Logan County Sheriff Steve Smith knows it’s against the law to allow smoking in a department garage, but says he’ll continue to allow it.
On a hot afternoon last week, several chairs were set up inside and outside of the open garage door next to a coffee can filled with cigarette butts.
Smith, a smoker, said the state health inspector suggested he build a covered picnic bench outside for smokers.
“That’s going to cost $ 600 or $ 700,” Smith said. “It’s going to take me a while to have that kind of extra money.”
Nearly a year after the state began its workplace smoking ban, health officials say the vast majority of workplaces comply with the law.
But the state hasn’t issued any fines to the handful of employers that have elicited repeated complaints, including the Logan County sheriff’s office, which has 18 complaints, the majority of which came before Smith took the job in January.
Paul Halverson, director of the state Health Division, said that it may be time to levy some penalties on those businesses that refuse to follow the smoking ban.
“I think we’re still talking about a very small percentage of business owners who will not follow the law,” he said, “but it’s important to say the law is on the books. It is meant for the protection of the public, and if we find that there are businesses that are not complying... then we’re going to move forward and take enforcement action with the Board of Health.”
For some nonsmokers, punishment isn’t coming swiftly enough.
Jason Dease, a self-described “smoking Nazi,” complained about smokers in a Newport restaurant last July, but, he said, nothing has changed. The smoke is so bad there he can see it blowing out the windows when he drives by.
“I think the law’s a joke if you’re not going to enforce it,” he said.
Gov. Mike Beebe, who sometimes smokes cigars, said he’s received few gripes about the law, which was signed by his predecessor, Gov. Mike Huckabee. And those, he said, were from “golfing buddies” upset they couldn’t smoke anymore at their favorite spots. “I think people are accepting it and abiding by it,” he said. “Sure you’ll have some people to break the law, but that’s why you’ve got the enforcement mechanism.”
COMPLAINTS ARE KEY Beebe said he’s satisfied with the “complaint-driven” enforcement of the ban. He said random checks would be useful but accepts the Health Division’s explanation of a lack of resources to do that. “We can’t be all things to everybody,” he said. “We’re trying to cut taxes.” Act 8 of the First Extraordinary Session of 2006 banned indoor smoking in nearly all workplaces. Health officials said the law would protect workers and consumers from breathing secondhand smoke.
“Everyone is probably healthier a year after the Clean Indoor Air Act than we could have possibly imagined as little as a couple of years ago,” said Dr. Joe Thompson, the state’s chief health officer, who pushed for the law.
The state Health Division, which is responsible for enforcing the law, accepted more than 592 complaints through mid-May against 331 workplaces. A Little Rock tobacco store was the subject of at least 20 complaints, the most in the state. Three other businesses were the target of at least 10 complaints each.
As promised when the ban was debated in the Legislature, the Health Division gives businesses multiple warnings before assessing penalties. After the first signed complaint (or three anonymous complaints ), the offending business receives a letter explaining the law. With a second complaint comes a second letter warning that violating the law could result in a $ 500 criminal fine and a $ 1, 000 civil penalty. Continued complaints result in an inspection. Any findings can be presented to the state Board of Health for civil penalties or turned over to a prosecutor for criminal action.
NO STATE SPIES So far, evidence of smoking, even during inspections, hasn’t resulted in fines. Only one business — Julie’s restaurant in Little Rock — has been threatened with a hearing. The evening before a notice of hearing was to be mailed to the owners of Julie’s last week, they reluctantly agreed to make the restaurant smoke-free.
Fourteen workplaces have been inspected as a result of repeated complaints. And three have been inspected twice.
“The Health Department does not have leagues of undercover people that are going to be out there spying on people to make sure they’re in compliance, so we depend a lot on citizen complaints,” Halverson said.
The complaints against the Logan County sheriff have all been anonymous, reporting smoking in the jail, sheriff’s offices, sheriff’s office vehicles, and a garage attached to the jail.
Smith says he doesn’t allow smoking in the jail or office areas. He said he still permits it in the garage because weather conditions sometimes require a covered area for smokers.
“It’s an addiction,” he said.
One of the employers twice inspected is Terry’s Restaurant in Pine Bluff, a diner that serves enormous portions of chili cheese fries. Smoking in the restaurant was the subject of at least six complaints before the owner requested an exemption from the ban. Restaurants and bars can certify as smoking establishments if they agree to never allow in anyone under age 21.
The state accepted Terry’s Restaurant as exempt, despite the fact that Pine Bluff has a city smoking ban.
After continued complaints, the state inspected.
“I did explain to and notified Mr. Terry that his establishment was not exempt because of local / city ordinance,” the inspector wrote in her March 23 report. “No smoking is allowed in this establishment.”
But when asked by a reporter last week why two employees were smoking and why the restaurant had a designated smoking section, the employees pointed to the exemption letter, framed and hanging on the wall.
The state, they said, gave them the authority to allow smoking.
“They put that up there, and that’s it,” said Kurt Moore, a dishwasher.
The Health Division contends that Terry’s Restaurant is violating the Pine Bluff city ban, not state law.
Halverson said so far the Health Division has been assuming that smoking violations noted on inspection reports would stop. The agency hasn’t conducted follow-up visits unless complaints continued.
But he said the division is strongly considering adding an automatic unannounced follow-up inspection to its procedure.
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