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Smoke ban foes meet
Bar
owners gather in belated effort to battle prohibition By Bill Scanlon,
Rocky
Mountain News April 26, 2006 WHEAT RIDGE  | Dennis Schroeder
© News James VonFeldt, owner of Billy's Inn in Denver, and Zack Ford, with the Colorado Licensed Beverage Association,
listen to discussion Tuesday afternoon as bar owners and employees discuss their fight against a statewide smoking ban. The
meeting was held at Stan's Caravan bar in Wheat Ridge. |
Under
a blue haze of smoke, 60 tavern owners and bartenders gathered Tuesday to find ways to stop a statewide smoking ban from going
into effect July 1, a ban some say will kill their businesses. Amid the jokes, the doomsday talk and the thick cloud of cigarette
smoke at Stan's Caravan Bar & Grill, there was anger that the bar owners hadn't joined forces soon enough to present
a united front against the ban. And there was anger at lawmakers who voted for the ban, but allowed an exception for casinos,
which many bar owners view as direct competition. "The health of casino employees is of no concern to the state, but
the health of my employees is," said James VonFeldt, owner of Billy's tavern in Denver. "Who are they to enter
my house and tell me how to treat my guests?" Now, there's talk of raising $20,000 to hire an attorney to get an
injunction to prevent the law from taking effect and of mounting a petition drive to challenge the law in a vote of the people
in November. But time is running out, money is short, and the feeling is it's an uphill battle. Bar owners say there are
a lot of bars in Colorado like Stan's, which features Texas Hold-em on Tuesdays, karaoke on Mondays and Wednesdays, and
happy hour for three hours every day, and where seemingly half or more of the customers smoke. "If you people don't
think you're in trouble here, you've got another think coming," VonFeldt said. "How many of you are going
to be out of business before November if we don't get an injunction by July? Speak now, or forever hold your butts."
Von Feldt, head of the Coalition for Equal Rights, implored each bar to donate $250 to the cause - just as a start. He said
he consulted a lawyer who won't even look at the case until $20,000 is collected. Up until Tuesday, only $10,000 had been
contributed, Von Feldt said. "We had 36 bars at our last meeting, and I got just six contributions," Von Veldt said.
"That's not good enough." Tuesday's meeting in Wheat Ridge raised at least $2,000, and another in Colorado
Springs raised $2,500, Zack Ford, membership director of the Colorado Licensed Beverage Association, said. Von Feldt said
$250 per bar is just the beginning - that if they are serious about overturning the ban, the contributions will have to be
generous and frequent. And he said bar owners will have to get political if they don't want to keep getting quashed by
lawmakers who respond to well-organized coalitions. He recited a list of smoker-friendly bars in Greeley, Louisville and elsewhere
that closed or lost a big chunk of business after bans were imposed on a local level. Many of the tavern owners gathered at
the meeting said between half and three-quarters of their customers are smokers. Taverns typically are defined as places where
most of the sales are from alcohol, not food. Most of the owners had hoped for an exception to the ban for establishments
that derive less than 25 percent of their revenues from food. "Food is maybe 1 percent at my place," said Angie
Godfrey, owner of Angie's Tavern in Golden. She said she opened the bar just a year ago, is in debt, and fears the worst.
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