Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Lawrence has gone smoke-free, and the rest of Kansas may soon follow.
The Kansas Senate is deliberating over a bill that would ban smoking in most indoor public places. The proposed ban is similar to the one implemented in Lawrence in 2004, but on a statewide level. Counties could opt out of the ban if they did not want to enforce it.
Mark Ellis, manager at Skinny’s Sports Bar and Grill in Topeka, said the ban could be detrimental to businesses in Kansas that have large amounts of customers who smoke. Ellis estimated that 80 percent of his customers were smokers.
“We don’t have an outside area to make somebody comfortable to go out and smoke,” Ellis said.
Sen. David Wysong (R-Mission Hills) introduced the ban in its original form on Jan. 9, and he disagreed that it would affect Skinny’s business.
“I question and discount his numbers,” Wysong said. “82 percent of citizens in Kansas don’t smoke.”
Wysong said that multiple studies showed that there was no economic impact from a smoking ban, and that 300 to 600 Kansans died from secondhand smoke every year.
Ellis said Skinny’s would fight to have Shawnee County exempt from the ban.
Doug Holiday, owner of Bigg’s BBQ, 2429 Iowa St., thought that would be unfair. He said he supported the statewide ban.
Holiday said he was concerned customers would just drive to a sports bar where there was no smoking ban.
“If everyone is on the same playing field it’s OK,” Holiday said. “But people can just go to Legends from here. It needs to be on a statewide level.”
Kansan staff writer Joe Hunt can be contacted at jhunt@kansan.com.
— Edited by Sharla Shivers
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