Out With Ashtrays: Local employees have mixed reaction to smoking ban

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href=””>Smoke Signals (slideshow)

Employees of bars and restaurants around Fort Collins will be

removing ashtrays with mixed emotions today as the smoking ban goes

into effect.

“Personally, I’m excited because I have an allergy to smoke. I

think it’s a wonderful thing,” said Sarah Dalrymple, a bartender at

Washington’s Bar and Grill, 132 Laporte Ave.

Similar bans have been put into effect in other cities, so the

impact on business is expected to be minimal.

“I really don’t think it will affect business,” Dalrymple said.

“The reason I don’t think so is because they banned it in Boulder

and everyone still goes out there. I think we’ll have a hard time

at first, but we’ll be

okay.”

Some bars do not expect to lose much profit due to loss of

customers, but they may lose money elsewhere.

“We do sell cigarettes, so that may make a very small impact on

our income,” said Dave Selhime, the kitchen manager at Zydeco’s, 11

Old Town Square.

Starting today, the city of Fort Collins no longer allows

businesses to decide if they allow smoking or not.

“It should be the choice of the bar or restaurant owner. Smoking

should be allowed on patios. It’s not bothering anyone,” Selhime

said.

Selhime works mostly days, when the bar is less smoky, and he

recently quit smoking, so the smoke was not an irritation to

him.

“I just quit smoking, so cigarette smoke doesn’t bother me that

bad. If I don’t want to be around it, I don’t go out,” Selhime

said.

The majority of Fort Collins citizens wanted a law implemented,

because they believed smoking to be harmful.

“More than 70 percent of local residents think that second-hand

smoke is dangerous to their health, that restaurant and bar

employees deserve smoke-free workplaces and that smoking sets a bad

example for children,” according to a survey commissioned by the

city of Fort Collins and conducted by Vantage Marketing

Research.

While open option senior Brad Creque said that as a smoker he

disliked the ban, he saw that it was beneficial for employees.

“It’s good for the employees, because if they don’t like smoking

they don’t have to be around it,” Creque said.

Employees said that while the ban may be positive for them, it

might be a hassle for smokers.

“I don’t smoke, so the ban is fine with me. Smoke doesn’t bother

me, so it kind of sucks they can’t (smoke)” said Nicole Barnhart,

an employee at Lucky Joe’s Sidewalk Saloon, 25 Old Town Square.