Feb. 15, 2007
When bars disobey, we pay
Darlene Kuhen
kuhend@marietta.edu
You are hanging out with your friends on a Friday night and decide to go to the bar for a few drinks – you grab your jacket, IDs, and a few bucks so you can buy a round for everyone as a reward for bearing the cold and making it to the bar. You arrive and show your ID as usual. Once the woman confirms that the picture ID you have presented is indeed you, you walk away. Then it happens – she stops you saying that you must pay one dollar to enter. You ask, “Why?” and the kind woman replies, “We still allow smoking.”
When going out, one expects to spend a few dollars for the cab ride to the bar, drinks while hanging out and perhaps even a 3 a.m. McDonald’s run, but no one expects to pay for others to smoke – no one expects to pay to breathe polluted air (or any air, for that matter). Yet that is exactly what is happening at some Marietta establishments – charging you at the door because they continue to allow smoking (illegally, need I remind you).
Effective December 7th, 2006, the Smoke Free Ohio Law went into effect. This law states that all restaurants and bars of Ohio are to be just that - smoke free. Unfortunately, The Ohio Department of Health hasn’t written the rules of enforcement, and until that is done, citations cannot be written and fines cannot be charged; however, that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be abiding by the rules. That doesn’t mean that there is nothing you can do about it.
I’m not asking for the businesses that have decided not to comply with the law to remove their ashtrays and post the appropriate signs; hell – I’m not even asking for the places to be smoke free at this point – all I’m asking is that you stop charging me for the air I breathe when I walk in your doors.
So, if you’re looking for some good, clean fun, the Brewery and the Town House are the places to be as they are the only two bars in Marietta that have reported that they are complying with the law and providing you not only with smoke free but free air.
You have the right to a smoke free environment. Do your part and call: 1-866-559-OHIO to report businesses that are not complying with the law. If you aren’t familiar with the law, you can call toll-free: 1-866-634-7654 or visit http://www.smokefreeohio.org/oh/
