By Rebecca Feldhaus
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-922024.mp3
Murray, KY – On the inside, HIH Burger Inn looks like a very traditional diner, black top tables and a bar with stools akin to an old time soda fountain. However, the pristine white paint on the walls and ceilings didn't always look that way. A few years ago it was easy to see yellow tinting to the white ceiling and walls from years of cigarette smoke. Information from the Calloway County Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention reveals 75 percent of restaurants, like HIH Burger Inn are now smoke free. A proposed smoke-free ordinance for the entire town could soon be on the city council docket. Rebecca Feldhaus has more on what patrons and business owners think.
Amongst clanging silverware and chit chat, servers at HIH Burger Inn keep busy during the early lunchtime hours. What was a historically smoker-friendly establishment now has light flooding through the windows without the slightest hint of smoke. Manager Sonny Milby says it was about three years ago that the owner, his mother, decided to make the diner non-smoking. The fear of alienating loyal smoking customers was something they considered. Milby says it turned out in their favor.
"We had a few that just didn't come back for a while, and eventually they filtered back in. If they want to smoke, they go outside. It didn't hurt our business at all. If anything, it helped it."
Milby and his colleagues had received some complaints about the amount of smoke in the restaurant. He says none of their waitresses were smokers, but they experienced it second hand from patrons. After they went smoke-free, Milby says they had another reason to appreciate it.
"Helps people standing at the door waiting for a place to eat. Everybody that does smoke gets up a leaves. So they're not sitting here drinking coffee for an hour, smoking cigarettes."
Like HIH Burger Inn, Sirloin Stockade is among the 75 percent of Murray Restaurants voluntarily prohibiting smoking from its establishment. When they converted their smoking room to non-smoking, they didn't have to keep people waiting as long either. Owner Adam Carver explains how an ordinance could have helped him a few years ago.
"At the time, if the city had gone smoke-free, I wouldn't have had to deal with the stress of having to handle guest complaints about the circumstance."
Smoking bans are definitely not new to the region, Paducah went smoke free in 2006 and Hopkins County followed a couple years later. Bordering states Illinois and Tennessee have similar statewide bans.
Those bans wouldn't go over well with one of the remaining 25 percent of restaurants that allow smoking. Quarter's Campus Grill co-owner Maurice Wormsbacher says they keep their restaurant smoker-friendly primarily for Murray State students. He says they keep the smoking room so well ventilated, some patrons don't even know there's smoking going on. Wormsbacher says he disagrees with the ordinance.
"As long as it's separated, people can go into two different areas to where they're not being affected by the other. I believe that's the proper thing to do."
Lauren Ballantyne says she understands owners like Wormsbacher, but, she has a different viewpoint. As the Coalition Network Coordinator for the Calloway County Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention, Ballantyne says a smoking ordinance would create a level playing field for restaurateurs.
"That protects every single restaurant, that they don't have somewhere else where they can eat. That's going to help the competition, for restaurants that have already gone smoke-free."
Ballantyne and her colleagues at the CCASAP believe the ordinance would address general health issues. She says she respects the rights of smokers, but also the rights of employees to have a healthy working environment. Murray City Council member Linda Cherry says she agrees, but that it's not that simple. Though she did not say whether she would vote for or against the ordinance, she gave this statement.
"As City Council Members, we are responsible for the safety and welfare of all of our citizens."
Cherry warns she cannot speak on behalf of the entire City Council, but says she does see a trend in sentiment among citizens.
"People, they're just kind of tired of the government telling them what they can and cannot do, even if it's local city government."
Sonny Milby sees eye to eye with Cherry. Though his establishment elected to go smoke free, he believes a courteous request might be all people need to switch to non-smoking.
Ballantyne says they CCASAP is moving forward with the proposal but they have no schedule in place to bring the proposed ordinance to the council for action.