Puff ’em while you got ’em

PALMER — Days are numbered for fans of that heady mix of tobacco and alcohol in downtown.

On Wednesday, the smoking ban voters passed this fall goes into effect.

“It’s going to be a good day. I think it’s going to be a healthy, vibrant day,” said David Cheezem, owner of Fireside Books and head of a coalition that pushed for an end to smoking indoors in public places.

Palmer City Manager Doug Griffin said his staff is busy with an education campaign.

“We’re putting together some information to put out to businesses,” he said. “We’re probably going to have the cops go around and do some sort of preventative enforcement and letting them know what it is and how far away from the doors people can legally smoke.”

Over at Alaska Family Services, Becky Stoppa, that organization’s Tobacco Prevention and Control coordinator, said efforts are under way to support the three bars forced by the vote to go smoke-free.

“Our coalition, as we’ve done with all the other businesses that have voluntarily gone smoke-free, we visit those places, we try to support their businesses,” she said. “We’ve held coalition meetings at the Caboose, we’ve held a get-together at the Eagle Lounge.”

Stoppa said she is working with the city and businesses to try to use some of her budget to pay for signs businesses will need to put up.

She said she’s planning advertising to run in the next few days reminding people that the bars will soon offer clean air. There’s also been talk of some kind of an organized campaign to direct business to the newly smoke-free bars.

“We know the bars are a little bit nervous, they’re worried about what it’s going to mean for their bottom line,” she said.

But, Stoppa said, she believes smoking bans in other states and other Alaska communities have proven that those fears are unfounded.

“We’re still confident that in the long run bars here are going to do well just as bars in other places have done well, and it’s going to be a cleaner, healthier environment for everybody,” she said.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.