Kaine highlights approaching ban on restaurant smoking
BOB BROWN / TIMES-DISPATCH
Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, left, talks with Gray Wyatt, owner of Perly’s Restaurant in Richmond, which has been smoke-free for a number of years.
Gray Wyatt made his Richmond restaurant, Perly's, smoke-free in 1998 and never looked back.
"I think when people sit down to eat, the last thing they want to deal with is tobacco smoke," Wyatt said yesterday.
"It's not a very good condiment."
So, Perly's Restaurant & Deli was a logical place for Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to kick off a countdown to Virginia's upcoming ban on smoking in restaurants, which takes effect Dec. 1.
Kaine, accompanied by the state health commissioner, Dr. Karen Remley, crisscrossed the commonwealth yesterday, dropping by eateries to extol the virtues of smoke-free dining.
Twenty-six other states and the District of Columbia already ban smoking in restaurants. In 2006, Kaine issued an executive order prohibiting smoking in state offices.
Currently, 70 percent of Virginia's restaurants are smoke-free.
When the law takes effect, all restaurants will have to either ban smoking or maintain a separately ventilated, enclosed room for those who wish to light up. Private clubs are exempt.
Kaine delivered the same message at eateries in Norfolk, Richmond, Roanoke and in Fairfax County's Burke community.
People who work in restaurants that permit smoking are twice as likely as the average American to develop lung cancer, Kaine said.
The governor also said studies show that restaurants do not lose business after such bans are introduced.
"It's made my business better," Wyatt said.
The governor said businesses generally have lower medical costs and fire-insurance rates when they go smoke-free. According to the state Health Department, secondhand smoke is responsible for more than 1,000 deaths a year in Virginia.
So Kaine urged restaurants to comply with the ban right now.
"I encourage other restaurants to go smoke-free before December 1st to immediately protect restaurant-goers and workers alike," Kaine said.
Remley said the administration is working with a restaurant association and advocacy groups to take a "common-sense and cost-effective approach" to implementing the ban.
"As a person with asthma, I'm delighted to have institutions in the state go smoke-free so I can dine comfortably," she said.
In Roanoke, owners of Table 50 restaurant said their decision to open up four years ago as a smoke-free eatery was as much about their food as it was about health.
"Smoke affects the quality of the food," said owner Eric DiLauro. "You can't have one with the other."
At his last stop, at El Pueblo restaurant in Burke, Kaine used his fluency in Spanish to deliver the message to diners and workers.
The governor also offered a toll-free number, 1-800-QUIT NOW, for Virginia residents interested in quitting the habit.
Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or
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Reader Reactions
Well Banning smoking in a resturant where people can eat and just leave is ok, but I feel banning smoking from a bar is different from a resturant, a bar people likes to drink a few beers and 9 out of 10 people that drinks smoke and all this smoke banning from bars is causing bars to go out of business and for the bars that doesn’t have the smoking ban that will be getting them there bars will be out of business to, a bar should be able to have smoking just like the private clubs do, private clubs shouldn’t be treated better than bars, If people choose to want to drink at a bar and smoke they should be able to do so,a place just to eat just serves food, a bar that serves beer and food should be able to smoke if they wish to do so, then people that wants to eat without smoking can go to just eat and people that choose to eat and drink can do so at a place that serves beer the people should have a choice to eat at a bar or at a resturant,a place that serves beer should not be in this smoking ban, as smoking ban will not effect just a business that serves food but will effect a business that serves beer and then the people can choose to eat at a bar or at a place just to eat, I feel that if people can’t smoke in a bar then the law needs to be changed that bars shouldn’t have to serve food, no wonder businesses are going out of business, people can’t even have the right to allow there customers to choose to smoke or not to smoke, but resturant and a bar should not be considered the same there is a difference, a resturant that serves just food is a resturant, a place that serves beer and food is a bar, and what about a dance at a bar most smokers goes there to, many of bars has dancing and serves food why is these types of places considered a resturant when they just don’t serve food, thats what a resturant does, I just feel that all this smoking ban in a place that serves beer is not right, if a place of business serves beer should have the right to smoke and should be excluded from the smoking ban, a bar owner has to pay out more money than just a place to eat does owner, a bar owner has more responsibilitys than just a place to eat does and I feel that a place that serves beer should be allowed to smoke and be excluded from resturants just a place to eat and let the people choose to eat at a resturant with no smoking or go to a bar an eat, drink and smoke, people that don’t want to eat at a bar don’t have to they can go to a resturant, bars shouldn’t be put out of business, does people just go to a bar to eat, no I don’t think so, thats what they have just resturants for, but a place that serves food isn’t just a resturant, people shouldn’t have to go outside to smoke, run in and out letting the business owners Electric bill go up cause the aircondition is on in the summer and the heat on the the winter lettin the hot air come in and the old air coming in just to go outside and smoke, this will cause more jobs be lost as the bars go out of business, I just feel that this smoking ban in a place that serves beer needs to be changed allowing people to smoke in a place that serves beer.thats my opinion.
People who work in restaurants that permit smoking are twice as likely as the average American to develop lung cancer, Kaine said.
Where did he find this information. All published Studies refute this statistic.
http://www.pipes.org/Articles/Bliley.html
http://d.yimg.com/kq/groups/11455184/1084198803/name/COMPILATION OF STUDIES.doc EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES ON SHS
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2004/04/american-cancer-society-test-results.html ACS air study
http://www.nycclash.com/CaseAgainstBans/OSHA.html Air according to OSHA
Mr. Kaine is getting his information from sources that will profit from bans such as this.
Just to put this in the simplest of form: If you think a restaurant is to full of smoke, THEN DON’T GO THERE! If the owner believes that people smoking are hurting his sales, he will ban smoking in his establishment (i.e. capitalism).
If the owner believes he is losing quality workers because they do not want to work in a smoke environment, then he will ban smoking in his restaurant. This government intervention is killing me!
Come on people, we may not be a true socialist country yet, but we’re heading that way everyday. We can get this country back on the right track by turning over congress in the 2010 elections.
The “70% of Virgina restaurants are already smokefree” is very misleading, since the vast majority of “restaurants” are fast food (Subway, McDonald’s, etc.)
Very few restaurants that serve alcohol are smokefree. Alexandria touted their volunteer smokefree restaurants a while ago, yet in the entire county, I think there was only 1 place on the list where you could get a drink and not breathe smoke.
Congrats to Kaine and the citizens of Virgina who will now be able to enjoy going out without the smoke.
Thank you Tim Kaine and the Virginia Assembly, a long overdue move.
Smokers beat it!
Robo
I lived in Minnesota many years before the smoking ban started there. It started with a ban in certain cities, counties and then went state wide. As a result, many of my favorite restaurants, bars and clubs all went out of business. Their food was delicious, but the people who enjoy smoking were less inclined to eat out when they can eat at home, for less, and smoke.
You can cite all the studies you want, but I was good friends with a family who ran a local diner. Their business dropped 90% the first day of the smoking ban. Don’t try to peddle the “smoking bans don’t hurt anyone” non-sense, because they do. You will have less selection as a segment of the population dines at home instead of dining out.
As for those who complain about the working conditions, please note that the law still puts those people in the same working conditions now. In fact, most bar owners can install air systems in which you would never know the table next to you was smoking. All this fake vitriol over something that no one has ever stopped to look at from a perspective other than their own is abysmal. People work in smoking restaurants because they want to. I did it, and would do it again. Smokers are big tippers!
So please, spare me your false sense of nobility when telling me that a smoking ban is good for anyone but yourself.
if you whiners had any real idea what you were talking about, you’d STFU.
when smoking was allowed everywhere, there was no alternative. bartenders and waitstaff were exposed to 2nd hand smoke.
the law allows establishments to provide separate ventilated facilities for smokers. if there’s such a big market for smoking restaurants, they’ll be full of smoke and diners. if not, nobody will even care.
why should the 20% of smokers be allowed to impose their habit on the 80% of non-smokers.
i am sure none of you have even visited a real socialist or Muslim country, al you know is what Glenn Beak told you.
(it’s not a misspelling…)
This wonderful country is turning into Russia. Or maybe a Muslim country.. maybe one day us beautiful women will have to completely cover up from head to toe or be shot!!
Democrats are simple people. They believe in the right of a woman to choose whether or not to have an abortion. But they restrict the choice of whether a restaurant owner can allow smoking in their own private businesses…Unbelievable. If people do not want to frequent a restaurant that allows smoking, then they already have that available to them. If a worker does not want to work in a restaurant that allows smoking, then they don’t have to. This is just another example of our socialist government interfering with private business. What is this great country turning into!!
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