No butts about it, smoking lamp’s out

Sugar Shack owner Steve Runyan was confused when one of his regular customers kept stepping outside his bar during a National Football League playoff game earlier this year.

Watch video of reactions to the smoking ban

“ ‘I’m just practicing for the smoking ban,’ ” Runyan said the customer told him. “ ‘If I go out there for awhile, maybe I’ll get it down.’ ”

Come Tuesday, practice will be over.

Bar patrons will have to light up outside their favorite watering holes across Arizona as the smoking ban at bars and restaurants begins. Voters approved the prohibition in November, forcing smokers to patios, and in places without outdoor seating like downtown Scottsdale’s Sugar Shack, smokers will have to inhale outside.

Runyan and other bartenders across the East Valley objected to the ban, but accepted it’s better than the patchwork of municipal restrictions that had been in place across the Valley. The new state law means bars in Tempe, where voters had previously banned smoking, will be on a level playing field with other state municipalities. Bartenders say the uniformity could keep smokers going to their favorite places because they won’t have any options.

“People are always going to go out to a bar,” said Allen Diamond, a bartender at the 33-year-old DJ’s on Stetson Drive in Scottsdale.

But for Tim Martori, who for one of the last times was enjoying a cigarette, conversation and a beer while sitting at DJ’s bar, the ban will make him think twice before deciding whether it’s worth going out.

“There’s no reason to come in anymore,” Martori said.

That sentiment has many bar owners fearing the ban could bring financial ruin.

Bill Weigele has heard about the fears through his role as president of the Arizona Licensed Beverage Association. He figures business will dip at first but smokers will return to their old haunts in the summer.

Bars will do fine if they’ve got something else for smokers — other drinking companions, a friendly bartender, good food or fast service.

“If lighting a cigarette is what you’re all about, then you’re in the wrong business,” Weigele said.

Weigele said the ban is an opportunity for bars, taverns and other businesses to try to attract people who never came because of the smoke.

Some bars did suffer and fail in Tempe when voters banned smoking. That helped places such as the George & Dragon Restaurant in Phoenix, directly across the 48th Street border with Tempe.

Owner Sandy Sheridan remembers the sense of panic when she first heard about the statewide ban but doesn’t think it’s a big deal anymore. About half the bar crowd smokes, Sheridan said, and will probably keep coming to her bar because there aren’t many options.

“At this point, where are they going to go?” Sheridan asked.

Casinos and fraternal clubs are about the only places where it’s still legal to smoke.

Michael Pollack, who owns 60 Arizona shopping centers and has 30 nightclubs among his tenants, said he is getting calls from bar owners in California, which already has a statewide smoking ban.

They are “ready to pounce in here and pick up the pieces,” he said. “They’re telling me, ‘We are completely used to the situation. Give me a call if you get any failures. We’re ready to step in.’”

Bars could lure nonsmokers who shunned smoky places. Nonsmoker Mark Cunningham stops in at George & Dragon about twice a week and doesn’t mind the smoke.

But his wife does. She doesn’t like the way he smells when he goes home and said she might have a drink with him more often once the air clears.

“She is happy,” Cunningham said.

The smoking ban does not apply to tribal casinos.

The ban includes one little-known exception — unlicensed home day cares — which has made some nonsmoking advocates unhappy.

Some of the elderly will still have to breathe smoky air and may be afraid to object, said Betty Campbell, president of Arizonans for Non-Smokers’ Rights. Likewise, children also would be at risk.

“What kind of a person would want to subject children to that?” Campbell asked.

Nonsmokers should expect to find smoky bars for weeks or months after Tuesday, said Will Humble, assistant director of the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Inspectors will check businesses slowly and offer warnings, assuming that owners forgot the ban kicked in or didn’t know about it. But if future visits reveal more violations, business owners will face fines of $100 to $500. Offending smokers could pay a penalty between $30 and $300.

Humble anticipates a few businesses will defy the ban to protest what they see as an unjust infringement on their property rights. DHS will crack down on those owners by midsummer, Humble said.

The biggest problem may be in offices or small stores like pawn shops, Humble said. Some businesses incorrectly think the ban is just for restaurants and bars and will be caught off guard.

If people are bothered by scofflaw smokers, Humble said they should first alert a manager.

“If they take care of it, you don’t need to give us a call,” Humble said.

About the new laws

The voter-approved Smoke-Free Arizona Act prohibits smoking in most indoor public places including:

• Restaurants, bars, gaming facilities such as bingo halls, billiard or pool halls, bowling centers, public buildings, grocery stores or any food service establishment.

• Lobbies, elevators, restrooms, reception areas, hallways and any other common-use areas in public and private buildings, condominiums and other multiple-unit residential facilities.

• Indoor sports arenas, gymnasiums and auditoriums.

• Health care facilities, hospitals, health care clinics, doctors’ offices and child day care facilities.

• Common areas in hotels and motels, and no less than 50 percent of hotel or motel sleeping quarters rented to guests.

However, as sovereign nations, American Indian tribal facilities are exempt from the statute.

SOURCE: Smoke-Free Arizona, www.smokefreearizona.org

The Associated Press contributed to this report