Restaurants go smokeless ahead of state ban
With state smoking ban only a month away, some local restaurants, bars get early start on going smoke-free.
Lancaster New Era
Published: Aug 05, 2008
11:19 EST
11:19 EST
Lancaster
By CHAD UMBLE, Staff
With just over a month until Pennsylvania's smoking ban goes into effect, some bars and restaurants here have already cleared their air.
At Lancaster Dispensing Company, which went smoke-free April 1, Richard Moore has noticed.
"It smells better in here. Yes, indeed. It is really comfortable," Moore, a 64-year-old Lancaster groundskeeper said last week at the downtown restaurant.
"I like it because my grandson can come in here now and sit anywhere and enjoy it. And when I get home, I don't smell it in my clothes," Moore said.
But the coming smoking ban, which will mandate what some bar owners have lately been doing voluntarily, has some people fuming.
"If you're a non-smoker and you don't want to be in that atmosphere, there's plenty of places out there that are non-smoking. Go somewhere else," Jenn Sapp, a 52-year-old cook at O'Halloran's Irish Pub & Eatery, said last week.
"We have rights too, but they're all being stepped on and that annoys me," said Sapp, who smokes.
On Sept. 11, when Pennsylvania's smoking ban goes into effect, the Keystone state will join 32 others — including New Jersey — that have some type of smoking ban.
In an effort to protect employees from secondhand smoke, the Pennsylvania measure will outlaw smoking in restaurants and public places such as hospitals, schools and sports facilities. It also will forbid smoking in taxis, trains and buses and in train and bus stations.
During the last year in Lancaster County, at least a dozen bars and restaurants have already either changed to non-smoking or opened as smoke-free establishments.
Mick Owens, owner of Mick's All American Pub in Mount Joy, who is waiting until he has to make his bar smoke-free, said a state mandate was starting to seem unnecessary.
"I think the way it was going already, a lot of people were changing over to non-smoking willingly," said Owens, who is president of the Lancaster chapter of the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association.
Owens added that he doesn't like the law's exemptions for taverns, portions of casinos, cigar bars and private clubs.
"The biggest issue with this law is that it has basically made second-class citizens out of anyone who works at a private club," Owens said.
Reflections, in Leola, went completely smoke-free April 14. Owner Jim Garland said the decision originally cost him some of his bar business, but that is now coming back.
"It was a tough decision, but you know what, I think it is the right decision. Anybody that says seoncdhand smoke doesn't affect you —how can it not?" Garland said.
Legislation banning smoking had been proposed in the state Senate for more than a decade.
Bradley DeForge, co-owner of the Lancaster Dispensing Company, said he had monitored the legislation, but got tired of waiting for something to be enacted.
Since going smoke-free, DeForge said his business has noticeably improved and many people have thanked him for making the switch.
Greg Bucher, owner of Chancey's Pub in East Petersburg, said he thinks the state smoking ban will eventually be good for business, although he wasn't planning to go smoke-free without it.
"I just think that once the initial shock goes away, it'll be business as usual," Bucher said.
But at O'Halloran's, a neighborhood bar in Cabbage Hill, things will have to change. Most customers there early last Thursday evening were smoking, and the coming ban drew harsh rebukes.
"I'm not going to come sit in this bar if I can't smoke. I'm going to stay at home," said Tina Finnie, 39, of Lancaster, who owns a hair salon.
Bar owner Susie Armstrong said she worries the ban will force her patrons to go outside, where they could disturb neighbors. And, when they come back in, there could be disputes about lost seats, she added.
O'Halloran's bar manager Randy Groff agrees that the ban will be bad for business.
"You have your New York bars and it works for them. But we're not a high-class, high-society bar. We just want to give people what they deserve," he said.
Groff said he's especially worried about losing business because the bar is surrounded by several private clubs, which are exempt from the ban.
But Shelly Myers, who manages bingo for an American Legion post in Manheim, said the details of that exemption aren't obvious. The club is private, but the bingo games at the Slaymaker Lock complex on South West End Avenue, are open to the public.
Myers said she hasn't gotten a clear answer from state officials about whether smoking will be allowed during bingo games.
Yet Holli Senior, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, was unequivocal, saying bingo isn't exempt.
"If it is open to the public, there will be no smoking allowed." Senior said.
Staff writer Chad Umble can be reached at cumble@LNPnews.com or 481-6031.
Ban already in effect at Lancaster Dispensing Company
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Where smoking will be banned | Where it won't
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At Lancaster Dispensing Company, which went smoke-free April 1, Richard Moore has noticed.
"It smells better in here. Yes, indeed. It is really comfortable," Moore, a 64-year-old Lancaster groundskeeper said last week at the downtown restaurant.
"I like it because my grandson can come in here now and sit anywhere and enjoy it. And when I get home, I don't smell it in my clothes," Moore said.
But the coming smoking ban, which will mandate what some bar owners have lately been doing voluntarily, has some people fuming.
"If you're a non-smoker and you don't want to be in that atmosphere, there's plenty of places out there that are non-smoking. Go somewhere else," Jenn Sapp, a 52-year-old cook at O'Halloran's Irish Pub & Eatery, said last week.
"We have rights too, but they're all being stepped on and that annoys me," said Sapp, who smokes.
On Sept. 11, when Pennsylvania's smoking ban goes into effect, the Keystone state will join 32 others — including New Jersey — that have some type of smoking ban.
In an effort to protect employees from secondhand smoke, the Pennsylvania measure will outlaw smoking in restaurants and public places such as hospitals, schools and sports facilities. It also will forbid smoking in taxis, trains and buses and in train and bus stations.
- restaurant
(490) - Pennsylvania Depa... (57)
- smoking ban (25)
- bar (2)
During the last year in Lancaster County, at least a dozen bars and restaurants have already either changed to non-smoking or opened as smoke-free establishments.
Mick Owens, owner of Mick's All American Pub in Mount Joy, who is waiting until he has to make his bar smoke-free, said a state mandate was starting to seem unnecessary.
"I think the way it was going already, a lot of people were changing over to non-smoking willingly," said Owens, who is president of the Lancaster chapter of the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association.
Owens added that he doesn't like the law's exemptions for taverns, portions of casinos, cigar bars and private clubs.
"The biggest issue with this law is that it has basically made second-class citizens out of anyone who works at a private club," Owens said.
Reflections, in Leola, went completely smoke-free April 14. Owner Jim Garland said the decision originally cost him some of his bar business, but that is now coming back.
"It was a tough decision, but you know what, I think it is the right decision. Anybody that says seoncdhand smoke doesn't affect you —how can it not?" Garland said.
Legislation banning smoking had been proposed in the state Senate for more than a decade.
Bradley DeForge, co-owner of the Lancaster Dispensing Company, said he had monitored the legislation, but got tired of waiting for something to be enacted.
Since going smoke-free, DeForge said his business has noticeably improved and many people have thanked him for making the switch.
Greg Bucher, owner of Chancey's Pub in East Petersburg, said he thinks the state smoking ban will eventually be good for business, although he wasn't planning to go smoke-free without it.
"I just think that once the initial shock goes away, it'll be business as usual," Bucher said.
But at O'Halloran's, a neighborhood bar in Cabbage Hill, things will have to change. Most customers there early last Thursday evening were smoking, and the coming ban drew harsh rebukes.
"I'm not going to come sit in this bar if I can't smoke. I'm going to stay at home," said Tina Finnie, 39, of Lancaster, who owns a hair salon.
Bar owner Susie Armstrong said she worries the ban will force her patrons to go outside, where they could disturb neighbors. And, when they come back in, there could be disputes about lost seats, she added.
O'Halloran's bar manager Randy Groff agrees that the ban will be bad for business.
"You have your New York bars and it works for them. But we're not a high-class, high-society bar. We just want to give people what they deserve," he said.
Groff said he's especially worried about losing business because the bar is surrounded by several private clubs, which are exempt from the ban.
But Shelly Myers, who manages bingo for an American Legion post in Manheim, said the details of that exemption aren't obvious. The club is private, but the bingo games at the Slaymaker Lock complex on South West End Avenue, are open to the public.
Myers said she hasn't gotten a clear answer from state officials about whether smoking will be allowed during bingo games.
Yet Holli Senior, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, was unequivocal, saying bingo isn't exempt.
"If it is open to the public, there will be no smoking allowed." Senior said.
Staff writer Chad Umble can be reached at cumble@LNPnews.com or 481-6031.