Tobacco Documents Online

+:Restaurant-,smoking ru i; I I Sy John Msncini . t . li. Staff Writer Opposition from those who pre fer'to indulge may have gone up In smoke, but many restauraElts... !I don't meet the letter of a new` ^' state law regarding smoking in restaurants.. An informal survey showed ,,,many restaurateurs In lower' Fairfield County have not cwm- plied with a state law that re- quires them to establish speci- fied, marked smoking and non-smoking sections and that ~~ many aren't aware that they. must. The regulation, passed as part : ,, of a law that took effect in Octo- ber and has been enforced since January, applies to restaurants that seat 75 people or more. A; t 19T91 aw a d u i re ose r r h e d th e s- q e gets, fhazy~.lcompI i an'ce~ ~ ,mand for it,,, he said <.. , . , ' . The Ground Round fa renovat= Ing, and Warren said those plang ,don't include any specfic . ~ , ; changes because of the law. "1 may"put up a sign, but'it ~ .Fwon't be anything that detract# Jrom the decor,,,' tle said, ~,y} ~ The restaurant wlll cdnttaue tts:, pollcy df seating those custpm* : wta request non-smoking ,areas, ' away from the rest of the tables ;,if possible, Warren said. - ~, ; ,,,,ODO,,,,~~ taurants to rnvide seating for A k t' C C b rnets,a~~}9 ~q! x rt~¢tauran in os o h ~ k' t d' ~ $ t o ~9n mar s a no sroP Ing area ,ot p •, 'r~ loocsuse of demand. - k d k b t non-smo ers an smo ers, u : , . , . . • , , . . . r also had allowed an owner to des-, , tions is left up to mangement -' amoking• tiectiops and few Indi- -"1be'majority of people tbat'~ :"We have the sign up,'" aa~id p +< ;} Ignate his entire premises as a+ ln this area, only a few restau- cated they~vould cotnplpwtth the come into our restaurant ars .~: manager at Hunan.U.8.1:on Cop± smoking area. rants have signs posted announc-~ law fully on their own. ,, smokers," safd Arthttr Gro®a, tbe Yi'necticut Avenue In Norwalk, *± , The older law did not require' ing smoking and non-smoking "As with any health regula- Clam Box's owner. x,~.'•but it doesn't reflect manage• t signs announcing the different; seating. Those restaurateurs, tion, you comply as well as you Gross keeps a few tables near a; >~t's positfon-" seating and marking the non-; who didn't have the'required 'can," said Warren Butler, man-' windowandunderanexhaustfan..... Smokers, however, • appeaF smoking and smoking areas. ! signs posted or sections desig- . ager of the Ground Round at for non-smokers. He had antici- +' , ~ more resigned to the leglslationt ;. , A State officials say it is too soon nated say they try to make non- y, Landmark Square, Stamford. pated more_ request$ from non- f and many said they support it :"; t to assess how well owners are smokers as comfortable as possl if,~' Hosts at the Clam Box on the. smokers. '' "It makes me feel more cotq- ~.• complying with a requirement to ble by seating them at tables ~post Road in Greenwich ask . "When the law originally went ~; fortable," said Mary galeh, a ~ , post a sign announcing that non- ` away from smokers. ~ diners whether they prefer smok- into effect, we had set aside one { Woodbridge smoker dining at ; r be room entirel for non-sm ~ ~ B and smoking sections But the added ~, that . . few cus 'In `•:... Bloo~~gdale s w Ich has I smoldt~ P tq hepe~,9 are available. The size o[ the sec-r totners -~$(ot ; tab es fn :non forge or Wey non-smoking seake smoktnd '` sections We [igured there would beo~ ;'"" 9Es .;•no plans to set aside a large area ;,' At C'himChi's on the Post Road ,'1n Darien, C'ourtiand Wlliian~ the service manager, said he has have to set up a dlf[erent room." `i eaid. "I was <wncerned that I d . ', ~y "It just hasn't been a'mafoe "~ concern with my customers,,"he :; mand ls not great: 1 11 ~ for non-smokers becauge the de- ;~ Other restaurateurs satd they ; will comply with the law, but n0

C. Smoking / Continued from Page A1' - smoking and non-smoivng sec- tions. "I tend to be very con- scious of the non-smoker. If there is no smoking section, and people aren't smoking, I won't. I don't feel I'm being discriminated against." "It's never bothered me to sit in a separate section," said an- other woman at the re'staurant. "I'd rather be separated fhan have to sit next'to some of those people with a superior attitude." Collectively, restaurateurs aren't complaining about the changes in the law. Gary Hotch- kin, executive vice president of the 800-member Connecticut'Restatrants Association, said the new law doesn't cause many problems for his members. - Hotchkin added that the group wouldn't support stricter re- quirements calling for partitions or permanently designated areas. The current law allows restaurants to change the size of non-smoking areas according to daily demands. "The difficulty weuld come If it takes the shape of firmness and rigidity that causes usable seats and tables to go unused," Hotch- kin said. • - He also questioned the philoso- phy of the legislation, which makes restaurant owners liable for fines of up to $99 if cb.stomers smoke innon-smoking areas. Ron Stoddard, a state Health Department public health ad- viser, said the agency has not formally surveyed ~ the restau- rants affected by the new rules. "We have no real large amount of complaints," Stoddard said,, adding that his office hears from four or five people regarding non-complying restaurants each week. "Compliance appears to be good." The call for stricter standards for restaurants in Connecticut had been led by state chapters of the American Lung and Ameri- can Heart assocaitions and the American Cancer Society. Doc- tors say second-hand smoke can be dangerous to non-smokers,, especially those with respiratory problems.