By By GREG KATSKI
Community Editor
A.G. Swanner said he’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep his bar, The Rebel, a smoker-friendly place. That, essentially, means he will have to make it a nonprofit corporation.
“If it comes to that, that’s what we’ll do,” The Rebel’s longtime owner and Washington resident said.
On Jan. 2, a North Carolina state law prohibiting smoking in certain public places and certain places of employment, most notably restaurants and bars, takes effect. Exempt from the nonsmoking law are private clubs, defined by the state’s General Assembly as a country club or an organization that maintains selective members, is operated by the membership, does not provide food or lodging for pay to anyone who is not a member or a member’s guest and is either incorporated as a nonprofit corporation under state law or is tax-exempt under federal law.
Ann Houston Staples, director of public education and communications for the Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, said there has been some confusion about what establishments are considered private clubs under the new state law.
“It’s very well-defined in the law what they mean by a private club. It’s not hard to understand,” she said. “Just because your (establishment) is considered a private club under ABC laws, that does not mean it’s considered one under smoking laws.”
The nonprofit clause in the General Assembly’s definition of a private club prevents all profit-making businesses from remaining smoker-friendly, she said.
“The one thing that rubs a lot of businesses is the nonprofit clause,” Staples said. “It was written for patriotic clubs, not for private businesses and nightclubs.”
Health departments across the state will be responsible for enforcing the new law, she said.
Beaufort County Health Department Director Roxanne Holloman said enforcement will be “complaint driven.”
“The approach is really more educational,” she said.
Complaints regarding a certain business may be made by calling the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Careline at 1-800-662-7030, Holloman said.
The state has sent mailings regarding the ban to every restaurant and bar in North Carolina, Staples said.
Mark Gray, co-owner of Bar Upstream and Lanier’s Waterfront Restaurant, said his businesses haven’t gotten the mailings yet, but they are fully prepared to comply. Bar Upstream is completely smoke-free, and Lanier’s only allows smoking on its waterview deck.
“I think it’s the way it should have been,” Gray said regarding the new law. “I’m not a smoker and it’s rough to be (eating) next to smokers.”
Swanner, who also owns smoker-friendly Blackbeard’s Restaurant and Lounge, has formed a different opinion about the new law.
“I feel this about any business: If you personally own the business and want to smoke, smoking should be allowed,” said Swanner, who is not a smoker.
He added that patrons who don’t want to be around smokers have every right to go elsewhere.
“You don’t have to come to The Rebel and drink with me,” he said.
Swanner said the ban is an attack on personal freedom.
“The government is taking over everything. If smoking is so wrong, why don’t you outlaw it?” he said.
Swanner plans to bypass the new law by establishing The Rebel as a nonprofit corporation, with members as shareholders in the business. He said he has a friend in Virginia who will get to work on the reorganization of the business.
“I’m forced to be crooked again,” Swanner said.
Over at BB Sports Bar, bartender Michelin Alligood was of the opinion that the business was exempt from the ban as a private club.
“The smoking ban doesn’t apply to us. This is a private establishment,” she said.
Alligood said she has told most of the bar’s patrons the same.
“A lot of people were concerned,” she said.
And they should be, considering BB Sports Bar is a for-profit business and not exempt from the ban.
“As far as private clubs, there’s a gray area regarding what you can and can’t do,” said Jeff Hunnings, owner of Pirate’s Grill and Pub.
To avoid confusion, Hunnings’ business has been smoke-free from the time it opened earlier this year.
“I knew we had to stop in January,” he said.
Hunnings doesn’t expect the ban to affect smoker-friendly businesses dramatically.
“Being that it’s universal, it shouldn’t affect businesses,” he said.
John VanCoutren, proprietor of Pia’s of Washington and Pia’s of New Bern, said his restaurants might see a downturn in business.
“It may (affect business),” he said. “We usually have quite a few people in the bar getting appetizers.”
Pia’s of Washington only allows smoking in its bar. He said the bar is outfitted with a smoke-eater to keep cigarette smoke out of the restaurant.
“(Smoking) is not an issue. It never has been,” he said.
But a dejected VanCoutren added, “There’s nothing we can do about it.”