Students and citizens of Madison can no longer have a cigarette with their beer, starting July 1, 2005. Yesterday, representatives of the Madison-Dane County Tavern League, City Council staff, police and city Alders Zach Brandon, District 7 ,and Mike Verveer, District 4, met to discuss the implementation of the up-coming smoking ban.
\My concern as a bar owner and Tavern League representative is how this is going to be handled. What if a big gentleman lights up and tells you where to go and flips you off, how do you handle it?"" bar owner Dave Wiganowsky told The Daily Cardinal before the meeting.
The smoking ban, aimed to protect employees, will be effective July 1, 2005.
It prohibits customers from smoking or chewing tobacco at all enclosed indoor areas of restaurants, sports arenas, bowling alleys, taverns and bars in Madison.
One can still smoke outside the front door of a bar or on the patio and balcony.
Bar owners can sell cigarettes from behind the counter but are not allowed to have ashtrays, matches or cigarette vending machines. Ignoring the smoking ban could result in a written ticket for $164, and if repeated within a year, $660.
Questions of who will enforce the law and how to educate citizens are still on the drawing table. Brandon voted for the smoking-ban thinking the health department and not the police would enforce it.
""My district will go berserk if police resources are used to enforce this law when we can't get a patrol car to come through for property crime,"" Brandon said.
""The biggest enforcers of this ordinance are going to be the owners of the establishments. To think that the police department will be able to take a proactive effort against [smoking] is unrealistic,"" Lt. Melissa Schiferl said.
With April 1 as the target kickoff date, an educational campaign in media, and through posters and flyers, will inform citizens about the smoking ban. But there is still a question of how to reach out to new students and out-of-town visitors.
Schiferl proposed that flyers should be uniform and include the potential fines. She recommended UW-Madison put out flyers in the dorms and post information about the ban on the university website.
""We will try to educate the public as much as possible until the Halloween event then there is a different turn in how the information is given out. It focuses more on enforcement and reminding people of what penalties are associated with violating these laws,"" Schiferl said.
