Where patrons puff, some see smoking ban as a drag

VIRGINIA BEACH

If you got 'em, better smoke 'em now.

That's what Willie Stewart and Michael Henry were doing Thursday afternoon when they heard the General Assembly had passed a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. They were in a bar, smoking.

"No way," said Stewart, sitting at Keagans Irish Pub in Town Center, dragging on a Marlboro. "Philip Morris is right around the corner."

"But I agree with it," said friend Michael Henry, pulling on a Camel. "I'm smoking right now because I'm allowed to, but if I couldn't smoke, I'd carry myself outside and smoke."

The bill, passed by the Assembly and awaiting the signature of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, bans smoking in all bars and restaurants with a few exceptions: those with a separate smoking area with its own ventilation system, those with outdoor patios, and private clubs.

While smokers may grumble about the inconvenience and then step outside, for restaurant owners, it might be costly or near impossible to conform to the law and keep smoking patrons happy.

Susan Collins, owner of The Reef on Shore Drive, said that neither she nor her husband has ever smoked, but many of their patrons do, and she doesn't like the government telling her how to run her business.

"If they can't be around smoking," she said, "they don't come in here - there's plenty of places that have nonsmoking."

In fact, a report produced recently by David S. Hardin, a Longwood University professor, showed that more than 65 percent of the restaurants in South Hampton Roads have already gone smoke-free. More than nine out of 10 Virginians live in a place where most restaurants ban smoking, Hardin found.

The Collinses have recently paid more than $4,000 for better ventilation, but The Reef only holds 80 to 90 people. There's hardly enough room to wall off a smoking section.

They lease the spot for the bar, and Susan Collins said she'll have to talk to the landlord to see if there's room for them to put a gazebo outside for smokers.

Ronnie Boone, who owns Greenie's and the Thirsty Camel in Ocean View, said he's never smoked, either, but it's a freedom-of-choice issue.

"They're telling us everything we can do," Boone said. "What's next? You're not going to be able to sneeze in your car?"

Back at Keagans, restaurant manager Curtis Grondwalski said his restaurant has been pondering for more than a year what to do if there was a ban. It's a tough business decision, he said. He gets comments from smokers telling him how much they like coming there; he gets comments from diners saying they wish he'd go smoke-free.

Grondwalski said the restaurant would consider expanding its outdoor patio or creating a walled-off nonsmoking bar area, if space allows it. He's heard of bars in big cities that park a Winnebago or limo outside for smokers in the wintertime. He's heard of a bar in smoke-free New York that on some nights sells a couple hundred "Nico-tinis" - martinis laced with nicotine tea.

The nice thing about a statewide ban, he said, is that it creates a level playing field and removes the pressure from individual restaurants to make the call.

"I think it's one of those things people will adapt to," Grondwalski said. "They go outside to smoke. They come back inside to talk to girls."

Lon Wagner, (757) 222-5119. lon.wagner@pilotonline.com