Group against smoking in restaurants plans protests

Publication Date: 2005-04-04

• Author:Patricia Grames Pollock
• Publication:Maryville (TN) Times

NO S.I.R. (no smoking in restaurants) held its second meeting Sunday afternoon at the Wellness Center in Alcoa.

Although Douglas Benton, of Alcoa, the organizer of the local advocacy group for nonsmokers' rights, would like to have seen a larger turnout, he and the six people who attended the meeting proceeded with plans to picket local restaurants beginning next Saturday and Sunday...

According to Benton, about 75 percent of Tennesseans don't smoke. He hopes more of that large percentage of people will join NO S.I.R. and help persuade local restaurants to ban smoking entirely. From there, the members would like to see restaurants all over the state follow suit.

Regardless of the small turnouts, the folks plan to forge ahead with plans to picket and eventually to hold what Benton refers to as ``breathe-ins'' -- a parody on the sit-ins of the 1960s.