Published: Thursday, May 3, 2007
With smoking ban in place, private clubs await a ruling
A preliminary hearing on that issue is set for later this month
By ANGIE SCHMITT
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Today, local health agencies statewide will begin enforcing the smoking ban enacted in December. For now, however, private clubs such as the AMVETS in Vienna will have to pack away their ashtrays and wait.
A provision of the statewide smoking ban that allows smoking in private clubs is under assault by an organization that represents Ohio's bar owners.
A Franklin County Common Pleas judge ruled the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association's challenge of the exemption for private clubs "demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success." He issued a temporary restraining order Monday forbidding private clubs from smoking until the matter can be debated further at a preliminary hearing May 14.
"We're just waiting for the call one way or the other," said AMVETS manager Joanne Stevens. "If we can fight for our country, why can't we smoke in our own club?"
Most of AMVETS' revenues come from what members call the canteen — the club's bar, Stevens said. Many veterans organizations already struggle financially as their client base ages, she added, and one of the perks at the canteen is that members can puff away.
As it stands, Ohio's indoor smoking ban allows smoking in private clubs that have no employees and are organized as nonprofit or charity organizations. Qualifying clubs must be in free-standing buildings, not allow minors, and only club members may be present, say Ohio Department of Health officials.
The private club provision also requires that organizations hold a D-4 liquor permit, which requires applicants to have been a private club for more than three years and have voting members, said Matt Mullins, a spokesman for the Ohio Division of Liquor Control.
"Criteria like that, many businesses don't fit into," Mullins said.
He said he's received calls from bar owners asking to change their status to a private club. The requirement that private clubs be nonprofits deters bar owners from seeking "private club" status.
"Most of them are in business to make a profit, so most of them wouldn't qualify, even if they could get a D-4," he said.
Bar owners not happy
Jacob Evans, vice president of government affairs for the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association, said Ohio's smoking ban, as it is currently written, is broader than voters intended. Evans' clients, bar owners, see the provision as a threat.
The language would open veterans organizations, civic organizations, country clubs, yacht clubs and motorcycle clubs to smoking, he said.
"There are a lot of places out there that would qualify for this exemption," Evans said. "Frankly, it's just not fair."
Members of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie 3298 in Austintown say their club differs from a bar in many fundamental ways. The governance of their bar should be left to voting members, said trustee Gary Ehrhart.
The club's smokers were taking their last indoor puffs Wednesday, said club president Bob Marshall, who doubled as a bartender.
"If you don't have smoking at the bar, people are going to go home and drink," he said. "We're not the same as a regular bar; we give thousands of dollars to the community. But if we lose half of our clientele that's less money for us to give away."
They are already taking action to make their outdoor pavilion legal for alcohol consumption to accommodate their members who smoke, he added.
Country clubs
Meanwhile, area country club executives say indoor smoking was halted at their facilities when the smoking ban law was enacted in December 2006.
Salem Hills Golf and Country Club, located on state Route 45 just north of Salem, is a for-profit business and as such cannot qualify for an exemption as a nonprofit business under which smoking may be permitted.
Salem Hills president Butch Ross said that he thinks the workplace indoor smoking ban is a "great rule" and that only one of his members has complained.
It hasn't adversely affected the business, Ross added. "We're all in the same boat. If we are smokeless, so is the guy across the street," he said.
The Youngstown Country Club, a private nonprofit business, also banned indoor smoking when the law was passed last year, said Joe LaRocca, manager.
CONTRIBUTOR: William K. Alcorn, Vindicator staff writer.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
A preliminary hearing on that issue is set for later this month
By ANGIE SCHMITT
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Today, local health agencies statewide will begin enforcing the smoking ban enacted in December. For now, however, private clubs such as the AMVETS in Vienna will have to pack away their ashtrays and wait.
A provision of the statewide smoking ban that allows smoking in private clubs is under assault by an organization that represents Ohio's bar owners.
A Franklin County Common Pleas judge ruled the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association's challenge of the exemption for private clubs "demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success." He issued a temporary restraining order Monday forbidding private clubs from smoking until the matter can be debated further at a preliminary hearing May 14.
"We're just waiting for the call one way or the other," said AMVETS manager Joanne Stevens. "If we can fight for our country, why can't we smoke in our own club?"
Most of AMVETS' revenues come from what members call the canteen — the club's bar, Stevens said. Many veterans organizations already struggle financially as their client base ages, she added, and one of the perks at the canteen is that members can puff away.
As it stands, Ohio's indoor smoking ban allows smoking in private clubs that have no employees and are organized as nonprofit or charity organizations. Qualifying clubs must be in free-standing buildings, not allow minors, and only club members may be present, say Ohio Department of Health officials.
The private club provision also requires that organizations hold a D-4 liquor permit, which requires applicants to have been a private club for more than three years and have voting members, said Matt Mullins, a spokesman for the Ohio Division of Liquor Control.
"Criteria like that, many businesses don't fit into," Mullins said.
He said he's received calls from bar owners asking to change their status to a private club. The requirement that private clubs be nonprofits deters bar owners from seeking "private club" status.
"Most of them are in business to make a profit, so most of them wouldn't qualify, even if they could get a D-4," he said.
Bar owners not happy
Jacob Evans, vice president of government affairs for the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association, said Ohio's smoking ban, as it is currently written, is broader than voters intended. Evans' clients, bar owners, see the provision as a threat.
The language would open veterans organizations, civic organizations, country clubs, yacht clubs and motorcycle clubs to smoking, he said.
"There are a lot of places out there that would qualify for this exemption," Evans said. "Frankly, it's just not fair."
Members of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie 3298 in Austintown say their club differs from a bar in many fundamental ways. The governance of their bar should be left to voting members, said trustee Gary Ehrhart.
The club's smokers were taking their last indoor puffs Wednesday, said club president Bob Marshall, who doubled as a bartender.
"If you don't have smoking at the bar, people are going to go home and drink," he said. "We're not the same as a regular bar; we give thousands of dollars to the community. But if we lose half of our clientele that's less money for us to give away."
They are already taking action to make their outdoor pavilion legal for alcohol consumption to accommodate their members who smoke, he added.
Country clubs
Meanwhile, area country club executives say indoor smoking was halted at their facilities when the smoking ban law was enacted in December 2006.
Salem Hills Golf and Country Club, located on state Route 45 just north of Salem, is a for-profit business and as such cannot qualify for an exemption as a nonprofit business under which smoking may be permitted.
Salem Hills president Butch Ross said that he thinks the workplace indoor smoking ban is a "great rule" and that only one of his members has complained.
It hasn't adversely affected the business, Ross added. "We're all in the same boat. If we are smokeless, so is the guy across the street," he said.
The Youngstown Country Club, a private nonprofit business, also banned indoor smoking when the law was passed last year, said Joe LaRocca, manager.
CONTRIBUTOR: William K. Alcorn, Vindicator staff writer.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Today, local health agencies statewide will begin enforcing the smoking ban enacted in December. For now, however,...
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