Smoking becomes a business issue for proprietors, health issue for opponents

When Debbie Tyler opened K.D. O’Shea’s Irish Pub in March, she decided to make it a smoking establishment.

“I felt at the time that since there were virtually no restaurants that allowed smoking ... it might be a draw,” Tyler said.

But Tyler began hearing negative comments. There were people who wouldn’t step foot in her restaurant because of the possibility that someone would light up — they have allergies, didn’t want to smell of cigarette smoke, or didn’t want to expose their children to secondhand smoke. Even if there were only 20 people who expressed the concern, Tyler feared they would tell another 20 people who felt the same way.

On the flip side, she only had a few regular customers who were smokers.

So more than four months after opening, K.D. O’Shea’s became a non-smoking restaurant. The change occurred last week. Her smoking regulars, she said, promise to still dine at the restaurant.

“Eighty percent of the people are non-smoking, so who was I really catering to?” Tyler said. “It was a business decision.”

It’s been nearly five years since the City of Dothan passed a stricter indoor air ordinance. Restaurants must decide whether to be smoking or non-smoking. And unless they have a enclosed room completely separated, including ventilation, from the rest of the establishment, a restaurant cannot not designate an indoor “smoking area.” So for most restaurants, it’s all or nothing.

Two years ago, the Wiregrass Tobacco-Free Coalition tried to get the city to extend the ordinance to nightclubs, but the effort failed to get enough support.

Smoke-free advocates haven’t given up. Both the Wiregrass coalition and the statewide tobacco-free coalition plan to take up the fight against tobacco again — arguing employers should protect their employees from secondhand smoke.

The Wiregrass coalition may approach the Dothan City Commission once again in the fall about strengthening the city’s ordinance.

“We really would like for it to go as far as the bars because we think the welcome lady at Wal-mart is just as important as the lady that serves you in the bar,” said Judy Guiler of the Dothan-Houston County Substance Abuse Partnership, a partner in the coalition.

More and more private companies and governments are taking a harder line on employees who smoke.

In Escambia County, Fla., the county government recently adopted a tobacco-free hiring policy. The government already tests job applicants for drugs, but beginning Oct. 1, the county will begin testing all job applicants for tobacco use. The move by Escambia County is an attempt to lower insurance costs, according to news reports.

Guiler said under Dothan’s regulations, most restaurants have opted to go smoke-free.

“I think most of them made the choice because they felt it was the right way to go,” Guiler said.

Twenty-four states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico have smoke-free laws that cover restaurants and bars. Florida is one of four states with smoke-free laws that cover restaurants but exempt stand-alone bars, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Earlier this year, the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Alabama made the push for state legislation to ban smoking in all public and work places in Alabama. It made it through the Senate but didn’t come up for a final vote in the House before the 2008 session ended. The coalition plans to try again in 2009.

Marc T. Riker, executive director of the Alabama Sports Festival and the volunteer chairman of the coalition, said many local governments have not enacted tougher restrictions because they’re waiting on the state to do it for them. The state, he said, would rather local governments handle the matter as their communities see fit.

While some see smoking restrictions as another government control, Riker said the issue is about protecting the health of workers across the state who are employed in smoking environments.

“I think we’re creeping that way,” he said. “ ... When you’re starting to put somebody else into a risk situation, they have no other choice. I do believe that common sense will start to rule.”
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By the numbers ...
Tobacco Use in Alabama
22.1 percent — Total percentage of high school students who smoke.
19.7 percent — Male high school students who use smokeless or spit tobacco.
12,400 — Kids under age 18 who become new daily smokers each year.
289,000 — Kids exposed to second-hand smoke at home.
14 million — Packs of cigarettes bought or smoked by kids each year.
23.3 percent — Total percentage of adults in Alabama who smoke.
12.1 percent — Pregnant women who smoke.
Source: Alabama Department of Public Health, Tobacco Prevention and Control division