Despite smoking ban, some still lighting up

By Shavonne Potts

spotts@salisburypost.com

Suzy Carter plays at local bars with her pool league two or more times a week. She says since the law changed Jan. 2, banning smoking in restaurants and bars, nothing’s changed.

Carter, who is a longtime member of the American Poolplayers Association, claims that of the places she frequents, at least one abides by the law.

She named half a dozen establishments in Salisbury and surrounding towns that continue to allow patrons to smoke. Of those she named, only two have had one violation each — The Buccaneer and Gina’s.

Carter was uneasy with talking to a Post reporter at first because she frequents many of these bars and was concerned she’d be kicked out of her pool league, of which she’s been a member since 1993. She relented.

“It’s the law. It’s a health issue and it needs to be taken seriously,” Carter said.

The law requires enclosed areas of almost all restaurants and bars to be smoke-free. Smoking is also banned in enclosed areas of hotels, motels, and inns if food and drink are prepared there.

There are some exceptions to this law:

• Cigar bars.

• Private clubs or country clubs.

• Restaurants that are not required to comply with sanitation laws.

Smoking is permitted in 20 percent of guest rooms in lodging establishments.

A cigar bar must meet all criteria set forth in the law, including the smoke cannot migrate from the bar to an enclosed area where smoking is banned, such as a restaurant.

A private club, according to the law, is one that maintains selective members, is operated by the members, must not provide food or lodging for pay to anyone who is not a member or a member’s guest.

A club that has nonprofit status must be incorporated as a nonprofit and exempt from paying federal income tax.

If a restaurant is not required to comply with the state’s sanitation laws, then it will not be required to comply with the new smoke-free law.

Environmental Health Manager Lynn Aldridge said the county health department knew the law was approaching before it went into effect. He, along with other staff and inspectors hit the streets to educate businesses about the impending changes.

“We visited with all the folks. We put together some information about the general statute,” he said.

He said the restaurants and motels were fairly easy because inspectors already had an established relationship with owners and managers through the permit process.

“Our issues have been mostly with the bars. They don’t have inspections with us,” Aldridge said.

Bars are inspected by the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission.

“Most have been good about it,” he said.

Carter says in her opinion there are quite a few who are not good about monitoring their bars and most don’t care.

“The problem is when the owners tell patrons it’s OK after 5 and that ‘I don’t care until I get fined,’ ” Carter said.

Carter said Gina’s is one of those places. Although Gina did not comment, her boyfriend, Scott Gentry, who assists at the bar, did.

Gentry said the business is compliant because it meets the criteria for exemptions.

He points to the exemptions of a private club and not being required to abide by the sanitation law.

He said they have members who can either choose to patronize the bar or not. Gentry also said the bar does not serve food except for prepackaged chips and other snack items, thus meeting the sanitation regulations. The bar also serves drinks in plastic and not glass.

He admitted to leaving the ashtrays out for patrons.

“We do not feel we can be fined,” Gentry said.

The bar was fined in August. A week later, Gentry contacted the Attorney General’s office. He said he was told the law was “unclear.”

He’s not since gotten confirmation on the correct interpretation of the law.

“It should be the business owner’s right to choose,” Gentry said.

He said according to the state ABC Commission, the bar is a private club.

Aldridge disagrees with that status saying based on the smoke-free law, it is not private.

“I’m helping her. She is trying to run her business. We should be able to do what we want legally,” Gentry said.

As a “free American citizen, and as a small business owner, if people want to have a beer and smoke a cigarette” they should be able to do so, he added.

He said there’s plenty of places that are not compliant.

Gentry said he’s made attempts to reach someone locally and they’ve not come to an agreement on the law.

Aldridge said complaints can be filed with his office or through the Tobacco and Prevention Control Branch, a division of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

“It’s not uncommon to take time. I don’t have a time frame to validate a complaint,” he said.

All complaints have to be verified and validated by a local health department official.

A person in charge of a restaurant, bar or lodging establishment must post no-smoking signs in obvious locations, remove indoor ashtrays and direct a person who is smoking to extinguish the cigarette, cigar or other item.

Every Monday, Aldridge receives a list of complaints that are compiled and sent from Raleigh. Inspectors go to an establishment to validate a complaint. If the complaint is validated, it becomes a violation.

“Until the offense is validated, we can’t take action,” he said.

The challenge to catching someone who is noncompliant, Aldridge said, is most bars are open after 5 p.m. Inspectors typically work 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and must adjust their schedules to verify a complaint.

Carter said she’s called Aldridge’s office several times, but it seems nothing has been done.

“They need to get off their daytime a--es and do their job. I know the county doesn’t want to pay overtime,” she said.

Carter said she has cancer, which she got from secondhand smoke.

She said she’s not the only one to complain.

“Even the smokers say it’s too smokey,” she said.

An establishment that has a first complaint that is validated, receives an education letter.

The letter explains the law and what will happen if there is another violation. A second validated complaint is met with another letter. A third complaint means a first warning, a fourth complaint means a second warning and when a business reaches the fifth complaint, the health director can issue an administrative penalty. The board of health has set that penalty at $200.

Any money collected from fines goes to the school system.

Aldridge said law enforcement, a judge’s order and inspectors can enforce the law.

“I don’t like going out to people’s places to tell them these things, but it’s the law,” he said.

In Rowan County, from Jan. 2-Aug. 29, there have been 22 documented complaints at 12 establishments and two of those were verified as violations.

Jim Martin, director of policy and program development for the Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch, said there’s not a lot of complaints for restaurants.

“There are hardly any complaints about smoking in restaurants. It’s mostly bars and it’s across the state,” he said.

Martin said there are more violations and complaints that appear on the website after the first few weeks, because the state allowed for a time when they expected some confusion about the law. Other businesses weren’t sure how the law applied to them, he said.

Efforts to reach the Buccaneer Lounge were unsuccessful. A listing for the Buccaneer Lounge has a non-working phone number.

To file a complaint locally, contact Aldridge at 704-216-8527 or at the state level at 1-800-662-7030. For more about the law, go to www.smokefree.nc.gov.