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No more lighting up when you're eating out

A ban on smoking in N.C. bars and restaurants goes into effect Saturday.

By Fred Clasen-Kelly

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

Published: December 31, 2009

CHARLOTTE - Starting Saturday in North Carolina -- where tobacco was once king -- Eric Althof can no longer fire up his Camel cigarettes while eating out or drinking with friends.

A new law takes effect imposing a fine of up to $50 for smoking inside bars and restaurants and $200 for business owners who permit smoking.

"I don't like it," said Althof, while waiting outside the Penguin in Plaza Midwood and taking the last drag from a cigarette.

North Carolina, the nation's leading tobacco producer, will join nearly 30 other states with similar bans. The change marks a startling shift in a state with deep historical ties to tobacco, public officials and historians say.

"Even as recently as a decade ago, this was unthinkable," said Ferrel Guillory, a professor and political expert at UNC Chapel Hill.

The ban is a monumental victory for public health groups that link second-hand cigarette smoke to increased risk for cancer, heart disease and respiratory illness.

The General Assembly narrowly passed the measure in May and Gov. Bev Perdue signed it into law.

It's a compromise for anti-smoking advocates who initially pushed to prohibit smoking in all public places.

Cigar bars and private clubs like VFW halls are exempt from the rules. Patio areas outside restaurants and bars are also unaffected.

Local health departments will record complaints from customers and issue warnings to establishments for the first two violations, said Jim Martin, director of policy and programs for the Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

A third violation would result in an inspection and possible fines, Martin said.

Across the state, bars, restaurants and smokers alike are preparing to break long-time customs.

Business owners will hang signs warning customers about the smoking ban. Some establishments are adding patios or covered outdoor areas to accommodate smokers.

Jimmy King, an owner of the Penguin, said he and other restaurant operators don't oppose the ban because it applies equally to bars and restaurants. Earlier versions of the legislation would have banned smoking in either bars or restaurants, but not both.

Opponents of the ban argue that it infringes on business owners' property rights and could harm business.

State Rep. Thom Tillis, a Charlotte Republican, predicted bars and restaurants would lose customers.

Tillis voted against the ban, but supported an earlier version of the bill that would have exempted businesses that did not hire minors and agreed to post warning signs about the dangers of second-hand smoke.

"Desperate businesses will ignore the law," he said.

Business at restaurants and bars in other states that have imposed smoking bans has remained about the same, said Paul Stone, president of the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association.

Stone said he expects little change in North Carolina because about half of all restaurants already ban smoking.

But the ban shows the diminished role of tobacco in North Carolina today, experts say.

Most newcomers to North Carolina have no family or financial ties to tobacco, said Thomas Hanchett, a historian at uptown's Levine Museum of the New South.

"When I came to Charlotte in 1981, I was choked up by the realization there was a lot more public smoking than I was used to," Hanchett said. "To see this happen to something so ingrained in the culture and history means that any change is possible."

On Wednesday, Leigh Redd stood outside the Penguin as her boyfriend puffed on a cigarette. Redd, 23, said she doesn't smoke and is happy with the smoking ban.

She said she is studying to become a nurse and has seen effects of smoking on emphysema patients.
"They can't breathe," Redd said. "It's the worst thing that could happen."

Althof, the smoker who did not agree with the ban, said he hopes the new law will help him quit cigarettes. He has smoked since high school and turns 30 next month, a milestone he has promised to celebrate by dropping the habit.

"In some ways," he said, "it is helping me."