Smokers say: Ban’s a Drag

Some welcome breath of fresh air in bars, taverns

By Rob Cullivan And Shannon Wells

The Gresham Outlook, Nov 1, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (59 Reader comments)

Skibo Demon demonstrates his patented smoking harmonica schtick at the Brass Rail. After Jan. 1, Demon notes, if he does this while playing in a bar, he'll be breaking state law.

Shanda Tice / The Gresham Outlook

Lighten Up

During a visit to the Brass Rail Tavern in Troutdale, it was impossible to find a patron excited about the smoking ban.

“I think it’s going to hurt a lot of businesses,” Donnie Taylor says as he takes a puff. “It seems like alcohol and cigarettes for smokers go hand in hand.”

Taylor adds he’s a truck driver who travels the roads of California, Oregon and Washington. Truck stop parking lots have become gigantic ashtrays, he says, because no one can smoke inside.

His wife, Cindy Taylor, believes bars, not politicians, should decide whether to allow smoking.

“I believe it should be up to the bar owner because there’s a lot of places around town that are non-smoking,” she says.

She adds that she’s a polite smoker, even in a bar where she can light up. She asks her fellow patrons if they mind, and respects them if they do.

“I’ll move somewhere else or I just won’t light up,” she says.

Frank Sayler says the state government is attacking liberty.

“It’s supposed to be a free country, but these people are telling people how to run their business,” he says. “We’ve got too many laws as it is.”

Patrick Green, who doesn’t smoke, doesn’t mind if you do.

“It’s a stupid idea,” he says of the ban. “If people don’t like (smoke) they should go somewhere else.”

Raising a stink

At the M & M Lounge in Gresham, Thursday night is pool league night. Cue in hand, Melissa Kurth is puffing away on a cigarette but says she doesn’t mind the upcoming ban.

“I think it’s fine because I smell,” she says, echoing a point other folks make – a night in a smoky bar means a day at the laundry washing odor out of your clothes.

Kurth adds she’s a California native who’s used to smoking outside that state’s smoke-free taverns. However, her billiards buddy, Cathy Launce, is not happy about the ban.

“I think it should be up to the owner. I don’t think it should be up to the little people in Salem to make this decision for the owner.”

She also doesn’t understand the argument anti-smokers make about being forced to avoid smoky joints.

“If they know it’s a smoking establishment, they should choose not to come in,” she says.

Breathe free

At the Elbo Room in Gresham, it’s always been smoke-free. Indeed, the place smells more like a flower shop than a bar.

James Fahey is having a beer and says he prefers drinking in a tobacco free zone.

“In the past, it’s not been a choice. People light up next to you and say ‘I’m sorry.’ ”

He also likes the fact his clothes won’t smell of smoke when he leaves. However, he says he has mixed feelings about the smoking ban, and doesn’t think Oregon should have enacted it simply because other states did.

On the other hand, he rejects the argument that owners should have a choice whether to allow their drinking establishments to welcome smokers or tell them to butt out.

“It’s a regulated business,” he says. “The owner has already submitted to rules and regulations.”

If smokers don’t like the new law, he says, they should take it up with their legislators. Parks, stores, train stations – public places are ruled by laws, he notes, and no one is completely free to do as they please.

“Anyplace I go, there’s going to be something I don’t want to deal with.”

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