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NEWS BRIEFS
Complaints in Ky. city drop with smoking exemptions
HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) — A western Kentucky city has seen a drop in the number of complaints under a smoking ban since bars and taverns were exempted 18 months ago.
Henderson Police Department records recorded 47 smoking complaints since the ordinance went into effect. Most of those complaints took place in the first five months, when smoking was banned in bars and taverns, The Gleaner reported.
Since the ordinance was changed to allow smoking in bars, there have been only 11 complaints filed in 2007 and two complaints so far this year.
Of the 47 complaints made, eight resulted in the issuance of warnings. Another two calls resulted in four citations. The vast majority of calls were classified “assistance rendered” or “no action.”
All four citations came on the same day — Feb. 21, 2007 — when the Henderson City Commission was getting ready to amend the ordinance to allow smoking in bars. In both cases, the bar manager and a patron were cited.
Critics of the city’s enforcement said Henderson city officials aren’t taking the ordinance seriously.
“I’ve heard a lot of reports of places allowing smoking that are not supposed to allow smoking,” said Michael P. Kuntz, director of education and advocacy for the American Lung Association of Kentucky. “If establishments like the mayor’s are going to allow smoking what does that say to the rest of the community?”
Mayor Tom Davis, however, denied that his business, Wolf’s Tavern and Restaurant, violates the smoking ban.
“It’s not a joke,” Davis said of the ordinance. “We stayed with (the ordinance) for a year or so before we decided we could not stay a smoke-free facility. We took a substantial loss while we were smoke-free.”
Henderson’s smoking ban took effect Oct. 1, 2006, and it became an issue in the election that followed a month later. That resulted in the ordinance being changed March 13, 2007, to allow smoking in bars and taverns.
However, if the bar also maintains a restaurant, the smoking areas are supposed to be separate from other areas of the business and must have their own ventilation systems.
At last count, 13 cities and seven counties in Kentucky had passed forms of smoking bans broader than just municipal buildings, according to the Kentucky League of Cities. The next ban to take effect will be in Madisonville in western Kentucky.
The Clean Indoor Air Regulation adopted by the Hopkins County Board of Health goes into effect Oct. 12. The measure bans smoking in most enclosed public places in the county with a few exceptions.
Echo Lanes bowling alley has had 10 complaints called in since the ordinance was passed, the most of any business.
Bob Harper, owner of the bowling alley, said the ordinance puts the burden on managers and owners to enforce the smoking ban, which he said is unreasonable.
Harper said he spent nearly $50,000 to erect a wall and install a new air conditioning system and estimated he’s lost another $75,000 a year because 54 of his league bowlers quit coming as soon as the ban took effect.
“We’ve stood at the door and waited for all these nonsmokers they promised us, but they’re just not coming,” he said, estimating that 75 percent of bowlers smoke.
Attorney Leslie Newman, who pushed for the smoking ban, said the ordinance generally been a success, although she would like to see a stricter comprehensive ban.
“A comprehensive ordinance would level the playing field,” she said. “I think that would make it more fair for all the business people.”
