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For Some Proprietors, Not a Drag: Butts Out in New Jersey As Indoor Smoking Ban Goes into Effect

Posted on: Sunday, 16 April 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Keith Herbert, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Apr. 16--In Haddon Township, Camden and other nearby towns, day one of the indoor smoking ban for public places in New Jersey left smokers outside and corner bar proprietors worried about loss of business yesterday.

But restaurants managers who cater to families with children praised the new law, saying it would probably help them draw more customers.

Stephen Bobb, a smoker and bartender at Fischer's Tavern in Haddon Township, said his second customer yesterday afternoon entered with a lit cigarette. Bobb said he had to chase the patron out the door.

"Another guy tried to walk out to smoke with a beer in his hand," Bobb said. "I had to stop him. I don't have enough eyes."

Describing Fischer's as a bar for working people, Bobb is concerned that his customers won't come in to drink because of the smoking ban, which took effect at 12:01 a.m. yesterday.

"I don't know yet," Bobb said as three patrons watched the Flyers game on television. "I'm going to keep track of it. It's a little slow, but it's an 80-degree day."

But only a few minutes away on Route 70 in Cherry Hill, Chili's manager Allison Barnes said she loved the smoking ban, which will push smokers outside bars if they wish to light up.

"At a family restaurant like this, it's going to get busier," said Barnes, who is also a smoker. "It's the best thing that could have happened."

Up to 20 tables at Chili's were reserved for smokers, Barnes said. Now, that dining space "is open to everybody," she said.

"I'm a smoker," Barnes said. "In fact, I want one right now, but I can't."

A person who smokes in indoor public places and workplaces violates New Jersey's Smoke-Free Air Act and is subject to $250 fine for the first offense, $500 for a second, and $1,000 for the third. A bartender or restaurant manager can also be fined under the law.

Protecting workers from secondhand smoke is a reason for the law, according to a flyer prepared by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.

At Pat's Pub in Haddon Township, the ban drew fire from Allison Flexon, a smoker who had to take breaks from her Budweiser to step outside for a puff.

"I don't think the government has the right to tell us what we can and can't do in our private lives," Flexon said. "I'm an adult; I think I should be able to do what I like."

The new law prohibits cigar, cigarette and pipe smoking in restaurants, bars and other indoor places. But the fact that New Jersey's casino floors are exempt from the smoking ban angered Mike Wojtecki, a smoker at Pat's Pub.

"If we put a slot machine in here, would we be able to smoke?" Wojtecki said.

Erin McCaffery is general manager of P.J. Whelihan's Pub and Restaurant in Haddon Township. A bar and restaurant worker for 10 years, McCaffery said she and her staff were "excited" about the ban.

"We don't have to smell like it and breathe it in," she said.

Smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol is a pair that will be hard to separate, said Patricia Schemenski, owner of Schemenski's Tavern in Camden.

"People are annoyed we're enforcing it," Schemenski said. "It's definitely going to hurt business a little bit."

Making casino floors exempt from the ban gives them an unfair advantage over bars and restaurants in Atlantic City, said Joe Faldetta, owner of Momma Mott's and Atlantic County director of the New Jersey Licensed Beverage Association.

Casino patrons can "smoke, drink for free and gamble" all at the same time, making it hard for a local bar owner to compete, Faldetta said.

Cathy Burke, owner of the Irish Pub in Atlantic City, where business was slow yesterday, called the ban "unfair." She said she feared that potential patrons who smoke would choose a casino believing "they have no other choice outside of the casino."

Angelo Mancuso 3d, owner of Angelo's Fairmount Tavern in Atlantic City, said he felt sorry for workers who will continue to work in the smoky casinos.

"I'll live a healthier life," Mancuso said. "I'm thrilled."

Contact staff writer Keith Herbert at 610-313-8007 or keithherbert@phillynews.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Philadelphia Inquirer

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Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

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