Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 24, 1990 TAG: 9006280823
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DEBORAH EVANS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Restaurateurs, retailers and others that may be affected said they came up with their own smoking policies long before the General Assembly adopted the Virginia Clean Indoor Air Act last March.
The law specifies where smoking and no-smoking signs must be posted and sets fines of no more than $25 for businesses that fail to comply.
Smokers "who refuse a request to refrain from smoking" while in a restricted area also are subject to fines of not more than $25, according to pamphlets produced by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Tobacco Institute, a cigarette industry lobby.
The Clean Indoor Air Act prohibits smoking in elevators, hospital emergency rooms, common areas of public schools, school buses, local and district health department offices, and indoor service and cashier lines.
Exempt areas include hotel and motel lobbies, bars and lounge areas, restaurants or public meeting rooms used for private functions, and enclosed common areas of shopping malls.
Tanglewood Mall manager Judy Tullius said compliance for the facility's food court is merely a matter of placing No Smoking cards on some of its more than 50 tables.
Tanglewood began making plans for a non-smoking section long before the General Assembly acted, Tullius said. "Smoking and non-smoking sections and the issue of smoking and its effects have been in the news lately, and we just thought it was time."
The new laws also require that any restaurant with a seating capacity of at least 50 have a designated "no smoking area . . . sufficient to meet customer demand."
Cindy Fulcher, manager of the downtown Macado's restaurant, said about 10 tables there will be set aside, although her customers rarely ask to be seated in a non-smoking section. A spokeswoman at the Sunnybrook Drive Shoney's said the restaurant already complies with the new law.
Jimmy Warr, manager of the Waccamaw store at Crossroads Mall, said company policy prohibits smoking in retail areas but permits it in the store's 12-table snack bar.
Local ordinances adopted before Jan. 1, 1990, remain in effect, except in areas exempted by the new state law. Buildings owned or occupied by the city of Roanoke have had designated smoking areas since 1988.
Assistant City Manager Earl Reynolds said he does not anticipate the new state law having any impact on existing ordinances, which were patterned after regulations in federal buildings. "Nothing is complaintless, but this has gone tremendously well - no gripes, no pickets."
Dick Robers, chairman of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors, said county smoking policies probably are in compliance but are undergoing a review that may take until Aug. 1 to complete.
Personnel with Roanoke Memorial, Lewis-Gale and Community hospitals all said their facilities were working toward becoming smoke-free years before legislators acted. None allows smoking in treatment areas or within lobbies.
Roanoke and county school systems prohibit students' smoking, and officials for each felt they were in compliance. Faculty at some Roanoke schools voted to have designated smoking areas removed from contact by students or non-smokers, said Assistant Superintendent William Hackley.
Hollins College spokeswoman Linda Steele said students probably will be pleased with the new law when they return because the Student Government Association already was working to ban smoking in public areas on the campus.
At Virginia Tech, Edward Spencer, director of residential halls and dining programs, said long-term policies there, too, should mean the university already is in compliance.
Roanoke Regional Airport manager Bob Poole said non-smoking sections were designated there about two years ago. "I feel confident we are already in compliance."
Joann Boone, a spokeswoman for Kroger grocery stores, was unfamiliar with the new law but said Kroger "absolutely" will comply.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on June 26, 1990\ Because of a reporter's error, a story in Sunday editions on a new state law regulating smoking contained wrong information. The Virginia Clean Indoor Air Act states that no local ordinances adopted before Jan. 1, 1990, "shall be deemed invalid or unenforceable because of lack of consistency with the provisions" of the state law. However, local ordinances adopted after Jan. 1, 1990, "unless specifically permitted herein," cannot exceed state laws.
Memo: CORRECTION