Blazing a trail for smoking bans

By Michael Rothstein, The Journal Gazette

Jerry Reiss sat in The Assembly Line years ago, eating as he always did with his wife at the small joint with the huge salad bar and sandwiches. It was there, in his hometown of San Luis Obispo, Calif., where the idea came.

A notice hung on the wall declaring The Assembly Line non-smoking. At the time, 1990, Reiss held a spot on the city council. He had heard of smoking ban attempts before, so he went to the then-city attorney, Jeff Jorgensen, to review why those attempts failed.

"We concluded that the flaw in previous attempts was that it was restaurants only and didn't include bars," Reiss said. "So I presented an ordinance including restaurants and bars."