To: jhild who wrote (11144 ) 12/30/1997 4:28:00 PM From: Glenn D. Rudolph Respond to
Bar owners ready to eliminate smoking
United Press International - December 30, 1997 15:59
%DOMESTIC %US %BARSMOKE V%UPI P%UPI
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 30 (UPI) - At the stroke of midnight on New
Year's Eve, California will become the first state in the nation to ban
smoking in bars, nightclubs and gaming casinos.
Some bar owners (Tuesday) are protesting the measure and predicting
that business will plummet, while others are finding creative ways to
keep their smoking customers.
The owners of Cameron's Restaurant & Inn in Half Moon Bay plan to
turn a 1966 English double-decker bus into a parking lot smoking lounge.
And in San Mateo, the staff at Barley & Hopps is opening a smoking
lounge equipped with an intercom system by which patrons will order
their drinks.
Dean Fryer of the Department of Industrial Relations said the law is
designed to protect employees, which means customers cannot smoke in
enclosed rooms if employees are within the vicinity.
''The whole issue is employee health so if the owner is the only
worker then that might not be a problem,'' Fryer said. ''Every day there
is a new issue.''
The American Lung Association says bar employees breathe in the
equivalent of a pack and a half to two packs of cigarettes during an
eight-hour shift.
And the state Department of Health Services reports bartenders have
higher rates of lung cancer than firefighters, miners and duct workers.
Members of Local 30, the San Diego Hotel Employees and Restaurant
Union, are urging the Legislature to repeal the ban, which they say will
result in layoffs if bar business goes down by only 5 percent.
A state study of non-smoking bars contradicts that prediction.
--
Copyright 1997 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
