TERRE HAUTE —
One month into Vigo County’s tobacco ordinance and some smokers report the tavern business is going down in ashes.
Kenny Lamb, owner of Snack’s Cafe in West Terre Haute, is actively encouraging attorneys to consider the case.
“It’s killing me,” he said inside the long-time hangout on West Paris Avenue. If tavern owners would group together and find an attorney, perhaps they could overturn the local ordinance, he said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Paul Mason, president of the Vigo County Board of Commissioners, said he’s heard both extremes this past month.
“I’ve heard people say they go out to eat more in places that they didn’t go to before, and I’ve heard some say they’ll do more things at home rather than go out in the taverns and bars,” he said.
Meanwhile, July has been a hot month, and some tavern business could be down simply because people aren’t going out, he said.
“I think it’s really too early for us to tell,” he said of what impact the 30-day-old ordinance might have on businesses.
Patrons at the North Star Tavern on North Lafayette and Boston avenues said there’s no question business is down because of the smoking ban. Lonnie Iocoangeli was tending bar for the few folks inside Wednesday. A non-smoker herself, she said she’d rather work in a bar that allowed smoking.
“I’d say our sales are down 30 percent,” she said of business since the ordinance took effect July 1.
Brenda Fadse sat with friends Karen and Kenny Bennett, all with their packs of cigarettes dutifully set on the bar. In between beers, they and other smokers took cigarettes outside into the 90-degree heat, then returned inside to drink. All three agreed with Iocoangeli that the electricity bills would ultimately be impacted.
“Hear that air conditioning running?” Iocoangeli asked, pointing to the door which kept opening and closing.
Karen Bennett said people work all day in hot plants, or outside. The last thing they want to do after work is go outside for a cigarette. People that don’t smoke, she said, should go to what establishments choose to be smoke-free, leaving the decision up to the individual owners.
“I think it’s going to knock the bars down,” she said. “If they’re trying to make this a dry county, they’re going to succeed.”
Fadse said the North Star Tavern crowd has thinned greatly as a result of the ordinance, and many of her friends have told her it isn’t worth going out if they have to stand outside to smoke. The ordinance infringes on the rights of property owners and smokers alike, she said.
Karen Bennett said with the economy in the state it’s in, with high unemployment and limited job opportunities, smoking in a tavern is one of the few comforts left.
The group echoed comments made by Lamb, who distinguished between taverns and chain restaurants which also serve alcohol. Karen Bennett said restaurants are set up to benefit from people coming and going quickly, whereas taverns are for people who want to stay longer. And it’s places such as the latter most likely to feel the pinch of the ordinance, she said, predicting the death of the independent taverns in Terre Haute.
Across town near the Clay County line, at Twiggy’s on U.S. 40, Cara MacKenzie agreed that restaurants and taverns are different in those regards. With pizza specials filling tables for lunch customers, she said the ordinance hasn’t impacted their business at all.
“It’s always been non-smoking in here anyway,” she said, pointing to the outside decks on which smokers can light up cigarettes. But for taverns it is different, she said, observing that smoking and those places “just go hand-in-hand.”
Lamb said his establishment does serve food as well as alcohol, but estimates his business is down between 50 and 60 percent this month.
Bill All, who takes Lamb’s metal cans to be recycled, said the business was short more than 1,000 cans this July from prior months.
“It really hurts because they don’t want to come in and then go out and smoke,” he said.
Even Lamb’s own brother, Randy, said he’s coming in less because of the ordinance.
“I stop in once or twice a week, then I’m outta here,” he said, adding he works all day in the heat and has no intention of coming in and out of a tavern just to smoke. The government, he remarked, doesn’t mind him paying the sales tax on cigarettes though.
Lamb said he’s been running Snack’s Cafe about 30 years, buying it for himself about 18 years ago. An old neighborhood tavern, he said the clientele is largely friends and family, people who’ve known each other all their lives.
“You’d be lucky to get a seat in here on the first of the month,” he said of the normal crowd. Wednesday afternoon featured $1 beer specials, and even with that as a draw, the traffic just wasn’t there, he said.
“This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” Lamb said.
Recent initiatives in New York to regulate the amount of cola one can drink are likewise un-American, he said, comparing the ideology to that of “Russia in the 1960s.”
“It’s not going to improve,” he said of business, adding he’s down to tending the bar himself. “People hate to have to get up and go outside to smoke.”
Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.
News
Related Photos
-
Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Doesn't agree: With a handwritten sign behind him that reads "This Facility is Smoke Free," Snacks Cafe owner Kenny Lamb offers his opinion on the smoking ordinance Wednesday at his bar in West Terre Haute. Listening in are Jeanie Macak and Kenny's brother, Randy Lamb.
Discussion
Smoke still clearing on impact of Vigo tobacco ordinance
- News
-
-
Kindergartner diagnosed with MD treated to a day with the fire department
“He’ll just never forget this day,” Stacey Manley said, a little bit tearfully, as she watched her smiling 6-year-old son Carter sitting happily in the captain’s seat of Fire Engine 2.
-
Casey, Illinois aims for another world record
The town of Casey, Ill., may soon weave its way into the record books as the small town with the most world records. After setting records for the world’s largest wind chimes and the world’s largest golf tee, Casey is now looking to become home to the world’s largest knitting needles and crochet hook.
-
Rose-Hulman projects will promote growth, learning for people with physical challenges
Life changed dramatically for college engineering student Drew Christy on Feb. 22, 2008 when he was involved in an auto accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury.
-
‘500’ gas stations being sold to Speedway LLC
After several decades in business, the area’s familiar “500” gasoline stations and convenience stores will soon be missing from the roadsides of Vigo and Sullivan counties.
-
Terre Haute woman faces 14 charges
A Terre Haute woman faces 14 criminal counts after her arrest Friday on drug-related charges.
-
Two adults injured in ATV accident
Two adults were injured Sunday evening while riding an all-terrain vehicle near Lexington Farms Subdivision off Moyer Drive in southern Vigo County.
-
Vigo schools’ medical claims down 4 percent
The Vigo County School Corp.’s medical claims were about $13 million over the last 12 months, down 4 percent from the prior year, said Diane Titchenell, an Anthem account manager that works with the school district.
-
2013 Government Directory now available
The 2013 Government Directory is now available.
-
Life-Size Ping Pong: Valley pickleball tourney draws large crowd to Brittlebank Park
It’s been described as “ping pong on steroids.”
Some people call it “life-size ping pong where you stand on the table.” -
Boat trip aims to raise awareness about Lewy Body Dementia
In 2013, the Year of the River, it makes sense to link a grand adventure on the Wabash River with a good cause.
-
Legislature had little taste for alcohol bills
When it comes to alcohol, the 2013 legislative session may be marked more by what it didn’t do to boost booze sales than what it did.
-
STATE OF THE STATEHOUSE: Is it regulation that doesn’t make sense or evening the playing field?
I’m not much of a drinker, so I haven’t spent much time thinking about how Indiana’s alcohol laws personally impact me, but that changed last fall when my daughter got married.
-
For Piper: Annual ‘Rush the Punter’ event dedicated to Dixie Bee student who died Wednesday after a short illness
Steve Weatherford’s “Rush the Punter” fundraiser at Fairbanks Park on Saturday was dedicated to a little girl who lost her life unexpectedly to pneumonia.
-
Vigo schools prepare to tighten belts
State funding for the Vigo County School Corp. will remain “pretty flat” for the next two years, said Donna Wilson, chief financial officer.
-
Veterans take to the trees
Cristal Bednar took photos of her husband, Justin, as he laboriously climbed his way up a “Dangle-Duo” to get to a zipline at Indiana State University’s Sycamore Outdoor Center.
-
Property owner seeks halt to Hulman Lake dam project
A Terre Haute property owner is seeking an injunction that would at least temporarily halt the city’s work on the Hulman Lake dam project.
-
Tornado veterans balance preparedness, practicality
Few things in nature are less predictable than a tornado. They can form quickly. They strike weirdly, leveling one building while leaving its neighbor untouched. They can fling a car a half-mile and turn a piece of lumber into a wall-piercing missile.
-
ISU unveils interactive Bayh Family Legacy Wall at school
A who’s who of Indiana Democrats paid tribute to Evan Bayh and several generations of the Bayh family Friday during a dedication of a new interactive display at Indiana State University.
-
Can you smell me now?
A contraband cell phone has been discovered by the Vigo County Jail’s youngest and most unique officer.
-
GIVING BACK: Steve Weatherford buys shoes for kids day before charity run
Terre Haute’s Steve Weatherford, punter for the 2012 Super Bowl champion New York Giants, showed once again his generosity Friday by donating new athletic shoes to more than two dozen Vigo County kids.
-
N.Y. Giants honor Weatherford as ‘Man of the Year’
Dan Tanoos, superintendent of Vigo County schools, remembers the first time he saw Steve Weatherford as a freshman at Terre Haute North Vigo High School.
-
Sunday recital at The Woods
A recital featuring songs from well-known composers is at 7 p.m. Sunday in the Church of the Immaculate Conception at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.
-
Police investigating rash of car window shootings
Terre Haute Police are investigating a rash of shootings that have shattered car windows throughout the city.
-
City hospitals get passing grades for patient safety
Two Terre Haute hospitals have been ranked for patient safety by an independent organization that assesses safety, quality and affordability of healthcare for Americans.
-
Three from Operation Turn and Burn sentenced in federal court
Three co-conspirators in a Wabash Valley methamphetamine trafficking ring were sentenced this week to several years in federal prison.
-
Skateboarders, BMX bike riders working to improve area of city park they use
The sound of small wheels rolling across smooth concrete fills the air, accented by the clacking noise of a wooden skateboard coming to an instant stop on a metal edge before rolling on again.
-
Indiana State to host 2014 MVC baseball tourney
Build it… and they will come. The Missouri Valley Conference and Indiana State University made that famous line from the movie “Fields Of Dreams” reality Thursday.
-
Overlay recommended for 812 area code
The state agency that represents Hoosier utility customers is calling for a ten-digit solution to southern Indiana’s vanishing supply of 812 area code telephone numbers.
-
Elementary school saddened by student’s death
A 9-year-old Dixie Bee Elementary student died unexpectedly Wednesday evening as the result of pneumonia, said Vigo County Coroner Susan Amos on Thursday.
-
Vermillion CSX crossings undergoing maintenance
CSX maintenance crews are working on railroad crossings between Dana and Chrisman, Ill. this week and next, a CSX official said Thursday.
- More News Headlines
-
Raw: Tearful Reunion After Okla. Tornado
Raw: Massive Funnel Clouds in Oklahoma
Raw: Aerials Show Path of Oklahoma Destruction
Raw: Widespread Destruction in Moore, Okla.
AP Photograher: 'It Was a Miracle' They Got Out
Raw: Crews Search for Survivors of Okla. Tornado
Obama Pledges Urgent Aid for Tornado Victims
Moore, Okla. City of Reunions, Tears After Storm
OKC Hospital Describes Treating Tornado Wounded
Tim Cook Defends Apple's Tax Accounting
Arias Tells Jury What She'd Do if She Gets Life
Active Search for Utah Missing Mom Ends
Voters Could Elect LA's First Female Mayor
Oklahoma: Images of Devastation, Reunion
Raw: Japan's WWII Atrocities Under Fire in Seoul
Looking for Love? Take the Prague Metro
Raw: Tornado on the Ground in Oklahoma
Reunited Dad, Son: 'We Just Praise God'
Gov. Fallin: Okla. Facing Horrific Disaster
Raw: Rescue Workers Search Oklahoma School
Kate Middleton's Dress Flies Up
VIRAL: Baby makes epic soccer goal
The Hangover Baby All Grown Up
Olivia Munn Flaunts Her Bikini Bod
Britney Spears Under Fire Once Again For Being A Bad Mom
The all-new Xbox One
RAW: Massive tornado strikes Oklahoma
Nidal Hasan paid $278K while awaiting trial
VIDEO: Teacher reunites mother and son after tornado levels elementary school in Oklahoma City
Okla. tornado survivor finds dog buried alive under rubble
Jennifer Lawrence Gets Naked and Painted Blue as X-Men's Mystique
Pickler's Dance Moves Cause A Stir
Obama to tornado survivors: The country stands beside you
Reporter Cries Over Devastation
Sneak Peek: 'Modern Family' Says Good Bye
Trailer: 'The Last Stand' Available on Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Digital Download
IWitness Look at Moore, OK Tornado
RAW: Moore, OK tornado touches down near school
Robert Pattinson Moves Out
