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Article published Mar 29, 2005
Legislator wants restaurants to go smoke-free
David
Diaz will spend his downtime at home if the state Legislature says he can't
light up inside a restaurant.And that's exactly what state Rep. Todd Rutherford
wants to happen.The Columbia Democrat has proposed a bill that would ban smoking
in restaurants statewide. The bill has been referred to the House Judiciary
committee."I'm just tired of having to worry about my health every time I go out
to eat," said Rutherford, who would really like to see smoking prohibited
everywhere food is served."I've been tolerating it for years and think it's time
for a change."There are five states nationwide that restrict smoking in
restaurants and bars, including New York and California."Neither of them
suffered because of it. In some places, business even went up because people
liked it," Rutherford said."(Restaurant owners) want to do it. They just don't
want to be the first on the block to do it."Carolina Barbecue owner Mike Hicks
said he supports the bill.He already runs one smoke-free restaurant on Lone Oak
Road in Spartanburg, while his second location on East Blackstock Road allows
smoking."We wanted to give people a choice," said Hicks, a non-smoker.If
Rutherford's bill becomes law, Hicks said he could make his second restaurant
smoke-free without alienating customers who want to light up.Hick said he hasn't
heard many complaints since he made the Lone Oak Road restaurant
smokeless."There's a few in every crowd, but most of what I hear is positive,"
he said.Kim Blackwell said The Junction and The Junction Too restaurants she
manages have both been smoke-free for less than a year."I've had two customers
walk out because they couldn't smoke, but that's it," she said.Blackwell said
she made the switch because there wasn't enough of a barrier between the
non-smoking and smoking sections, and non-smokers were complaining."We couldn't
accommodate all of our customers," she said.And that makes the decision whether
to ban smoking a risk for restaurant owners."They walk a fine line between
satisfying their smoking guests and their non-smoking guests," said Tom
Sponseller, president of the Hospitality Association of South Carolina.Some
South Carolina cities already restrict smoking in public places.Greenville, for
instance, prohibits smoking in restaurants unless the establishment has a
separate bar area for smokers or the restaurant seats fewer than 100 people.Diaz
said he'd stop going to a restaurant if he couldn't smoke there."I'd spend my
money at the grocery and go home," he said.The Associated Press contributed to
this report.Amanda Ridley can be reached at 877-3225, 574-5980 or
amanda.ridley@shj.com.