Casper City Council heard nearly two hours reading the opponents of the smoking ban last week, capping months of entry, when it begins to finalize the wording of the proposed controversial decision to smoke.

“We’re going to have a special session of work on this topic all the way, that we are not rushed, and we can go through it line by line,” said Mayor Kenyne Hit the development of measures to be voted on later this spring. The session was scheduled for 3:00 Wednesday, April 11, the regular council chambers. It will also be broadcast live and recorded. At a meeting last week, some local bar, club and hotel managers told the council the ban on smoking in Casper to manage their customers to smoke in a nearby Mills, Evansville and County, and in some cases, bring your business to fail.

“My Spit patrons, I will lose 80 to 90 percent of them,” said owner Nancy Goddard Spit Lounge. “They’ve told me they would go in Evansville and Mills to go to a place that will allow them to smoke, which will be fully financially destroy me.” “I feel like Nancy did,” said the owner of the fireplace Brandon Dorn. “I feel that the ban on smoking will definitely hurt us … in the middle, bars come down by 30 percent in the first six months, some of them to restore the trade, and some of them do not. It always scares me. He dismisses employees, then this is a big concern of mine. I also have a lot of single parents who work in the sidebar, and they are very concerned about losing their jobs. This is not what I want to lay off all it’s just that if the demand is not There, I can not keep all employees on. ”

The local hotel, restaurant and bar owner Pat Sweeney reported to the Council, some of Wyoming liquor license holders in the communities that have enacted smoking bans say that the cost of their licenses were almost in half, with reference to the owner of Four Winds in Cheyenne. “He feels that the value of its retail liquor license has fallen about $ 100,000. Cost of liquor license in Cheyenne, up to [them] smoking ban was close to $ 250,000, very similar to Casper,” Sweeney said. “He believes that today it is closer to $ 150,000. This is someone on the ground in the business who have been affected.”

“I sold my house to buy a scythe,” said Goddard. “But I think we will get part of what we put back. Because income is down, we can not show that the gross profit, we show now. This will make the sale of that business is stronger, and that was my retirement. I 60 years, I have many years left in me a drink “At the same time, operators of local clubs, such as the VFW and the Elks, doubt that the city should prohibit even offer that includes. “For example, I do not want to say that the veteran had fought in a battle, going all the way to the Second World War, that they can not come to his area report that they are members, not to smoke a cigarette with a cold beer,” said Robert DeBernardo, VFW political action chairman. “Just for me it makes no sense.”

“When they introduced non-smoking ruling in Cheyenne, we have lost almost 200 people because of this, and I think they have recovered 50 of them, but they are not in very good shape,” said Wes Stull of the Casper Elks Club. “I just do not think we can dictate to our members, who pay money to join, they can not come back and smoke a cigarette at the bar if they want to smoke.” There have been objections about possible constitutional grounds. “We are absolutely consumed legal matter, we have the right to come together, right of assembly to do this, and our Constitution is there to protect that, “said Russell Reddick, president of the Central Wyoming struggle.” What if we 100 smokers want to get together and form a smoking club, exercising our first amendment right to assemble? Under the proposed regulations, we would not have been able to do it, and it is a violation of our rights. Again, as an individual, that if I hire a maid? Well, smoking in the workplace, I would not smoke in my own home, ever. And it’s not right. ”

Sweeney said the decision, as it is written, it seems to focus on the bars and restaurants, while other companies are, it specifically controls those licensed food or drink. “The draft resolution, which is a target of bars, restaurants, those that are licensed and those who get tested,” Sweeney said. “So, really, I think it’s all about the orientation of the bars, in particular, under the guise of employees.” Sweeney and other business owners also questioned the claim that smokers should not be less than 25 meters from the entrance to the business. Some businesses do not have enough property to accommodate this distance, especially in the core of the city center. The draft resolution also requires the business owner to monitor any smoking outdoors.

“Someone walks Lou Taubert, not 10 meters from its passage there … he was in trouble and did not even know he’s in trouble,” Sweeney said. “Right now, 25 feet, I’m not going in the middle of traffic and someone is going to stop at the Wonder Bar says:” I must tell you to quit smoking in the car on the street. However, in accordance with this resolution, I think we should do it. “” 25 feet, almost impossible, there would be one small area is enough for one guy to stand on, “said El Marko Lanes owner Van Galloway, explaining he could only accommodate 10-foot distance to his smoking.” I not only built, I put out there for them to warm in the winter. It’s not 72 degrees, but at least it’s not a zero or “Galloway said.” It gives them time to get out and have their cigarettes and take care of them. “Some companies have found a solution for the provision of special non-smoking, for example, side and 12/24 Club.

“He could not understand if he went completely non-smoker, he is going to protect the 300 rounds of ammunition from taking their drink outside to smoke a cigarette, with our open container laws,” Sweeney said the decision to put aside the owner in the smoking room. “Therefore, he felt that doing the right thing in response to that.” President of 12/24 Club said that the recovery community as a whole maintains its primary objective, so if the problem is alcohol or drugs, smoking, as a rule, «does not matter.” One of the problems, however, smokers gathers outside the main entrance and non-smokers, but reduced the mixing and interaction, so they put in a smoking room. “We put him in the back of the building in places where it is not in anyone’s face,” said Chuck Wilson. “This makes it possible for people to get their cigarettes and smoking, when they need it, and still be able to return and join in communion with other people.” Sweeney said the trend is already underway in heavy smoking, indicating that out of 117, only two restaurants still allow smoking inside and out of 24 bars and halls, 14, or 60 percent, and smoking.

“I think we can show you in restaurants, private clubs, bars, hotels, and we’re already there, and we’re making great progress, without government intervention,” Sweeney said Board by adding at the end of the closing remarks: “This is nonsense health good, then why not go for the protection of the environment and said that it is toxic, why not take advantage of this Congress and just ban it? Just as alcohol is a legal substance, and you have the right, as people in the United States to choose whether you want to smoke or not smoke, you have the right to be able to drink or not drink, but simply because other party wants to ban, that is not going to fix this problem. “Council member Kim Holloway, however, said that if this trend is smoking, it does not see the problem.” The trend in Casper is to go smoke, and I do not understand why this would make people go out of business,” said Holloway. “Business owners are choosing to voluntarily go smoke and are still in business.”

“If you put a general ban on smoking, we’re not going to be able to provide a working, we’re not going to be able to accommodate older smokers, who probably will not change his ways and those who want to quit,” Sweeney said. “As Pat said,” Goddard said, “they are setting the hands, construction workers. When you come back, I tell you, 95 percent of those customers who have a cigarette in his hand. I talked with them, and they will leave.” Mayor Schlager, however, noted that new customers can come about if there was no smoking is allowed. “I wonder how many people [there], like Kim and I, that would actually like to come to these places, but can not until they smoking?” Schlager said. “It is quite possible that if we make sure that you can go to those places, they will not be there because you were convinced that their business has gone down,” countered board member Bill Brauer. “Leopard is no different from any other business; they have different classes of customers. You can see that in the operation of the station, grocery stores, clothing stores, everything. Not everyone goes to every store, and there are various bars”

Meanwhile, another issue that has arisen concerns the question directly to the public, the voting issue at the next election. Council reported in the state statute did not allow the Board to put the issue to a vote on their own. “Under the law of Wyoming, there is no right of initiative at the municipal level,” said city attorney Bill Luben. “There’s only right to contest the fact that the council adopted the ordinance on the referendum passes asked the mayor Schlager, to which Lubin nodded.” It’s sad, thank you,” said Reddick, who later said the public vote was the only way anyone could say.

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