Lighting up in public could be snuffed

Smoking sections might soon go the way of the backyard tobacco barn.

Restaurants, bars and indoor workplaces in North Carolina would have to go smoke-free by Jan. 1 if a leading Democratic legislator who is also a lung cancer survivor has his way.

Under a bill discussed by a legislative committee Thursday, the only exceptions would be tobacco factories and retail shops, some hotel rooms and members-only clubs, such as Elks' lodges, country clubs and some bars.

Though statewide bans have passed in New York, California and Florida, it would be a first for North Carolina, the country's leading tobacco producer.

"We are the tobacco state," said Peggy Dohlen, a pack-a-day smoker sitting in the popular smoking section of the Cup a Joe coffeehouse on Hillsborough Street Thursday morning.

Except for a few months, Dohlen, 33, has smoked since she first fired up at a college party years ago. As she finished her morning cigarette, she said the ban would be inconvenient, but that could be a good thing.

"It might make me quit," she said.

The bill is not aimed at Dohlen but at protecting the other customers at Cup a Joe and the people behind the counter from secondhand smoke, which the U.S. Surgeon General's office has said is harmful "beyond a doubt."

It is the second attempt to ban smoking in restaurants by Rep. Hugh Holliman, a former pipe smoker and lung cancer survivor. A similar bill died in a close vote in the House two years ago.

"It's a public health issue, just like the way we require [restaurant] employees to wash their hands," said Holliman, a Lexington businessman who is the leader of House Democrats.

The proposed ban has drawn support from public health advocates, who say the risks to waiters and waitresses as well as fellow patrons have been scientifically documented.

"Exposure to secondhand smoke should not be thought of as an annoyance, it should be thought of as a major health hazard," said Dr. Marcus Plescia, a section chief with the N.C. Division of Public Health.

Some smokers said the state shouldn't be meddling in private decisions.

Raleigh maintenance worker Willie Alston, who has smoked for 17 years, said a ban would be unfair to citizens who want to light up when they go out to eat.

"It's gotten so that there's hardly any place left you can smoke," he said.

Other opponents worried that the proposed ban doesn't go far enough.

The N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association, a trade group, said it would not support the bill if it includes an exemption for bars or private clubs. The association said that would give them an unfair advantage.

"It's got to be a level playing field," said Frank Gray, a lobbyist for the association.

Under North Carolina law, only private clubs can serve liquor without also selling a significant amount of prepared food. Some are country clubs or fraternal organizations, but many of the more than 900 across the state are little more than bars with a membership fee of a few dollars a year.

Gibbie Harris, Wake County's community health director, said she was concerned that many bars and restaurants would become private clubs to avoid the ban.

"When you provide these sorts of loopholes, people step through them," she said.

One of the places that would be heavily hit by the proposed ban is the Marrakesh Cafe, a hookah lounge near N.C. State University. The cafe, where the strongest drink on the menu is nonalcoholic Turkish coffee, sells several kinds of flavored tobacco.

As a restaurant, it would have to shut down if the bill passed as written, although cigar bars that are permitted as private clubs would be unaffected.

Owner Anas Maazouzi said he would likely turn his restaurant into a private club in order to stay open.

"When the time comes, you have to do what you have to do," he said.

Still, a smoking ban would have a lot of fans.

According to a 2006 poll by Elon University, nearly two-thirds of North Carolinians said they would support a statewide ban on smoking in public places.

Retired nurse Sandy Fore of Cary is one of them.

She lived in Florida before and after it enacted a statewide ban. She said it made life more pleasant for nonsmokers, who didn't have to walk through clouds of smoke.

There was an unexpected benefit, too: shorter waits at restaurants.

"There was always a longer wait for the nonsmoking section than there was for the smoking section," she said. "But afterward, it was a lot shorter for everyone."