Smokeless dining becomes burning issue
By ERIC CLARK
Staff writer
To smoke or not to smoke, that is the question facing some businesses in Marion.
For citizens who want to have a cigarette while they dine, the places to do so are becoming few and far between for area residents.
Of the six Marion restaurants, four of them have declared their business a "non-smoking establishment." The latest to join the smokeless-policy revolution is Stone City Café, who declared their smoke-free independence March 17, or St. Patrick's Day.
Stone City Café owner Deborah Cook said the move to become smoke-free has been a positive one and one that she feels strongly about.
"The way I look at it, if you can't go into a place for half an hour without a cigarette, then I think you have a real addiction," Cook said. "Our customers asked if we'd change to non-smoking, so we did.
"We've had a couple of people that say they won't be back in because of the non-smoking issue. The smokers are who have been upset. But it seems like most of the restaurants in Marion are non-smoking. I guess I wonder where (the smokers) are going to eat if they have to smoke while they eat."
Patron Helen Reznizek said she enjoys drinking her coffee in the smokeless atmosphere.
"Our prayers have been answered," Reznizek said.
Stone City Café regular Marge Christensen and her friends, said they have embraced the change.
"Our table is pretty happy," Christensen said. "Our whole group is non-smokers and it's just such a relief not to have to smell that sickening stuff."
While the move to go smokeless is fairly new to Stone City Café, other restaurants have been smoke free for years.
McGillicudy's, Kingfisher's Inn, The Big Scoop are all smoke-free establishments.
McGillicudy's owner Brenda McGinness said that every since she and her husband Dave owned The Big Scoop several years ago that they've been smokeless.
"I get sick off it and I think its just offensive," McGinness said. "We decided that we just wouldn't do it that way and we haven't. We figured if we had to do it the other way, we wouldn't be in business."
McGinness is not alone. Kingfisher's Inn owners Bob and Kathy Sprowls said that they established their smokeless policy about five years ago. The couple claims that the majority of the customers have been nothing but appreciative.
"I think people, at first, got ticked off about the whole deal, and I'm glad we have gone to no-smoking," Kathy said. "The majority of our customers appreciate the fact that we've done it. It's so nice to not have the smoke. It makes it a lot more pleasant overall."
While it's pleasant for some people and painful for others, places like Pizza Hut and Gambino's Pizza offer the only outlets in town to those who wish to smoke while they dine.
Pizza Hut manager Ken Riffel said he thinks the issue is about accommodating both smokers and non-smokers alike.
"It swings both ways," Riffel said. "Some non-smokers will squawk about it and some smokers will squawk about it. You've got those who want to (smoke) and those who don't. We have to look at both ends of things. A non-smoker has just as much right as the smoker."
According to Riffel, Marion, like most Pizza Hut establishments, has a special electric smoke filter that is fitted above the smoking section to filter out smoke.
However, Bob Sprowls said he thinks that restaurants that attempt to purify the air for non-smokers are only "blowing smoke" when it comes to filtering out smoky rooms.
"It's next to impossible to separate the rooms to make them both non-smoking and smoking," Sprowls said.
Gambino's Pizza owner Judy Smith owns the other restaurant in Marion that still allows smoking. She said she uses an exhaust fan and an open door as methods for deterring smoke in an environment that seats both non-smokers and smokers.
Smith said her business's policy is meant to meet the needs of those who smoke and those who don't.
"If the state changes the law we'll go to no-smoking," Smith said. "But for right now, I can't discriminate against the people who do like to smoke. Those who smoke are always real courteous."
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths and 35,000 heart disease deaths in nonsmokers each year according to the American Lung Association.
For restaurant owners like McGinness and Cook, the decision to go smokeless is consciously based on customer satisfaction as it is on the customer's health.
"I've had a few people tell me that we are infringing on their rights," McGinness said. "To me cigarette addiction is as bad as any drug addiction."
"Every cigarette they don't smoke while they're in our restaurant, we're saving them that much more time to live," Cook said. "A lot of people die from smoking. We probably should have just done it when we first started."
The town of Salina, passed a citywide ordinance banning smoking in restaurants this past November. The ordinance requires restaurants within the Salina city limits to remain smoke-free between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m.
McGinness said she thinks that non-smoking establishments will become the norm in the next few years.
"It will take awhile for it to take effect," McGinness said. "I think eventually it's going to be that way."
Stone City Café's Donna Avery said that the change is mirroring a social transformation, while pleasing some of her area customers.
"It's a sign of the times," Avery said. "The ladies used to say that they'd go back to work smelling like smoke, now they don't."
