YORK -- York County leaders unanimously placed their final stamp on a countywide smoking ban Monday night.
The ban applies to all businesses in the unincorporated areas of the county, though municipalities such as Fort Mill, Clover and York won't be affected. Rock Hill passed a similar measure last month.
Under the ban, people who light up inside businesses, restaurants and other indoor public places could face fines as high as $50. Businesses that allow people to smoke in violation of the bans also could be fined.
Although the vote for the ban was unanimous, County Councilman Tom Smith asked other council members to put an exception in the ban that allows smoking in bars that don't employ workers younger than 21 or permit any minors inside.
Smith fears the ban will hurt small bars, where most of the customers come to smoke and drink. But he couldn't find any council support for the changes.
"I would like to see smoking go away totally," Smith said. "But that's not what we have. We don't have a perfect world."
The vote was the final one needed to make the ban permanent, though leaders say they won't begin enforcing it until May 1.
Some councilmen said they were reluctant to support the ban, but their constituents wanted them to.
"I'm as pro-business as they come," County Councilman Paul Lindemann said. "I've said every time that I've run a campaign or done anything that I would never detriment a small business. And I hope this doesn't come back to bite me."
Chris Earle, owner of Christopher's Bar and Grill in Lake Wylie, doesn't doubt the ban will hurt his business.
"I know it will," he said. "Common sense is going to tell you that. We're two minutes from the Charlotte line and maybe four minutes to the nearest bar/grill/restaurant up in Charlotte. What's going to keep them just from going straight by me, straight into Charlotte?"
A nonsmoker, Earle said he likes the idea of a smoking ban, but his biggest problem with the county's move is the timing. His business is already down 25 percent because of the soft economy, and he worries he'll lose many customers because of the ban.
"I've got 22 employees," he said. "I'm definitely not going to leave. I'm going to have to get rid of them. So there's somebody else on unemployment all of a sudden."
Not all bar owners see the smoking ban as bad for business.
Amy Bovender, general manager at the Six Pence Pub in Fort Mill, said her business has been open for more than two years, and being smoke-free has been a plus.
"It's worked out great for us," she said. "Our customers love the fact that they can come in and enjoy a drink (and) not be asphyxiated by cigarette smoke."
Smokers, she said, do come to the pub; they just have to go outside on the patio or on the roof. Families also enjoy the environment because they like to take their kids to watch football games, she said.
"It's a huge step forward," she said of the ban. "There's all these warnings out there for smokers. Maybe they need to start heeding them."
| About the smoking ban |
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Under the ban, people who light up inside businesses, restaurants and other indoor public places could face fines of as much as $50. Businesses that allow people to smoke in violation of the bans also could be fined. Rock Hill leaders passed a similar ban last month, but the county's smoking ban applies only to unincorporated areas, meaning it won't affect municipalities such as Fort Mill, Clover and York. The ban also doesn't apply to people smoking in their homes. |
