It's just days until Michigan stifles smoking

Mark Eidson is among patrons at Michigan Tavern who will be affected by Michigan's smoking ban.<br> <img src=http://www.toledoblade.com/assets/gif/weblink_icon.gif> <font color=red><b>COMMENT</b></font>: <a href=" http://tol.bz/cb2hc9"target="_blank"><b> on The Blade's Facebook page</b></a> THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Photo Reprints

If you're enjoying a brew or burger on a Michigan establishment's patio next weekend, don't think about lighting up.

Patios are not exempt from Michigan's impending smoking ban unless no food or drink is served on them, making the prohibition stricter than Ohio's law. Michigan's ban on smoking in public places goes into effect Saturday.

Still, there are more exemptions in Michigan's smoking ban than Ohio's. Smoking, for example, will be allowed in Michigan in cigar bars, specialty tobacco shops, and on Detroit casino floors.

But including patios that offer food and beverage service within the ban makes Mark Eidson fume. So does knowing Michigan residents weren't able to weigh in on the state's smoking ban while Ohio voters did.

"There's so many bars, I don't know why they just don't leave it up to the owners' discretion," the supervisor at Bedford Township's Michigan Tavern said last week while smoking a cigarette in the bar.

"We have to abide by the law," Mr. Eidson added. "I just don't think it's right we don't have a choice in it."

Michigan is the 38th state to ban smoking in public areas, including bars, restaurants, hotels, bowling alleys, and other workplaces. Violators in Michigan can be penalized $100 for first offenses and $500 for subsequent offenses.

Public health officials in Michigan said the smoke-free law will protect nonsmokers from second-hand smoke - and hopefully decrease heart attacks and other health problems as similar bans have done elsewhere.

"There is a long-term health benefit to the public," said Steve Todd, health officer for the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency in Hillsdale, Mich.

"If people smoke less, they're more apt to quit smoking," Mr. Todd said. "Cutting back on the number of cigarettes you smoke a day is still a plus."

Said Rebecca Head, director of the Monroe County Health Department: "We are thrilled that we finally will be able to protect workers, children, and others who might be at risk for second-hand smoke inhalation."

Smokers and business owners from Michigan and Ohio, however, have a different view. So do nonsmokers such as Jim Dudley, one of the bar managers at American Legion Post 514 in Temperance.

If casino floors can be exempted from the ban, then American Legions and other private organizations should be too, Mr. Dudley said. Not only does Post 514's bar have no paid employees since all workers are volunteers, it also doesn't serve any food, he said.

"We fought for this country," the Vietnam War veteran said, adding Michigan has no problem collecting taxes from the purchase of cigarettes. "It should be our choice because it's our bar, our club."

MT Loonies, a mile north of the state line in Bedford Township, fills with smokers from Toledo nightly, and customer Don McGuire of Toledo said nonsmokers could choose to stay out of establishments that allow smoking instead of enacting a smoking ban.

"There can be places for smokers and places for nonsmokers," said Mr. McGuire, who drove to MT Loonies with co-workers because they wanted a place to smoke. "If nonsmokers don't want to be around it, then they don't have to go there."

Gina Mercer of Toledo, who was with Mr. McGuire, agreed. "If I want to smoke, then I should be able to go out to a bar and smoke," she said.

Three years ago, after Ohio started enforcing its smoking ban, many Toledo-area residents began making a run for the state border and bars such as Michigan Tavern - a few hundred yards north of Ohio. "Wanna smoke? Come to Michigan. We'll take your business," the signs at the University of Michigan-themed bar proclaimed at the time.

By next weekend, Michigan Tavern's latest "Still Smoking" sign will be replaced. The ashtrays will be gone too.

Not being able to smoke on patios with service in Michigan eventually may help pull some former customers back to Anchor Inn in North Toledo after health department inspectors started cracking down on border bars defying the ban, co-owner Doreen Laas said. The Suder Avenue bar has a patio.

"That's pretty tough - that's a real tough law," Mrs. Laas said. "That's going to help. I sure hope it does."

Yet Michigan Tavern customer Don Grodi of Toledo said the smoking ban won't dissuade him from continuing to frequent the bar.

"These people who run the bar, they have a right to make a living," Mr. Grodi said. "I'll go outside, go to my car."

Some Ohio businesses continue to defy the law and allow smoking. Roughly 50,000 Ohio smoking ban complaints have been received in the last three years, including more than 2,100 in Lucas County, one of the highest numbers statewide, according to Ohio Department of Health statistics.

In Michigan, tobacco specialty stores and cigar bars will be exempt from the ban if they receive state approval. Only cigars that sell for at least $1 each can be smoked in cigar bars, and tobacco specialty stores must generate at least 75 percent of revenues from tobacco and smoking paraphernalia, according to Michigan Department of Community Health guidelines.

Hookah bars may qualify as tobacco specialty stores, but they cannot have food and liquor licenses, Michigan guidelines state.

Imad Marouf, owner of Hookah Mocha in Monroe, said he moved the hookah bar from his restaurant, Shish Kabob, a few months ago in preparation for the ban. The only beverages he will be able to serve after the ban goes into effect are canned and bottled, said Mr. Marouf, who opposes the ban.

The ban may increase the hookah bar's business, he said. "I hope so, but I don't know yet," Mr. Marouf said. "We are a retailer trying to please the smoker."

Mark Andreoli, owner of Cigars & Conversations in Monroe, said he doubts he will gain new customers because of the ban. The cigar bar doesn't sell alcohol or food.

"I don't expect the bar crowd that smokes cigarettes to all of a sudden take up cigar smoking," he said.

Michelle Bork, owner of MT Loonies, said she doesn't believe the changes will have an impact on business. "People are used to not smoking in bars in Ohio. I don't really think that it will affect us," she said. "It will be like anything else. People will adapt and get used to it."

County public health officials have held educational sessions to inform estab-lishments about specifics of the smoking ban.

The Monroe County Health Department on Saturday will celebrate the state's new law with a Family Bowling Event at the Monroe Sports Center, 15425 South Dixie Hwy. The 11 a.m.-to-3 p.m. event offers special prices, including $1 games and free shoe rentals, and will allow families to enjoy bowling in a smoke-free environment.

At least half of Monroe County restaurants already are smoke-free, said Ms. Head, the health department director.

In Lenawee County, which has had a smoke-free ordinance since 2007, about 70 percent of restaurants do not allow smoking. The other restaurants have had to limit seats for smokers under the county ordinance.

Lenawee County Health Department restaurant inspectors will check to make sure restaurants have no-smoking signs posted and follow other state ban requirements when they do regular investigations, said Martha Hall, environmental health director.

Local health departments will look into specific complaints about smoking ban violations, but Lenawee County does not expect a lot of them, Ms. Hall said. At first the health department will work with violators to make sure they understand the ban and work to comply with it, she said.

Any establishments that openly defy the ban will rack up complaints from those who are complying, Ms. Hall said. "I do believe it will police itself," she said. "People are not going to be OK with anyone having any kind of economic advantage over them."

It will take some time for people to understand the Michigan ban's specifics, public health officials said.

Michigan's law does not specify how far away from an establishment people have to be to smoke, although local ordinances may spell that out, noted Mr. Todd of the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency.

Questions also have come up about so-called butt huts, sheds commonly found at factories and elsewhere for smokers to use in inclement weather, Mr. Todd said. They can continue to be used by smokers as long as there is no door on them, he said.

And workers can smoke on workplace patios where they eat lunch as long as they are not served food there, Mr. Todd said.

"I look to see … some confusion on that and complaints one way or another," Mr. Todd said.

Blade staff writer Mark Reiter contributed to this report.

Contact Julie M. McKinnon at:

jmckinnon@theblade.com

or 419-724-6087.