Nancy Swarts and Nancy McGill

    Smoking in bars and other public places will become a thing of the past if Gov. Dave Heineman signs the Nebraska Clean Indoor Air Act (LB 395), which the Nebraska Unicameral passed Feb. 22.
     The law would take effect June 1, 2009, and make smoking illegal in nearly every indoor business.
     Local bar owners and patrons have mixed reactions to the prospect. 
     "If there has to be a statewide smoking ban, then it had better be statewide, not locality-to-locality," said Rick Fortune, Milford City Councilman.
     Fellow Councilman Dean Bruha agreed.
     "As an elected official, I feel a state-wide ban, enacted by the legislature, was the only fair and equitable way to deal with the smoking issue, and that is because it levels the playing field. No business can say they are at a disadvantage to any other business because of the smoking ban," he said.
     Ron Ouellette, owner of RO's in Seward, said he doesn't like being told what he can and cannot do with this business, but now that the law is passed there is not much he can do. He said he liked the fact that the current law puts all towns and bars/restaurants on the same playing field.
     "We're not going to beat it now that it has passed. I don't like after 19 years that the government can tell me how to run our business," Ouellette said. "Everyone has to be under the same law, whereas before with the law they were trying to pass you would be able to have smoking, say in Staplehurst and not in Seward."
     Ouellette said he has to wait and see what is mandated on outdoor smoking areas.
     "We are going to help take care of our smoking customers. We'll have to build something or add on to make sure we can try to make them happy and continue to come to RO's," Ouellette said.
     Personally, Bruha looks forward to smoke-free establishments.
     "I will no longer have to worry about whether or not I will have to breathe smoke when I enter any business or public facility," he said. "One of my biggest pet peeves was going out to eat and having someone sit close to me and light up and ruin my dining experience."
     Others weren't too keen on the idea, however.
     Dan Dargaloh said it was another right citizens have had taken away.
     Bob Stutzman, a customer at Hills Country Inn of Milford, said the decision to allow smoking should be left up to the business owner.
     Sheri David, previous owner of Sheri's Grill and Bar in Milford, said when they decided to sell the bar last year, they wanted to find a buyer before the smoking ban law passed. She believes the ban will hurt rural areas more than Lincoln and Omaha.
     Robert Struwe, one of the new owners of Sheri's, agreed the business would suffer.
     "I think it's going to hurt initially," he said. "That's been proven before in other places. Some people are going to stay home-that's just the way it'll be."
     Struwe worked at The Highlander and Sportscasters bars in Lincoln when the city passed a citywide smoking ban.
     "It hurt business immensely in both of
     those businesses during happy hour," he said.
     Efforts to allow communities to "opt out" of the law were thwarted. 
     Although District 24 Sen. Greg Adams supported the opt-out amendment last year, he changed his mind during the interim between when the bill was first introduced last year and this year's session.
     "I think local governments perfer the state makes decisions like we did today," he said in a telephone interview Friday.
     Although the vote was a solid 34-14 to pass the bill, Adams was relunctant to predict whether Heineman would sign it into law.
     But he said, "If there was a veto, based on what we saw today, the votes would be there to override it."
     Jennifer Hein, communications director for Heineman's office, said he had until 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, to review the bill and make up his mind.