Starting Friday, smoking will be prohibited at most public places in Greenwood, excluding bars and private clubs. Restaurants, such as the Oaken Barrell near Main Street, are preparing for the new regulations by packing up their ashtrays, putting up no-smoking signs and telling customers they soon won’t be able to smoke inside. PHOTO BY SCOTT ROBERSON
By MICHAEL W. HOSKINS, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer
Lighting up to smoke in most of Greenwood’s public places becomes illegal starting Friday.
The good news for smokers who like to puff away with their morning coffee and eggs at the local diner: Some bars are going to start serving breakfast.
Two days before the citywide smoking ban takes effect, some business owners were unsure exactly what they would be required to do and when the ban begins.
Legally, the ban starts at 12:01 a.m. Friday, which is the overnight period between Thursday and Friday, according to the city attorney. The start is 60 days from when the Greenwood City Council passed the ordinance Feb. 20.
The city will likely be flexible on when businesses have to comply and help smokers adapt to new rules, Mayor Charles Henderson said
“We want to be realistic and use common sense,” Henderson said. “We’re not going to go around snatching cigarettes from people at 12:01 (a.m.). If it takes a little time to put signs up and adapt, that’s fine.”
Businesses are preparing to remove ashtrays, put up no-smoking signs and start telling customers they cannot light up inside anymore.
Greenwood is the first Johnson County community to pass a smoking ban and joins several cities such in making the move. In Indianapolis, a ban started March 1. Bloomington, Carmel and Shelbyville also passed smoking bans. Franklin is considering one.
Bars are exempt from Greenwood’s ban because only people 21 and older are allowed inside. As a result, two bars plan to open earlier in the day and serve breakfast to give people a place to go to eat, smoke and relax. State law allows bars to serve liquor starting at 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday and at 10 a.m. Sunday.
“Too many customers have said they want a place to go to have a cigarette while reading the paper and having a cup of coffee,” That Place owner Jim Johnson said. “That’s what I’m going to give them.”
Instead of opening at 11 a.m., That Place will open its doors at 6 a.m. starting today.
Johnson said he has never served breakfast and doesn’t know what impact it will have.
“I’m not planning to get rich off this,” he said. “I just want to provide a service and offer people a place to go.”
In downtown Greenwood, the Blind Pig also plans to open at 6 a.m., two hours earlier than it used to, every day starting Monday.
Before, breakfast was served only on Saturday and Sunday, manager Debbie Ramsey said.
“This is about giving people a choice,” she said. “That’s being taken away.”
Smokers who light up in Greenwood face a $50 fine for each offense. Business owners and managers who don’t comply face fines of $50 for the first violation, $100 for the second at the same location and $250 for the third.
That means businesses must enforce the nonsmoking policy, remove ashtrays and smoking-related items and make sure nonsmoking signs are posted at entrances, the ordinance said.
Establishments where smoking is still allowed under the law must post signs to that effect.
“We want to wait until the final hour,” said Craig Predmore, general manager at Denny’s on Main Street near Interstate 65. “But we’re tired of the controversy and are ready to make the changes.”
The 24-hour restaurant plans to remove ash trays from tables and put nonsmoking stickers on the front door and in the restaurant Friday morning, but he said he may do that sooner if he needs to.
Employees have been told that they will no longer be able to smoke outside the building and will have to go to their cars, Predmore said.
He expects more business after the restaurant goes smoke-free and that customers will adapt to the change.
At the Oaken Barrel Brewery, smokers were ready for the ban to start.
“I’ll go with the flow,” said Sue Meyer of Greenwood, who was enjoying a cigarette during a lunch meeting Wednesday. “I’m really not bothered and will abide by whatever rules I have to.”
Owner Kwang Casey, who spoke against the ban, plans to put a sign up on the front door Friday morning before the brewpub opens.
He did not know if customers would be allowed to sit on benches outside the front door and was surprised to learn people must be 25 feet from the building.
Casey expects to lose some smoking customers at first because of the ban, but he said the restaurant side of the business will compensate.
He is bothered by the lack of communication he has received from the city about what his business will have to do.
This week, the mayor said Greenwood has published 5,000 brochures about the new rules and plans to make signs for business owners to put up in their buildings.
The ordinance is posted on the city’s Web site at www.greenwood.in.gov.
The police department plans to help educate people in coming weeks and does not expect problems, Police Chief Joe Pitcher said.
The measure would rely primarily on voluntary compliance, since officers usually have to see the offender smoking to cite them, Pitcher said.
“We’re going to move slowly until this is all fully communicated with people,” he said. “It’s not fair to write a whole bunch of tickets before everyone is even aware this has started.”
Pitcher plans to distribute brochures on the smoking ban to his officers, who will then hand them out to people who are unaware of the new rules, he said.
“I don’t expect a problem,” he said.
Pitcher, a smoker himself, laughed when asked where he would be able to light up a cigar.
“At my home or in the middle of a parking lot, as long as it’s far enough away (from a public place),” he said, referring to the 25-foot distance. “Or I’ll have to stop.”
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