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Chattanooga: Event tackles smoking ban issues

By: Emily Bregel
(Contact)

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Chastity Mitchell

Though private clubs are exempt from the statewide workplace smoking ban, advocates for the ban warned business owners Tuesday that a restaurant owner should not expect to escape the smoking restrictions by imposing a 50-cent “membership” fee.

“We’d heard that happened in other states’ experience” after imposing a smoking ban, Chastity Mitchell of the Campaign for a Healthy and Responsible Tennessee said at the Southern Star restaurant here.

“We circumvented that by including in the law that they couldn’t become a private club for purposes of avoidance,” Ms. Mitchell said.

On Tuesday, a handful of local business owners learned that fact and other ways to comply with the statewide smoking ban, in effect since October 2007.

The event, co-hosted by the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, the state health department and the Campaign for a Healthy and Responsible Tennessee, was part of a series of training sessions across the state geared to clarify gray areas and remedy misconceptions by business owners.

The Campaign for a Healthy and Responsible Tennessee is a membership-based coalition that advocated for passage of the smoking ban.

Under the new law, which passed the state Legislature last summer, smoking is illegal in most enclosed public places in Tennessee.

Exceptions include one for establishments that restrict patrons to 21 years old and up.

SIGNS REQUIRED

“Every time we’ve done these events, the people who come have very specific questions about their particular business or something they’re worried that they’ve done wrong,” Ms. Mitchell said. “I’m glad they’re seeking out help.”

Too many businesses across the state now are in violation of the ban simply because they have not posted “no smoking” signs at their entrances, Ms. Mitchell said.

“It’s an equal violation as if you continue to allow smoking” on the premises, she said to attendees at the session. “We don’t want people to get fined over not having a sticker. ... You can write one with crayon if you like.”

“No smoking” signs also are available on the state health department’s Web site, she said.

HELP AVAILABLE

Jay Collum, coordinator of tobacco education and control at the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department, also made a presentation on smoking-cessation efforts and assistance provided by the local health department and state resources such as the Tennessee Quit Line, which can be reached at (800) QUIT-NOW.

“Really, the message is, ‘Yes, you can do it,’” Mr. Collum said.

Training seminar attendee James Oglesby said he quit smoking 15 years ago.

“It was the hardest thing I ever did,” said Mr. Oglesby, who is marketing director for Chattanooga-based T.R. Moore & Associates, which provides security guards and consultations for the commercial arena.

He noted that he saved all the money he would have spent on smoking for a year and then spent the $1,000 he had accumulated on a vacation with his wife.

“I would encourage anyone even thinking or contemplating quitting smoking to do it, even if they have to seek aid,” he said.

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