FAYETTEVILLE : Trials on ban expected
Posted on Monday, January 21, 2008
For the first time since Fayetteville voters authorized a smoking ban in February 2004, the city’s prosecutor expects a court battle with businesses ticketed for violating the ordinance.
City Prosecutor Casey Jones said Evelyn Longstreth, a bartender at Art’s Place, 2530 N. College Ave., and Mark Wright, the owner of On the Mark, 2588 N. Gregg Ave., will be arraigned Feb. 1.
“I think these are going to be trials,” Jones said.
Wright and Art’s Place owner Jerry Stiles referred questions to their attorney, W. H. Taylor of Fayetteville. Taylor didn’t return telephone calls Thursday or respond to a telephone call or e-mail seeking comment on Friday.
Fayetteville Mayor Dan Coody said there doesn’t seem to be a widespread problem of noncompliance.
“I think there are a few folks who don’t understand or pretend they don’t understand, but by and large, people are adhering to the ordinance,” Coody said. “I haven’t heard any complaints since a week after the law went into effect.” Fayetteville, Fairfield Bay, Pine Bluff and Highfill have smoking ordinances, and a statewide ban against smoking in public places took effect in July 2006.
The Fayetteville law bans smoking in enclosed public places, except stand-alone bars that only serve alcohol. Smoking isn’t allowed in places that serve prepared food, but it is allowed in bars with no food or only foods that don’t require preparation, such as potato chips.
The state law bans smoking in indoor businesses. It forbids smoking in such places as private-office restrooms, employee lounges, elevators and meeting areas.
The Arkansas law also bans smoking in all bars and restaurants unless the business prevents everyone who’s under age 21 from entering. That includes employees.
Business owners can request exemptions from the state to allow smoking in such places as hotel rooms, businesses with fewer than three employees, and retail tobacco shops.
Michelle Manning, project coordinator for the Northwest Arkansas Tobacco Free Coalition, said there are places that aren’t complying with the state law or city ordinances.
Art’s Place and On the Mark are on a list of about 15 places she’s had complaints about from coalition members who spot smokers where smoking isn’t legal. She wouldn’t identify the others on the list.
“They are just suspected,” Manning said. “We have people go in, and they’ve seen it. We take note of it and call police.
“ We aren’t out to make enemies, but we are out to see that the law is enforced.” Health Department officials are pleased with how most businesses and public agencies have responded to the state law.
The state received 709 complaints about smoking between July 2006 and Dec. 31, said Ed Barham, an Arkansas Department of Health spokesman.
Of those, 376 came before the end of 2006, Barham said. The state spent the first year working with business owners, showing them what they can allow as part of an educational campaign, Barham said.
The Health Department’s focus shifted to enforcement in the middle of last year, but no business or public agency has appeared before the Arkansas Board of Health regarding violations of the smoking law, Barham said. Fines can range from $ 100 to $ 500 per day per violation, he said.
“We’re pleasantly surprised,” Barham said. “We knew from our research that most people want clean air environments to be in. Four out of five Arkansans don’t smoke, and it might follow that they don’t want to be around people who smoke.” There are places, including the Logan County sheriff’s office in Paris, that have been subject to repeated complaints about smoking, Health Department records show. Seventeen of the 18 complaints against the department came before Steve Smith became sheriff in January 2007.
Smith said he’s encouraged employees to obey the law, but he said there’s an importance a cigarette carries for deputies.
“In law enforcement, a cigarette is a great tool, and you can’t forget that,” Smith said. “I’ve had people say, ‘You give me a cigarette, and I’ll go to jail.’ If they think they aren’t going to get one last cigarette, they’ll fight you.” In Fayetteville, police cited the Art’s Place bartender and On the Mark owner on Dec. 17 after receiving complaints about both businesses, said Fayetteville Police Lt. Mike Perryman.
Officers arrived at 7: 15 p.m. at Art’s Place, where they cited Longstreth. Perryman said three officers verified that food was being prepared and observed five customers smoking.
When they went to On the Mark 15 minutes later, they again verified that food preparation was occurring and saw several patrons smoking cigarettes inside the business as they sat at the bar and at tables, Perryman said. The report didn’t list an exact number of smokers, he said.
The owners of Art’s Place and On the Mark were among four business owners who filed a lawsuit in 2006 in Washington County Circuit Court about the smoking ordinance. They challenged the police department’s right to interpret how to enforce the law, but Circuit Judge Mary Ann Gunn ruled that police could use their discretion to enforce it.
Several people have been cited for violating the smoking ordinance, but Jones said he didn’t know how many.
“We just haven’t had that many,” Jones said. SMOKING COMPLAINTS The Arkansas Department of Health has received 709 reports from the public about violations of the state’s Indoor Clean Air Act since it took effect in July 2006. Here are the places that received the most complaints (complaints in parentheses ): The Pipe and Tobacco Shop, Little Rock (19 ) Logan County sheriff’s office, Paris (18 )
Terry’s Restaurant, Pine Bluff (17 ) Elks Lodge 1987, Fayetteville (14 ) Bemis Co., Crossett (9 )
Bruce Oakley Inc., North Little Rock (8 ) L. A. Darling Co., Corning (8 ) P. J. ’s Gift Shop, Texarkana (7 ) Woodhaven Homes Inc., Sherwood (7 ) Sharum Landscape Design, Springdale (7 ) Dover Housing Authority, Dover (6 ) Lowell Police Department (6 ) Bridges Accounting, Searcy (6 )
Brenda’s Country Cafe, Mountain Home (6 ) Union Pacific Railroad, North Little Rock (6 )
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