For $1, patrons can smoke at Charleston bar
Ban-defying bar reopens with twist: charity donation
October 29, 2008
By Eric Eyre, Staff writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A Charleston bar that openly defied Kanawha County's smoking ban until a fire forced it to shut down three weeks ago is reopening today.
But this time there's catch for Blackhawk Saloon customers who want to light up:  They'll be required to hand over a canned good, toy or dollar bill - items and money that the bar's owner promises to donate to charity.
"I'll trade an ashtray for a can of green beans," said Kerry "Paco" Ellison, who owns the Blackhawk. "That buys you the right to smoke. If you can afford to buy cigarettes, you can afford to give somebody a dollar."
Last month, the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department filed misdemeanor charges against the Blackhawk and five other bars and gambling parlors for smoking ban violations. Ellison's arraignment is set for Nov. 14 in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.
Ellison had repeatedly encouraged his patrons to light up in defiance of the county's 3-month-old smoking ban.
On Oct. 8, a small fire broke out in the bar, forcing customers to evacuate. Ellison blamed a faulty water heater for the blaze.
On Tuesday, Ellison estimated that he spent $10,000 to replace ceiling joists, electrical panels, walls and doors destroyed by the fire.
Ellison said the state Alcohol Beverage Control Administration and Health Department have approved the Blackhawk's reopening. Health officials asked Ellison to remove the large "Smokers' Welcome" sign outside the building, but he refused. 
Read

---

Kanawha bars hold protest against smoking ban
August 19, 2008
By Eric Eyre, Staff writer
Nobody's going to tell Kerry "Paco" Ellison's customers they can't smoke at his bar.
The Black Hawk Saloon is Ellison's bar, and he'll run it as he sees fit.
"If I don't want to pray, I don't go to church," Ellison said. "If you don't want to smoke, don't come in here."
Today, Ellison and at least a dozen other bar owners across the county defiantly encouraged their patrons to smoke in violation of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department's six-week-old smoking ban.
Ellison said he's sick and tired of playing by the rules while his competitors secretly allow their customers to light up. He's called the Health Department to complain, but nothing is done, he said.
"Either rescind the order or enforce it," Ellison said. "Either make it happen or let it go. I want a level playing field."
Two Health Department sanitarians inspected Ellison's bar and outside patio -- where smoking is allowed -- a half-hour before it opened this afternoon. No warnings or fines were issued, Ellison said.
"They were very cut and dry, to the point," Ellison recalled. "I said, 'Is that it?' 'For now,' they said."
The Health Department regulations prohibit smoking in bars, gambling parlors and the Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming Center.
Other Kanawha County bars that took part in today's protest included The Empty Glass; The Pour House Sports Bar; Julie J's; Number 8; The Pump; Sham's; Lucky Laverty's; McNalley's Pub; Smiley's; Dave's Tavern; and The Dream Tank.
Health board President Brenda Isaac called the bar owners a "rebel group."
"This is a very small percentage of bars in the county," Isaac said. "It's too bad they're getting all this publicity. Most of the bar owners are very law-abiding."
Isaac said the Health Department would issue a warning to bars that violate the smoking ban. Bars that continue to thumb their noses at the regulations will face sanctions -- a $200 to $1,000 fine in Magistrate Court, if found guilty.
Isaac said the department is investigating all complaints, with the vast majority being filed by bar owners who allege their competitors are ignoring the smoking ban. The Health Department has seven sanitarians who inspect bars and restaurants for food and smoking violations.
Business was booming tonight at the Black Hawk Saloon, which opened four months ago.
Cigarette and cigar smoke clouded the room. The bar's regulars and new customers puffed away, thrilled they had a place to smoke and drink a beer.
"Freedom!" someone shouted.
"Light up, girls!" yelled another patron as two women entered the bar.
Ellison and his customers wanted to send a message to the Health Department: They're fed up with the smoking ban.
"It's an infringement of my individual rights," said Barbara Lutes. "If you do not want to come to a place that has smoking, don't come. Just have a sign on the door: 'This is a smoking establishment.' "
Susan O'Neal said people are tired of having to leave the air-conditioned bar and walk outside under a hot sun to smoke.
"You have people outside who are going to have a heat stroke," O'Neal said.
John Sheets, who sat at the bar sipping a Budweiser, couldn't agree more.
"Our country's becoming more communist every day," Sheets said. "It's my right to come here and smoke. I'll sit here and smoke until they shut 'er down."
Debbie Knight, who owns the Halfway Home bar down the street, said Health Department inspectors -- armed with a tape measure -- paid her bar a visit today and scolded her for allowing customers to smoke on an outside patio that wasn't 15 feet from the bar's back door. The patio cost $500 to build, Knight said.
"This smoking ban is costing me money," said Knight, who said her bar and video lottery sales have declined since the ban took effect. "There's no way we can stay in business like this. If you're a small business, you have to accommodate your customers."
Asked how long he would allow his customers to smoke, Ellison replied, "Until someone makes me stop."
"Now that I've got the horse out of the barn, I'm going to ride him," he said. "They said you get one warning and to use it wisely. I think I used mine wisely. Look around."
Read

---

Bar Owners Alter Strategy to Fight Smoking Ban
August 18, 2008
By Andrew Nagy  
After months of fighting a countywide smoking ban through protest and other traditional means, Kanawha County, West Virginia, bar owners are being advised to try a new strategy: filing insurance claims.
The West Virginia Association of Club Owners & Fraternal Services is urging the claims be filed against the Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health for committing a “wrongful act” when it passed the smoking ban.
To the chagrin of fuming bar owners, the health board passed the countywide ban and it took effect July 1. Owners took to the streets of Charleston on August 4, claiming the ban has had a negative impact on the local economy.
And they have data to prove it, not just anecdotal claims. According to the state Lottery Commission, bar customers spent $1.2 million less gambling from June to July, a 9 percent decrease. West Virginia legalized the use of video lottery machines in bars in 2004.
Jesse Banes, spokesman for the club owners association, believes this loss of state tax revenue is enough evidence for lawmakers to take a second look at the legislation, perhaps even rescind it.
“Only the state Legislature has the means to increase or decrease tax revenue, not the Kanawha County Board of Health,” Bane told The Charleston Gazette.
Read

---

WENT TO MEETING ON SMOKING BAN ON AUG. 28!  FOUND OUT AT 5:00 THE PAPER MIS PRINTED' IT IS NOW THE 11 OF SEPT.  THIS IS DRIVING ME CRAZY! HOW COULD THE PAPER GET AUG. 28 AND SEPT.11 MIXED UP?  OH WELL, WE WILL AIM FOR SEPT.11, IF THEY DON'T CHANGE IT AGAIN.
*****************

Bar owners, anti-smoking advocates face off over total ban in Kanawha

August 21, 2007
By Eric Eyre

Kanawha County bar owners say they know smoking isn’t healthy.

But they believe businesses should have the right to set their own rules, and people should have the right to light up.

“Smoking kills people, but it’s not illegal,” said John Carney, owner of the Blue Parrot in downtown Charleston. “People should be able to partake of a legal substance.”

At a public hearing Monday night, a handful of bar owners urged Kanawha-Charleston health board members to reject a proposal to expand the countywide smoking ban to bars, gambling parlors and the Tri-State Racetrack & Casino in Nitro.

About 30 people attended the hearing at St. Albans High School.

Of those who spoke, supporters of strengthening the county’s anti-smoking rules slightly outnumbered opponents. Many supporters wore red shirts, signifying their support for non-smokers’ rights.

They tossed out statistics about the dangers of smoking, talked about the poisonous chemicals contained in cigarettes and spoke of the deaths of family members who smoked.

Charleston City Councilman John Miller held up an American Cancer Society poster depicting the inside of a woman’s face ravaged by years of smoking.

“This is what happens because of the toxins and other poisonous chemicals that get in the body,” Miller said.

Rebecca Nossaman, a Putnam County resident and Kanawha County student, said she felt discriminated against as a non-smoker. She looks forward to the day when she can go to a smoke-free bar.

“The smoking in the bars bothers me,” Nossaman said. “My lungs hurt by the time I leave. Please do everything possible to pass this.”

Several bar owners predicted that businesses would find ways to skirt the anti-smoking rules or ignore them altogether. Some bars were already making plans to build outside patios, bar owners said.

Thornton Cooper, a South Charleston lawyer, said the health board must enforce the ban if it’s expanded.

“Make sure you have the personnel so everyone is on a level playing field,” Cooper said. “If you’re going to get compliance, you have to make sure they all comply.”

Health board members voted unanimously last month to support the proposal to strengthen the county’s smoke-free regulations, which have banned people from lighting up in restaurants and most other indoor buildings since 2003.

They didn’t comment Monday night, saying the public hearing wasn’t a “debate.”

The health department will take written comments on the smoking ban proposal until Sept. 17.

A second public hearing will be 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12 at the Kanawha County Board of Education office, 200 Elizabeth St., in Charleston.

An estimated 180 bars and gaming establishments across Kanawha County would be affected by the smoke-free regulations.

A final vote on the smoking ban proposal is expected in October at the latest. The new rules would take effect July 1, 2008.

To contact staff writer Eric Eyre, use e-mail or call 348-4869.
Read

Bar owners fight smoking ban

August 13, 2007
By Sarah K. Winn, Staff writer 

Kanawha County bar owners aren’t taking the proposed countywide smoking ban lightly.

“By law, we have to post warnings on the door,” said Jean Angle, owner of The Pour House Sports Bar in North Charleston. “Then, it’s your choice whether you walk through the door.”

Kanawha-Charleston health board members voted unanimously in July to support a proposal to expand the county’s smoke-free places. On Sunday, a group of bar owners and workers met at the Pour House to vent their frustrations with the recently proposed sweeping smoking ban.

They talked about possible legal action and said the ban could effectively close down their businesses.

“It scares me half to death,” Angle said.

The main goal was to encourage bar owners and their employees to attend the upcoming public hearings, Angle said.

Public hearings for the proposed ban will be Aug. 20 at St. Albans High School and Sept. 12 at the Kanawha County Board of Education office, 200 Elizabeth St. in Charleston. Both will run from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

A final vote is expected in October at the latest.

Joe Moore, who provides entertainment for various venues in the Kanawha Valley, said he would suffer if the ban were pushed through.

“If the bar doesn’t make money, then I’m not going to make money,” he said. “If you don’t bring the business, then I don’t get paid.”

John Carney, owner of the Blue Parrot in downtown Charleston, agreed, saying those who provide music and other entertainment will likely suffer if the bar business slows.

Carney said The Blue Parrot has already gone through this once before, when smoking was banned in restaurants. The Blue Parrot decided to stop serving food and he had to get rid of the three lunchtime workers, he said.

“Maybe they should have done this [a complete smoking ban] then,” he said. “Smoking may be unpopular, but it isn’t illegal.”

For Bill Lanham, owner of Sneekers nightclub in Teays Valley, this bar-owners’ fight is all too familiar. Putnam County bar owners have been fighting the smoking ban for months. Recently, the owners received a reprieve when it was discovered that the ban was never actually passed by county health board members.

Since the discovery, his business has improved, Lanham said.

“It’s starting to pick back up,” he said. “It [the smoking ban] almost put me out of business, but an upcoming re-vote could send his business back into peril, he said. And Kanawha County bar owners have a fight ahead of them, he said.

“It’s five volunteers [those that serve on the health board] dictating what thousands of people do,” he said. “It’s going to be tough.”

For Angle, that’s just what she and others are planning on doing — organizing and encouraging others to attend the upcoming public hearings.

For her, it’s about compromise, she said. When she first opened The Pour House, the large banquet room was non-smoking, she said. But her customers wanted differently, so she changed it, she said.

“There is a compromise,” she said. “But we are running out of time.”

To contact staff writer Sarah K. Winn, use e-mail or call 348-5156.
Read

July 02, 2007

by Matthew Thompson Daily Mail staff

A Kanawha County commissioner is urging the Legislature to get involved in the debate over county smoking bans, following in the footsteps of another state that's trying to take authority away from local health departments.

Commissioner Kent Carper said he thinks members of Kanawha County's health board, who are not elected by the public, shouldn't have the final say on a smoking ban.

"If we have a Legislature, then why do we need 55 different regulatory enactments?" Carper said. "I don't understand why we have non-elected, non-accountable health boards to make the decision when the Legislature has the authority and obligation to do it."

Lawmakers in Pennsylvania are engaged in the same debate. Last week, that state's Senate approved a bill that bans smoking in most public places, including sports arenas, stores, restaurants, shopping malls and convention halls. It exempts private clubs, bars and casinos.

The ban would override any decisions made by Pennsylvania's local health boards.

The bill still has to be voted on by the House, and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has threatened to veto the current measure because of its exemptions.

Some West Virginia lawmakers said they think the smoking issue should stay in the hands of local health boards.

"There's varying opinions on the issue depending where you are in the state," said Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha. "To say that Kanawha County would have the same views on smoking as Clay County or Hancock County is a very serious issue. At this point I think it's best addressed on a local level."

McCabe said he would be surprised if the Legislature ever decided to take on the issue.

"In a perfect world, to not have smoking is the desired result," McCabe said. "But you have to balance current realities with your goals. County health departments have the best ability to assess that."

The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department is considering tightening its smoking ban, enacted in 2004, to apply to bars and other venues that are now exempt.

The county's ordinance now bans smoking in all enclosed public places except gambling parlors and bars that make 80 percent of their profits from liquor sales.

Dr. Kerry Gateley, director of the health department, has proposed the extended ban take effect in 2008 or 2009 to give officials time to study the proposal.

The proposed changes have come under fire by business owners who say a ban will hurt them.

Putnam County recently banned smoking entirely in all business establishments, including slot parlors and bars.

A similar policy in Jackson County has been widely criticized, with some bar owners publicly defying the ban.

Carper said the public and business owners might be more open to the issue if the Legislature discussed it.

He said he thinks lawmakers are "passing the buck" on a heated political issue.

"There are very well-intended and good people on the health boards," Carper said. "But the people didn't elect them."

Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha, said he would be worried about influence from special interest groups, including tobacco lobbyists, if the Legislature took up the matter.

Foster, a practicing physician, said representatives of health departments are less likely to be affected by special interest groups because they're not elected.

"Boards of Health are strictly obligated to take care of public health and nothing else. That is their goal," Foster said. "They should maintain jurisdiction over such an issue as smoking."

Sen. Vic Sprouse, R-Kanawha, said an elected body should decide the issue, but he's not sure if the final word should be with the Legislature.

Sprouse said he would be happy with county commissions or even voters deciding on whether to have or expand smoking bans.

"The issue should be decided in some way through the electoral process," Sprouse said. "I don't like the fact that a sweeping universal change such as a smoking ban is being decided by unelected officials."

Carper said he would be happy if the issue went before voters in local referendum elections.

He said he thinks a smoking ban would be overwhelmingly approved at Kanawha County polls.

"It would pass by 80 percent of the vote," Carper said. "I believe the people want this."

Contact writer Matthew Thompson at matthewthompson@dailymail.com or 348-4834.

Read 

Jones supports exemption on smoking ban for gaming center
Daily Mail - Charleston - Charleston,WV,USA
Sixteen West Virginia counties have adopted smoking bans that include bars and gambling parlors, according to the Smoke-free Initiative of West Virginia. ...


Kanawha Smoking Ban Could Become More Restrictive

June 5, 2007

Ban may extend to bars.
A proposal to expand the smoking ban in Kanawha County is creating some controversy.

Bars and gaming establishments are currently the only public places in Kanawha County where smoking is still allowed.

However, the Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health will soon consider removing that exemption.

While some business owners are not happy about that prospect, health officials said they're failing to see the entire picture.

"What's happening to them has to be taken into account, but there's also the employees as well as the patrons of those establishments and we have to take their needs and their health into consideration," said Dr. Kerry Gateley, director of the health department.

The board of health plans to discuss the proposal at its meeting on Thursday.

Gateley expects public hearings to follow.
Read

---

Editorial: Over-regulation is a bad habit, too
Consenting adults have the right to associate freely in smoky bars

October 04, 2006
CHRISTOPHER Columbus, arriving in America in 1492, returned to Europe with tobacco leaves and seeds. Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) is credited with popularizing smoking in the Old World.

It is said that Raleigh sent a servant out for ale, picked up his pipe and lit up. The servant returned, and seeing his master wreathed in smoke, concluded he was on fire and threw the ale all over him.

"The fashion of smoking caught on among colonists, and when they were asked why they did it, their only answer was that they could not do without it any more," wrote Bishop Bartholomus de las Casas (1474-1566).

By 1604, James I of England had declared smoking "A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs,

and in the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless."

Health-conscious regulators have been trying to stamp out smoking for centuries, but have failed to extinguish the habit entirely.

Yet the struggle continues. Regulators find rule-making almost as irresistible as smokers find tobacco.

Certainly, non-smokers -- especially children -- should not be prisoners of smokers.

So it was logical for the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department to ban smoking in eateries that rely on food for more than 20 percent of their sales, and to tell restaurant-bars that they may allow smoking only if it is confined to a section closed off from the eating area.

A number of businesses went to a great deal of expense to comply.

But the urge to regulate is never satisfied, and the health department now proposes another turn of the thumbscrews. This time, the board proposes to ban smoking in bars altogether.

Furthermore, Dr. Kerry Gately, executive director of the department, takes a dim view of allowing consenting adults to congregate in private clubs that allow smoking. Maine, he told a reporter, exempted private clubs from the prohibition on smoking, and made becoming a private club too easy.

Kanawha County, he said, needs to close any such loopholes.

This is getting a little carried away. Americans have the right to associate freely -- in smoky bars if they choose, or in oxygen bars if that is their preference -- and should retain that right.

The regulatory impulse can get out of hand as well.
Read

---

Board deliberates an all-out smoking ban

September 29, 2006

The Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health discussed how it may phase out smoking in all public places in the county.

Putnam County approved a similar policy Tuesday, a move praised by the Kanawha health board.

Kanawha County has taken the approach of some other states in enacting regulations for indoor smoking and then working to phase it out in bars and private clubs, explained Dr. Kerry Gateley, executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department.

Kanawha County's existing rule prohibits smoking in all eateries that rely on food for more than 20 percent of their sales. Restaurant bars can allow smoking if the smoking section is closed off from the eating area.

But some states have run into "definitional problems," Kerry told board members this week. In Maine, the regulation exempted private clubs, but becoming a private club was extremely easy, he said.

The board needs to make sure such loopholes do not creep into Kanawha County's regulations, Gateley said.

"A lot of states seem to struggle with this private club thing," he said. "The easier this thing is to understand and interpret, the better."

The smoke-free regulation will take hold gradually so that the public and businesses can adjust, said Dr. Steven Artz, the board's president.

"The community has plenty of notice," he said. "If they have adequate notice, I'm sure there will be some grumbling, but we can move forward over time. There will be some structure."

Part of the reason for the all out ban on smoking is to even the ground between businesses that can allow smoking and those that cannot, board members said.

In other business:

Flu shots for the upcoming flu season are ordered, but coming in slowly because of manufacturing delays, Gateley reported.

The county ordered 15,000 doses, plus 11,000 for smaller health departments that usually see delays. The first shipment comes in today, but is only 744 doses. The state provided another 1,080, he said.

A letter from one vaccine company, Sanofi Pasteur, said that 40 to 50 percent of the order should come in by the end of October with the rest to follow in November or December.

The health department continues to design a new building that will fit its needs. The two highlighted at Thursday's meeting are parking and a large storage cooler for vaccines.

"A facility where we provide a clinic without up-to-the-door parking or valet parking is impractical," Artz said. "Clients need front door access."
Read

Wider smoking ban on agenda

July 21, 2006
Morgan Kelly

The Kanawha County Board of Health put the wheels in motion Thursday to make all public buildings and areas in the county completely smoke-free.

Board members agreed to put together a timeline for an eventual smoke-free policy, inspired by the U.S. Surgeon General’s ruling last month that all levels of secondhand smoke are unsafe.

“With [that] report, it’s becoming harder from a public health standpoint to defend people being exposed to secondhand smoke,” Dr. Kerry Gateley, executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, said after the meeting.

The proposed smoke-free regulation would ban smoking in bars and other non-restaurant areas, including areas that the county’s current smoking regulation lets slide, provided they are separate from eating areas.

But health board members talked about easing into any future regulation, possibly allowing businesses that have already complied with the current regulation to still allow smoking.

“We don’t want to yank the rug out from under” businesses in the county that have already spent time and money getting up to code, said Dr. Steven Artz, board president.

“This won’t happen overnight, so people shouldn’t freak,” Artz said, nonetheless recognizing the fertile ground for controversy.

“This is the beginning of tumultuous times,” he told board members.

Before a timetable is set, the health department will research how other cities, counties and states went smoke-free, Gateley said. He and staff will decide which places would fall under the regulation’s reach.

Gateley noted that although state bars are technically private clubs, they are held to other public health codes: “From the standpoint of public health, private is still public.”

The department will also keep looking into the effects of secondhand smoke, particularly to employees, he said. “We allow far higher levels of toxins in bars than we would accept in a coal mine,” he said.

Gateley hopes to have the health department’s report done by September.
Read