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News Summary

Restaurant smoking ban has a chance

Publication Date: 2005-03-24
  • Author:Warwick Sabin
  • Publication:Arkansas Times
But some opponents want all or nothing.

A bill that would ban smoking in Arkansas restaurants is heading for a vote in the state House of Representatives, and the sponsor is confident of its chances for passage. Some restaurant owners, however, are mobilizing to fight it....

Bradford believes his legislation is finding more success this year because state health agencies and other advocacy groups are supporting it. He also claims that “half of the restaurant owners are for it,” while admitting that there is a “vocal minority” very much opposed...

These facts are not lost on restaurant workers like Konstantin Dimitrov, a server at Sufficient Grounds in Hillcrest, who is himself a smoker, but does not think he should be exposed to second-hand smoke in the workplace.

“I’m a smoker, and even I don’t like to go upstairs [to the smoking section],” Dimitrov said. “They don’t allow smoking in office buildings, and workers in the restaurant business deserve the same right. It’s definitely a health issue.”

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