News Articles

The Saratogian - Published on 06/28/2006

A push to ban smoking

By JIM KINNEY

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- A local anti-tobacco group is going to use the results of recent opinion surveys in a push to expand the state's smoking restrictions.

Janine Stuchin of the Southern Adirondack Tobacco Free Coalition said the next push will be to ban smoking in doorways at offices and buildings and at parks and beaches.

'This isn't about the rights of smokers,' Stuchin said Tuesday. 'It's about protecting the rights of nonsmokers to be free of chemicals.'

She said restricting smoking at beaches and parks is something that comes up a lot at this time of year.

'You know, you are always trying to shift somewhere where the smoke doesn't waft,' Stuchin said.

Clayton Kane of Saratoga Springs was smoking a cigarette outside Trotter's Bar on Caroline Street Tuesday afternoon. The 47-year-old has smoked for about 30 years.

'Everyone is always trying to take away places to smoke,' he said. 'I know it's a nasty habit. But what am I supposed to do? They say I can quit. It's not like I haven't tried. I'd love to quit.'

He said he smokes a pack to a pack-and-a-half each day. Each pack has 20 cigarettes.

In the alley near the Woodlawn Avenue parking lot, Jason Lee of Saratoga Springs said he can see why nonsmokers hate it when smokers congregate in doorways.

'At least we come across the street,' he said.

His co-worker, Theo Paris of Colonie, said the restrictions are unfair.

'The state certainly makes enough off us with the cigarette tax,' he said.

Smoker Ross Plue of Saratoga Springs said he'd like to see the state crack down on the consumption of alcohol because it can make people aggressive and argumentative.

'If someone is sitting having a cigarette, they are relaxed,' he said.

Tuesday, U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona issued a condemnation of second-hand smoke, which Carmona called 'involuntary smoking,' according to The Associated Press. The 670-page study said that more than 35,000 nonsmokers a year die of diseases caused by second-hand smoke.

Stuchin said a 2005 survey shows that 81 percent of the adults in the greater Capital Region favor a state law that came into effect two years ago and banned smoking indoors at workplaces including bars and restaurants.

She said support for the law has increased in recent years.

'The world didn't end,' she said. 'All the bars and restaurants didn't go out of business.'

Tin and Lint owner Jim Stanley said Tuesday that business at his bar dropped 39 percent in the first year the bar smoking ban was in effect.

'It's coming back now,' Stanley said. 'People adapt.'

In Saratoga County, only two bars have waivers from the state Department of Health allowing smoking on the premises:

The Wine Bar on Broadway in Saratoga Springs and Melba Mae's Riverview Inn in Hadley. Warren and Washington counties have three bars each with exemptions.

Stuchin said she's interested to see how people's changing attitudes toward smoking are reflected in a new poll she expects to begin next week.

The state Department of Health funds the survey.

The pollster, Syracuse University political science professor Jeffrey M. Stonecash, said laws restricting smoking tend to have a ripple effect.

People who don't smoke -- about 80 percent of the population -- visit cities and states with restrictive laws, then want them in their hometowns.

Or people get less used to being around tobacco smoke.

He said he noticed it while eating in a restaurant in Chicago recently.

'I told the waitress, 'Whew, can you get me away from this,' ' Stonecash said. 'She said, 'Yeah, we're going smoke-free in three months.' '

Phil Oliva, a spokesman for Assembly majority leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, said there are bills introduced that would ban smoking at beaches, parks and near doorways.

But those laws have not come up for serious consideration.

He said Tedisco, who represents Saratoga Springs, is traveling and has not reviewed all the legislation so he didn't feel comfortable talking.

Also on Tuesday, State University of New York officials announced that dormitories in the SUNY system are going smoke-free starting with the fall 2007 semester.

Saratoga Hospital announced plans in November to ban smoking outdoors on its grounds to take effect Jan. 1, 2007.