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In Ohio in 2007 Authorities received 486 reports of ban violations from May 1 to Aug. 31,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], according to the latest totals released by the state. Officials issued 158 citations, but fine collections weren’t available. Bar owners who have permitted smoking despite the ban say enforcement is varied, and the ban,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], in some cases, has pitted businesses against each other, with law-abiding bars tattling on their more permissive competitors.
On the first day of Ohio’s smoking ban ― May 3, 2007 ― 189 violations were written against restaurants and bars that let patrons smoke, kept ashtrays on tables or allowed smoke to waft in from the outside. Bill Delaney got his first violation on May 4. Since then, he has been issued another 54 tickets at Delaney’s Lounge in Toledo. “We think it is working out fine,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],” said James McCurtis, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health. “Long-term, we think it will be that way, too.
A whole different set of clientele will come out.” But the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association recently released a survey of 2,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],500 establishments that found they lost an average of 20.62 percent of business over the first three months of the ban. About 400 small bar and restaurant owners, whose businesses make less than $250,000 annually,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], reported losses of more than 27 percent over the same three months. For the nonsmokers who complain, Delaney has a simple message: “Don’t come to my bar. Or take me to court. Giving up is not in my vocabulary.”
“This does also raise the question of, does a citizen who enters an establishment expecting a smoke-free environment ― but smoking is occurring ― and gets sick have any cause for civil litigation against the owner of the business for not maintaining a smoke-free environment?” she added. None of Yankton County’s three legislators mentioned plans to introduce legislation to amend the law. “I’m inclined not to support any changes right now,” said District 18 Rep. Nick Moser (R-Yankton). “We’re still very early on in seeing what the impacts are going to be.
I think you need to give these local governments an opportunity to work some of these things out before you just go and automatically change the law.” Rep. Hunhoff said he would be open to clarifications and improvements. “Someone in state government ― probably in the health department or the attorney general’s office ― should write a summary on the do’s and don’ts of outdoor smoking areas,” he said. “I’ve been contacted by bar owners and contractors who have good questions and seem to have a hard time getting answers.”
As officials work their way to finding a definitive approach to enforcing the law, it’s the police officers and sheriff’s department employees on the front lines who are stuck in the middle of public expectations of the law and the limits of the letter of the law. “Everybody’s got their interpretation,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],” said Yankton Police Chief Brian Paulsen. “The only thing everybody is in agreement on is, it’s a horribly written law.”