In heart of tobacco country, smoke-free zones emerge

November 30, 2009|Associated Press

RICHMOND - Starting tomorrow, Virginia will join dozens of other states that ban smoking in restaurants, a huge shift for a state whose tobacco habit dates to the Jamestown settlement about 400 years ago.

Strict curbs on lighting up where food and drink are sold were enacted this year by lawmakers in Richmond and in Raleigh, N.C., major tobacco capitals where cigarette makers Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds have been accustomed to getting their way.

Restaurants in Virginia will be allowed to have a smoking area only if they segregate smokers into rooms with ventilation systems separate from those that heat and cool nonsmoking patrons.

North Carolina’s law takes effect Jan. 2 and will allow smoking on outdoor patios and in private membership clubs, as does Virginia’s law. Unlike Virginia, North Carolina law will not allow any smoking in restaurants.

Virginia restaurant industry lobbyist Tom Lisk expects only about 10 percent of the state’s restaurants to retain smoking areas. “A number of them, because of that requirement in the law to create or construct a separate room, don’t have the wherewithal to do it, so they’re just banning smoking altogether,’’ said Lisk, who last winter opposed the bill.

Some, such as Randall Plaxa, a Williamsburg nightspot owner, decided to go smoke-free well ahead of the deadline. Others, such as the Third Street Diner and the Beatles-themed Penny Lane Pub in downtown Richmond, will move patrons who smoke into upstairs quarters that already comply with the law.