undeniable. In shoving the proposed ordinance back to committee, the council at least kept the issue alive for now. The matter may return to the full council this spring. But the delay in joining much of the nation in embracing a sensible approach to workplace smoking could well be measured in lives lost. The U.S. Surgeon General and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have both concluded that tens of thousands of Americans die each year from exposure to secondhand smoke. Stephen Feinberg, a researcher from Carnegie Mellon University, analyzed data from 11 separate studies in a report released in October by the Institute of Medicine. His conclusion? "There was a clear and consistent effect of smoking bans'' in saving lives. The council, faced with a near consensus from the best medical minds in the country, rejected the science and decided instead to placate the vague fears of a few bar owners. And where was Greg Ballard during the city's government flight from reason and evidence? A mayor who claims he wants to promote good health and build a vibrant community pushed hard in the other direction, urging the council to kill the proposal for reasons that make little sense. Indianapolis is in dire need of thoughtful, visionary leadership as it attempts to compete economically and culturally with other American cities and with communities around the globe. Sadly, Ballard has once again demonstrated that he's not up to that task. Monday night may have been a victory for a few narrow interests, but the vast majority of Marion County residents were badly served by their elected leaders. Read
Council votes to table smoking ordinance Oct 26, 2009
Emily Longnecker/Eyewitness News Indianapolis - The proposal to eliminate smoking in bowling alleys, bars and private clubs has sparked fiery debate from smokers and non-smokers. Monday night's vote from the city county council did little to put out the fire. A vote of 12 in favor of the ban and 13 against it meant neither side got the final answer they were looking for Monday night. "We've just killed some more people tonight. Every time we delay, we kill more people," said Bruce Hetrick, who favors the ban. Hetrick said he lost his wife to cancer after she was exposed to secondhand smoke working as a reporter in a newsroom when smoking was allowed. "When are they going to bring it back again? They won't quit. They won't leave us alone," said bar owner Mike Whitaker. Whitaker said he feared for his business if the expanded ban would eventually pass. Fifteen votes were needed to decide the ban's fate Monday night. City-County Councilors Monroe Gray and Dane Mahern, both Democrats, both abstained from voting. They cited conflicts of interest. Before the vote, some councilors spoke about the reasons behind their decision. "We are talking about the health and lives of workers. The health and lives of workers threatened by secondhand smoke indoors. The importance of workers lives and health trump the liberty interest of smoking indoors where people work," said Councilor Brian Mahern. "If somebody is not intelligent enough to make the right decisions for their own personal safety, that is not the government's place to tell them and protect them," said Councilor Ed Coleman before he voted against the ban. "They should protect themselves and we should stop being a bunch of nanny staters and telling people how to live their lives." The council then voted 14-13 in favor of tabling the smoking ban. That means the ban can be brought up for a vote again or sent back to committee. If the ban had passed, it still needed the Mayor's signature to become law. Mayor Greg Ballard has said publicly he didn't know if Indianapolis was ready to go there yet when it came to an expanded smoking ban. The mayor's spokesperson said the mayor's position hasn't changed since Eyewitness News asked him about it earlier this year. Read
When the smoke clears
Where do diners who light up go when smoking is banned?
Pam Badger knows where to go for lunch, now that she no longer can smoke in Downtown Indianapolis restaurants.
The steps on Monument Circle.
"We get our stuff (food) to go," said Badger, 45, a paralegal from Martinsville who works in Indianapolis. "We come out here every nice day."
That's one solution -- weather permitting -- to the increasing number of jurisdictions that ban smoking in public accommodations: If you can't smoke where you eat, eat where you can smoke.
Smokers say they know all about the negative health effects of smoking, and they can talk up a storm about smokers' rights if you push them.
But mostly, smokers just want to know where they can go to light up a cigarette and enjoy a meal at the same time.
Increasingly, the answer is, "Not here."
Area jurisdictions with smoking bans include Indianapolis, Greenwood, Greenfield, Carmel, Bloomington, Morgan County, Speedway (beginning Sept. 1), Shelbyville (beginning in August) and others. Some of the bans exempt bars and private clubs.
Franklin's anti-smoking ordinance will take effect Aug. 1.
Marillyn Rider was enjoying breakfast, coffee and a smoke at Franklin's popular Don & Dona's Restaurant one recent morning.
But all the talk at Don & Dona's on this morning was the city's new smoking ban.
When the smoke clears, smokers like Rider will be gone.
"My daughter and I right now go down to Edinburgh to the Cracker Barrel," said Rider, a retired human resources executive. "I suppose until Johnson County gets involved, I'll be able to smoke there. But I wouldn't go there every day because of the gas prices."
Eat outside, drive farther, entertain more at home, or go through the drive-through and eat in the car or truck -- those are just some of the tactics smokers are resorting to if they want to continue smoking while eating.
Then there are meal-preparation companies like Dinner by Design. Jeremy Sparks manages the Indianapolis-Fishers franchise.
"Since the (Marion County smoking ban) has happened, our pickups have doubled," said Sparks. "I'm sure it's because of the smoking ban."
Fishers is in neighboring Hamilton County.
An informal survey of area diners who smoke found that all claimed smoking was a fun, social activity -- they were meeting friends, family or colleagues from work, and they didn't feel they should forfeit the right to smoke as long as the people they were with didn't object.
George Brenner, a licensed clinical social worker at Community Health Network, doesn't buy that argument, however. People smoke because they are addicted to smoking, not because it's good times with friends or anything of the kind, he says.
Matter of priorities
"What's the priority?" Brenner asked. "If the priority is to be social, people can go periods of time without smoking. . . . They're not going to go through significant withdrawal in the two or three hours they're with their friends and can't smoke."
Indianapolis barred smoking in restaurants beginning in March. That was a blow to longtime smokers at Peppy Grill, 1004 Virginia Ave.
Lilly Burcham, 45, and her husband, Ken, have patronized Peppy's for years. They eat, they drink, they smoke.
"This is where all my friends come," said Lilly Burcham, a longtime smoker who says she won't abandon her favorite restaurant. "Now you have to come outside and freeze, or if it's raining you have to get sopping wet."
Banned by owner
Beech Grove does not have a smoking ban, but Ron McClain, who purchased B&B Morninglory Cafe, 607 Main St., earlier this spring, imposed his own as soon as he took over.
"We have a small restaurant," said McClain, himself a reformed smoker. "Even people who worked at (St. Francis) hospital couldn't come in here because their clothes would smell of smoke when they went back to work."
McClain says his customers are mostly in favor of the ban, though he admits he has lost some patrons for good; he doesn't know where they've migrated, he says.
Several communities, from Avon to Zionsville, appear close to passing bans of their own.
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AREA SMOKING BANS
Carmel: Approved a smoking ban effective March 5 for all restaurants, exempting establishments that ban anyone younger than 21. Fines begin at $50 for smokers and business owners, with subsequent violations carrying fines of $75 to $500.
Franklin: A smoking ban will go into effect Aug. 1; it excludes bars and private clubs.
Greenfield: Adopted a ban effective March 1 for restaurants and businesses. Violators are subject to a $100 fine anytime officials witness smoking on their premises.
Greenwood: Approved a ban that began April 21. Business owners or smokers face fines ranging from $50 to $250.
Indianapolis: Smoking banned in workplaces, coin-operated laundries, lobbies, restrooms and other public areas as of March 1. The ban also covers restaurants and bars unless they prohibit customers younger than 18. Violators face a $100 fine.
Morgan County: An ordinance was implemented Jan. 1, 2005, requiring restaurants to make establishments smoke-free or create smoking rooms with separate heating and cooling systems. Those restrictions later were revised to include convenience stores where prepared foods are served. Maximum fine is $500.
Shelbyville: A measure banning smoking in workplaces and restaurants, but exempting bars and private clubs, goes into effect Aug. 1. The fine for noncompliance is $50.
Speedway: An ordinance similar to the one passed for Indianapolis, exempting bars and taverns that ban those younger than 18, as well as unenclosed areas at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, will begin Sept. 1. The ordinance includes fines of $100 for a first offense and $200 for subsequent offenses.
Smoking bans are under consideration in Avon, Lawrence, Plainfield and Zionsville.
-- Compiled by the Star Library from news reports
Call Star reporter Abe Aamidor at (317) 444-6472. Read
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