Are You Mad about the New Smoke Free Ohio Law?

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Are you one of the many victims living in Ohio that will be affected by the New Smoke Free Environment Law that was approved this past election? Many businesses and individuals are stating their comments about this new change in Ohio.

Here is the article I found today (Dec. 6, 2006) that I wanted to share with everyone. Feel free to comment on this article anytime below. Tell us how you feel about the new Smoke Free Law!
Good or Bad!

Local News in Ohio
Dec. 6, 2006
Source-Portsmouth Daily Times

Lindsay Niegelberg/Daily Times Will Mault, owner of the Scioto Ribber, lights up a cigar inside the restaurant, a move he will be legally unable to make after the smoking ban goes in effect on Thursday.

No smoking.

That is the edict smokers will face starting on Thursday when Ohio's smoking ban in public buildings starts.

On Nov. 7, voters approved the Ohio Smoke-Free Workplace Act that severely limits where smokers can light up.

Scioto Ribber owner Will Mault vehemently opposes the ban. He said it's a “classic example of segregation and discrimination against tobacco smokers.”

“The land of the free and home of the brave is being infringed upon evidently by intellectual socialists from within,” he said in a statement. “I'm not even allowed to build you a warm place to smoke tobacco outside when it's cold.”

Mault said the law is worse than the one which mandates seat belt use.

“For one day, specifically Nov. 7, 2006, and one day only, I had 2.5 million people as stock shareholders within my business of which they did not pay for, voting on what and how I'm going to conduct my business,” he said.

The new law prohibits smoking in nearly all public buildings and work places. Exceptions include tobacco shops, designated hotel rooms and enclosed areas of nursing homes.

Business owners will get a warning letter for the first offense, with subsequent violations carrying civil fines of $100 to $2,500.

City Health Commissioner Don Walden said businesses must remove ashtrays and put up no smoking signs. The signs will have a telephone number to report violations.


The Health Department will be responsible for enforcing the law in the city.

“It will be easy to enforce once people get used to this,” Walden said. “They'll comply.”

While some business owners are afraid on losing business because of the law, Walden said that will not happen.

Ohio Department of Health spokesman Jay Carey told the Associated Press the state has until next spring to evaluate the enforcement guidelines and determine if changes are needed.

Phil Bender owns Bender's Barber Shop and Rivertown Cafe.

The barber shop is already smoke free, so new law won't affect it. But it will affect his Boneyfiddle restaurant.

“Most of my customers at the restaurant smoke and they're kind of mad about it,” Bender said. “It's hard to say how it's going to affect us.”

But not all business owners are upset with the ban.

“I think I'll benefit,” Ye Olde Lantern owner Tim Arms said. “Maybe the people who didn't come here because of the smoking will now. And I'm a smoker, so maybe I'll quit.”

Arms said some of his customers have complained about the new law, however. But he said they could still smoke outside.

“Most people are saying they don't like being told what to do,” Arms said.

It is not just restaurants and other retail businesses which must comply with the smoking ban, however.

At Southern Ohio Medical Center, the entrances to the main building and emergency department will become smoke free. Ashtrays will be removed and visitors will be notified of the change.

Doctors and staff will work with patients who smoke to provide tobacco alternatives.

By Jan. 1, all SOMC properties, including grounds and current employee-designated smoking areas, will become tobacco free in compliance with the law.

“The voters of Ohio realized that exposure to second-hand smoke from tobacco causes illnesses and disease,” SOMC Vice President of Health and Safety Leeann Sammon said. “For the health of our patients, SOMC adopted a smoke-free policy within our hospital building years ago. Now we will extend our no-tobacco policy beyond our front door to include our entire campuses, including our grounds.”

Jane Kitts of the Scioto County Commissioners Office said the courthouse has been smoke-free for a long time. However, she said the smoking area near the entrances will be moved farther away from the building by Thursday to accommodate the new law.

Write us and tell us your comments on this issue! Do you think its wrong that this law passed in Ohio?