Escalating the war on tobacco
by John Gregg

So the anti-tobacco crowd is waging a new offensive in their incremental ground war against smoking.

This time, Michelle Zeamer, Framingham's tobacco control agent, has suggested that the town could ban smoking altogether in restaurants, bars and private clubs.

Her argument is that a 1999 bylaw that forced Framingham restaurants to build enclosed, separate smoking sections if they didn't ban tobacco altogether was not being followed to the letter of the law.

And, of course, that second-hand smoke is deadly, posing a real danger to bartenders, waitresses and other pub workers.

"(When) you say second-hand smoke is harmful, why isn't it harmful to people who work in bars or private clubs?" Zeamer said yesterday.

On a recent inspection of 12 Framingham restaurants, here are the "violations" of the current bylaw that Zeamer found at five establishments.

In two places, the door between the bar and the non-smoking section was left open. And three restaurants were offering a full menu in the bar, where smoking is allowed, instead of just chicken wings and other "incidental" bar food. A minor was also in one bar.

Let's shoot the varmints right now.

The Framingham Board of Health will hold a public hearing on expanding the smoking ban Dec. 19, and the panel has already indicated it is unlikely to bar smoking in private clubs.

In other words, no town employee or elected official is foolish enough to mess with places like the American Legion. Yet.

"This is not what (the Board of Health) wanted," Zeamer said of the proposed sweeping new ban. "It's just what I gave them, starting out with the strongest, so you have room to maneuver."

But many restaurants have already made extensive changes to meet the current bylaw, and could see that work rendered meaningless if smoking in eateries is banned altogether.

A manager at the Rte. 9 Bennigan's told a News reporter that it spent $80,000 to build an enclosed bar that allows smoking, which generates 60 percent of its business.

If the town does broaden its ban, Framingham wouldn't be breaking new ground. Most of Cape Cod is "100 percent smoke-free" in public, Zeamer said.

And in Holliston, where Zeamer serves on the Board of Health, all restaurants and bars are already smoke-free, but one pub has a waiver, and private clubs are exempt.

Read between the lines, and you'll see that a political war is going on here. An established place gets protected, and so do the private watering holes where the townies hang out. Think bartenders at a local VFW are sucking down any less smoke than the folks pouring drinks at Bennigan's?

Truth be told, I can't stand tobacco smoke. I hounded my older sisters before they quit smoking, and I've seen relatives and family friends die of lung cancer. We all have.

But I also know that bars and cigarettes go together like turkey and stuffing. Even I appreciate the smoke in rockin' bars. Some nights, it adds to the atmosphere.

And hold the sympathy for the folks who work in bars. Everyone in the industry knows smokers are big tippers, and many bartenders and waitresses collect sizable tips that rarely make it onto their tax forms.

If they don't like the smoke - and they certainly know the hazards - they can go work in a smoke-free restaurant.

Should Framingham ban smoking in bars, the anti-tobacco campaign won't stop there. Just two days ago, the Montgomery County (Md.) Council voted to fine smokers, landlords and condo associations up to $750 if a neighbor complains of smoke from a nearby home.

I grew up in Montgomery County, and it's just like MetroWest. The county seat of Rockville has strip malls, big box shopping and the Rockville Pike to rival Rte. 9. Montgomery County has a liberal Democratic base and is home to wealthy Washington suburbs with great schools.

What they do there will happen here. In fact, Zeamer said a health agent in Needham is already "compiling information" about smoking in apartments and condominiums. Many of the problems, as it turns out, are related to holes in floors or unsealed pipes.

"A lot of times it's a minor structural problem that can be fixed," Zeamer said.

Good. So put some carpenters to work, not another law that takes away more freedom.

John Gregg's column appears Thursdays.