Lights out: Smoking ban takes effect in public places

Publication Date: 2012-12-06

• Author:Ben Rodgers and Kari Lucin
• Publication:The Jamestown Sun

Bars and hotels in Jamestown are making changes, or awaiting more information as the ban that will extinguish cigarettes in public places goes into effect today.

The Buffalo Bar & Lounge was one of those bars taking steps for the change.

“Today we had our carpets all cleaned and our air ducts all cleaned out,” said Casey Dodgson, co-owner of the Buffalo Bar & Lounge, also known as The Buff, Wednesday. “There’s a possibility we may paint, too, but they washed the walls down.”

People were still able to smoke in The Buff on Wednesday, but with two air-cleaning machines operating, the smell of cigarettes will soon be a thing of the past there.

Dodgson expects the smoking ban to hurt the business a little bit at first, but believes people will return after a while — and new customers will begin to show up, too.

“You don’t come to the bar to smoke. You come to socialize — at least that’s what we hope,” Dodgson said...