Bar smoking ban talks draws crowd

Publication Date: 2005-03-11

• Author:AP
• Publication:The (Roseburg OR) News-Review

SALEM (AP) ­ The first hearing on a bill to snuff out smoking in Oregon’s bars, taverns and bingo halls attracted an overflow of bar owners and anti-smoking advocates alike.

Taverns and bingo halls are the last places where smokers can indulge their habit in public indoor settings in Oregon.

“No one should have to choose between their personal livelihoods and their health,” said Rep. Diane Rosenbaum, D-Portland, of the estimated 35,000 Oregonians who work at bars and bingo halls.

Rosenbaum said in the course of a workday, a restaurant or bar worker can inhale the equivalent of two packs of unfiltered cigarettes in secondhand smoke.