Bar owners, smokers say Utah's impending ban is a real drag

By Tyson Smith

December 11, 2007 | The ultimatum has been set, and the consequences will be high. As of Jan. 1, 2009, all bars and private clubs in Utah will be forced to impose a smoking ban.

While this may seem as an inconsequential law to some, there are others whose livelihoods may be at stake due to the recently passed law.

Mike Grimes, the former owner of Chip Shots, a bar and grill in Brigham City, said, "This is a serious law, and it has already caused me to close down my business."

He added that even though the law has not yet been put into play. it was already "killing business."

In Logan, Tyler Harry, an employee at the White Owl, said, "Business has slowed down a fair amount since the law was passed."

He explained that even though the problem had not yet reached critical status, the bar is taking precautions for when the state starts to enforce the law. One of the precautions that Harry mentioned was that the bar would build a patio especially for smokers.

The main consequence of this law starts and ends with money. Grimes estimated that before the law was passed, his bar brought in somewhere around $3,500 a week. And after the law passed Grimes said that his average income slowly fell to about $2,000 a week.

Asked why he thought that business was already falling off, Grimes had no sure answer, but said, "I think people are protesting in a way."

He also said many of the people he had talked with said they felt as if they were being treated like criminals for doing something that is completely legal.

Will Merrell, who is a smoker and a former patron of the White Owl, expressed many of the same opinions that Grimes had heard.

"I have stopped going to the bar because I will not give another cent to this state by buying its overpriced alcohol. I think it is a travesty that the state feels the need to impose its moral values on everyone," Merrell said.

Grimes is actually a supporter of what the law is trying to accomplish, but he feels that the state is being too narrow minded about the issue.

Bar owners want to compromise. Many have offered to separate special smoking rooms from the main bar, but the state has denied all offers to this point.

Utah is the 12th state to impose such a smoking ban. The scary part for bar owners in Utah is the negative economic impact that the ban has had on those other states. Some sources show that the states with smoking bans have bars lagging in revenue behind those of smoker-friendly states by up to 40 percent.

Grimes is still fighting the bans, and says he will continue to do so. He said, "I can’t just sit back and let this state take away the business that I put my whole life into.”"

MS
MS