Rowlett Lakeshore Times > News
(Slideshow) Rowlett residents fear rights could go up in smoke
By Brian Bearden, Staff Writer
Rowlett bar, restaurant and bowling alley owners turned out Tuesday night along with residents concerned about their health and businesses at the city council's public hearing on its proposed smoking ban.
The Rowlett city council was asked by Mayor John E. Harper to continue studying the smoking issue, which could come up again at the next meeting and might have an outside chance of going to a vote in early February.
The mayor also said no date has been set for a vote.
Council member Cindy Rushing reminded residents at the public hearing that no new law is on the table and an ordinance has not been created. She said the council could seek to ban smoking completely or create a partial ban but nothing has been proposed.
Mayor Pro Tem Todd Gottel, disappointed in a light turnout of business owners, told residents that he wants to vote in favor of existing businesses and afterward said he would be against a smoking ban because it is a business issue.
Drew Howard of the Rowlett Chamber of Commerce was asked by the mayor how Chamber members are weighing in so far. Howard said he didn't know of any feedback yet.
George P. "Pat" Thurman, owner of the Ramblin' Rose on Elm Grove Road, said a smoking ban will be bad for restaurants and bars.
"It will hurt my business tremendously," Thurman said. "I own my own building, and I own my own business. My business is a bar. It is a honky-tonk. In a honky-tonk like mine, 90 percent of the people who come in there smoke. And, the other 10 percent drove there with them in the same car."
Thurman said his building wasn't originally in Rowlett, but was annexed by the city. His honky-tonk has been there 17 years.
"A smoking ban is just crazy," Thurman said. "It is really quite simple. All a business has to do is hang a big sign outside that says this is a smoking facility. And, then if people don't want smoke, they don't have to come in the building. But it is crazy, just crazy to ban smoking in Rowlett. Whoever heard of a honky-tonk where you couldn't smoke?"
Resident Stanley Pollard said that no one smokes in his family, and he doesn't allow smoking in his vehicles.
"But that is my choice," Pollard said. "It should not be the choice of the city, county or the government.
Pollard, an adjuster, said perhaps the wrong substance is being banned across the state.
"I do not recall one accident caused by someone smoking, " he said. "But I have handled many accidents over the years where alcohol played a role. That does far more harm than smoking does."
Pollard said he should be the one choosing whether he goes into a business that allows smoking, not the city.
Walt Parker echoed that, saying that a city does not have the right to take away a right such as smoking.
"The question should be does a city and the government have the right to infringe upon the individual property owner," Parker said. "You don't have the right, but you do have the power. The police have the guns and can write tickets. But you don't have the right to eliminate smoking."
Ronald Couche said that he was in a bar recently and someone lit a cigar.
"All the oxygen was sucked out of that bar," Couche said. "You can't contain smoke in a public place. It is like having a no peeing section in a public swimming pool."
Lonnie Cornwell opposes a ban on smoking, calling smoking a personal right.
"You are putting government over people's personal choice," Cornwell said. "If the government was really wanting to make us all healthy, they'd shut down every fast food place."
Cornwell drew applause at the public hearing when he counted the way America is being nationalized. He said government is robbing the start-up business people by forcing the preferences of a few on everyone else in the city.
Cornwell cited the bowling alley as a good example of how America works best. Smoking is allowed in the bar area, not in the lanes.
"That is his right as the business owner to do it," Cornwell said.
Rowlett Bowl-A-Rama owner, Chuck Lande, said laws against smoking are popping up every place.
"It is more a matter of when now," Lande said. "We elected to do business smokefree when we opened six years ago."
Lande said bowlers drive in from Garland and Mesquite because his lanes are smokefree but he knows others who don't bowl there because they can't smoke.
"You need to make a blanket ban," Lande said, who added a partial ban wouldn't work. "If you do it, make it broad enough and fair for all. There is really no way to block off smoking. Somehow it gets everywhere."
He fears that a partial smoking ban will hurt business and cost money.
A new business owner, Colleen Elledge, said she had to spend a lot of money to comply with current city laws. As a business owner, she asked the council to vote against a smoking ban.
Richard Elledge said if there is a smoking ban, the city should allow a restaurant to create separate parts -- one side where smoking is allowed that has its own door and another with its own door that is smokefree. The kitchen ventilation would be separate from both sides. And, that way a restaurant could sell off half if it wasn't making money.
Ron Free said that a smoking ban will cause a 35 to 40 percent loss in sales, a cut in payroll and a loss in sales tax along with a 100 percent loss in spending power by the people who will get laidoff if the restaurant or bar loses business.
Free asked why a new business would want to open a restaurant in Rowlett if customers could go another eight minutes on the road to Rockwall or Garland to smoke?
"Let 50,000 some odd people make that decision instead of seven [on a city council,]" Free said.
Council member Chris Kilgore stepped from behind the council desk to take a spot in the public hearing as a citizen. Kilgore said he has been waiting 17 months to discuss a smoking ban.
"I did not come to praise Caesar," Kilgore said, adding that the issue comes down to the rights of smokers and the rights of business owners.
Kilgore said one of the reasons he ran for council was because the old city council had "borrowed us into debt" by saying the money was for the health of citizens.
"But when it came to voting on a gold-plated health issue, it ducked," Kilgore said. "I found that very ironic."
Kilgore quoted Mark Twain when discussing second-hand smoke said the 2007 council was irresponsible when it ducked the issue. Citing evidence that second-hand smoke is a health issue, Kilgore said, "To not enact such a ban now would be equally irresponsible."
Mayor Harper said the council has also received e-mails and letters from citizens and encouraged others to write their council and the mayor's office about any issue facing Rowlett.
Only one question remains: If President-elect Barack Obama decides to have dinner in Rowlett, will he have to drive eight minutes out of town to have his one cigarette a day?
For more information and video of the public hearing, go to www.rowlett.com
For information on quitting smoking, go to www.anti-smoking.org
The Rowlett city council was asked by Mayor John E. Harper to continue studying the smoking issue, which could come up again at the next meeting and might have an outside chance of going to a vote in early February.
The mayor also said no date has been set for a vote.
Council member Cindy Rushing reminded residents at the public hearing that no new law is on the table and an ordinance has not been created. She said the council could seek to ban smoking completely or create a partial ban but nothing has been proposed.
Mayor Pro Tem Todd Gottel, disappointed in a light turnout of business owners, told residents that he wants to vote in favor of existing businesses and afterward said he would be against a smoking ban because it is a business issue.
Drew Howard of the Rowlett Chamber of Commerce was asked by the mayor how Chamber members are weighing in so far. Howard said he didn't know of any feedback yet.
George P. "Pat" Thurman, owner of the Ramblin' Rose on Elm Grove Road, said a smoking ban will be bad for restaurants and bars.
"It will hurt my business tremendously," Thurman said. "I own my own building, and I own my own business. My business is a bar. It is a honky-tonk. In a honky-tonk like mine, 90 percent of the people who come in there smoke. And, the other 10 percent drove there with them in the same car."
Thurman said his building wasn't originally in Rowlett, but was annexed by the city. His honky-tonk has been there 17 years.
"A smoking ban is just crazy," Thurman said. "It is really quite simple. All a business has to do is hang a big sign outside that says this is a smoking facility. And, then if people don't want smoke, they don't have to come in the building. But it is crazy, just crazy to ban smoking in Rowlett. Whoever heard of a honky-tonk where you couldn't smoke?"
Resident Stanley Pollard said that no one smokes in his family, and he doesn't allow smoking in his vehicles.
"But that is my choice," Pollard said. "It should not be the choice of the city, county or the government.
Pollard, an adjuster, said perhaps the wrong substance is being banned across the state.
"I do not recall one accident caused by someone smoking, " he said. "But I have handled many accidents over the years where alcohol played a role. That does far more harm than smoking does."
Pollard said he should be the one choosing whether he goes into a business that allows smoking, not the city.
Walt Parker echoed that, saying that a city does not have the right to take away a right such as smoking.
"The question should be does a city and the government have the right to infringe upon the individual property owner," Parker said. "You don't have the right, but you do have the power. The police have the guns and can write tickets. But you don't have the right to eliminate smoking."
Ronald Couche said that he was in a bar recently and someone lit a cigar.
"All the oxygen was sucked out of that bar," Couche said. "You can't contain smoke in a public place. It is like having a no peeing section in a public swimming pool."
Lonnie Cornwell opposes a ban on smoking, calling smoking a personal right.
"You are putting government over people's personal choice," Cornwell said. "If the government was really wanting to make us all healthy, they'd shut down every fast food place."
Cornwell drew applause at the public hearing when he counted the way America is being nationalized. He said government is robbing the start-up business people by forcing the preferences of a few on everyone else in the city.
Cornwell cited the bowling alley as a good example of how America works best. Smoking is allowed in the bar area, not in the lanes.
"That is his right as the business owner to do it," Cornwell said.
Rowlett Bowl-A-Rama owner, Chuck Lande, said laws against smoking are popping up every place.
"It is more a matter of when now," Lande said. "We elected to do business smokefree when we opened six years ago."
Lande said bowlers drive in from Garland and Mesquite because his lanes are smokefree but he knows others who don't bowl there because they can't smoke.
"You need to make a blanket ban," Lande said, who added a partial ban wouldn't work. "If you do it, make it broad enough and fair for all. There is really no way to block off smoking. Somehow it gets everywhere."
He fears that a partial smoking ban will hurt business and cost money.
A new business owner, Colleen Elledge, said she had to spend a lot of money to comply with current city laws. As a business owner, she asked the council to vote against a smoking ban.
Richard Elledge said if there is a smoking ban, the city should allow a restaurant to create separate parts -- one side where smoking is allowed that has its own door and another with its own door that is smokefree. The kitchen ventilation would be separate from both sides. And, that way a restaurant could sell off half if it wasn't making money.
Ron Free said that a smoking ban will cause a 35 to 40 percent loss in sales, a cut in payroll and a loss in sales tax along with a 100 percent loss in spending power by the people who will get laidoff if the restaurant or bar loses business.
Free asked why a new business would want to open a restaurant in Rowlett if customers could go another eight minutes on the road to Rockwall or Garland to smoke?
"Let 50,000 some odd people make that decision instead of seven [on a city council,]" Free said.
Council member Chris Kilgore stepped from behind the council desk to take a spot in the public hearing as a citizen. Kilgore said he has been waiting 17 months to discuss a smoking ban.
"I did not come to praise Caesar," Kilgore said, adding that the issue comes down to the rights of smokers and the rights of business owners.
Kilgore said one of the reasons he ran for council was because the old city council had "borrowed us into debt" by saying the money was for the health of citizens.
"But when it came to voting on a gold-plated health issue, it ducked," Kilgore said. "I found that very ironic."
Kilgore quoted Mark Twain when discussing second-hand smoke said the 2007 council was irresponsible when it ducked the issue. Citing evidence that second-hand smoke is a health issue, Kilgore said, "To not enact such a ban now would be equally irresponsible."
Mayor Harper said the council has also received e-mails and letters from citizens and encouraged others to write their council and the mayor's office about any issue facing Rowlett.
Only one question remains: If President-elect Barack Obama decides to have dinner in Rowlett, will he have to drive eight minutes out of town to have his one cigarette a day?
For more information and video of the public hearing, go to www.rowlett.com
For information on quitting smoking, go to www.anti-smoking.org
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