Board May Ban Smoking In Restaurants Health Officials Consider Ordinance That May Leave Some Owners Fuming

Cigarette smokers may soon have trouble finding seats in Spokane County restaurants.

County health board members are drafting an ordinance to ban smoking in some restaurants. They’re still deciding whether the proposed ban will include all restaurants and lounges, or just restaurants serving children.

“To my surprise, everyone on the health board was just ecstatic to do this,” said board member Bev Numbers, who suggested the ban.

Numbers wants to ban smoking only at restaurants that serve children, but Steve Hasson, another board member, hopes to include bars and lounges.

“They may burn me in effigy because of it, but smoking kills,” Hasson said. “My dad died of lung cancer.”

Hasson favors voluntary compliance - an official suggestion rather than an order.

“This seems real constructive,” he said, “but obviously it’ll be met by aversion if it is mandatory.”

Health officer Dr. John Beare, however, said he wants a mandatory ban possibly monitored by food inspectors.

Ban supporters point to a 1994 poll showing six in 10 Spokane residents want smoking prohibited at restaurants. Robinson Research conducted the scientific poll for the Tobacco Free Washington Spokane coalition, the same group that convinced Numbers to suggest a ban.

At the time, more than 130 Spokane restaurants already prohibited smoking.

But restaurant owners with smoking sections fear a smoking ban will chase away customers.

“I think we would lose business, as would everyone else,” said Dave Hill, cook and co-owner at Hill’s Someplace Else Restaurant and Pub on West Sprague.

The restaurant caters to both smokers and non-smokers, with a non-smoking section in a separate room.

“I don’t think it’s totally fair,” Hill said of the proposed ban. “We don’t want to exclude anybody.”

Across the street, at City Ramp Cafe, waitress Kelly Schrader hopes the proposal fails.

“I think it’s unfair,” Schrader said. “Everybody else wants rights. So do we.”

Board members will likely review a rough draft of the proposal later this month, Numbers said. Then public hearings will be held.

A health district attorney is looking into whether the board can legally force restaurant owners to ban smoking, Beare said.

“We’re going to suggest they start in restaurants where children are served, not bars and taverns at this point,” he said.

The board discussed banning alcohol from public facilities last year, but backed down after loud protests from businesses.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo