Health board relents on
total smoking ban
By Brian DeCesare
Staff writer
Backing away from a
total ban, the board of health will allow smoking in the bar areas of
restaurants in town as long as the smoke is completely contained.
The board adopted the
less stringent policy Tuesday night, three days after voters in a
non-binding referendum indicated disapproval of a total ban.
Whatever it takes to
meet the requirement to contain smoke is up to each restaurateur, the
board said Tuesday night. The board is willing to work with each owner
on a "place-by-place basis."
The meeting was
attended by representatives from the 99 Restaurant, the Ground Round,
the Kylemore Restaurant & Pub, Finnegan’s Wake, Clyde’s
Roadhouse, Beacon’s Restaurant, Tee-T’s, the Peking Garden and the
Red Wing Diner.
It convened 45 minutes
before the health board was to meet with selectmen, some of whom had
been critical of the planned total ban.
The health board
meeting began with an indication by Chairman Paul Millette that members
were prepared to seek common ground with the owners.
Scott White, co-owner
of Clyde’s, and Beacon’s owner Manok Yarian did most of the talking
for the restaurateurs – all of whom said by the end of the meeting
that they were satisfied with the board’s requirements.
Millette said some
restaurants need only "quick fixes" to contain smoke to the
bar areas, be it by partitions, improved ventilation or creating a dead
space between bar areas and dining rooms.
Others, however,
require much more work to ensure that smoke doesn’t escape from the
bar areas, especially when the waitstaff brings drinks from the bar to
the dining room or when bar patrons exit the bar to use the bathrooms.
"Doors do not
work" to contain smoke," Millette said, noting that they
either get propped open or they’re opened too often by people going
from one room to another.
Each establishment has
until June 17 to comply with the board’s request or at the very least
show that plans are in place for renovation work.
Board member Mary
Dolan-Ciapciak said she doesn’t want to hear any excuses from any
owners over the coming weeks, such as their architects or builders being
on vacation until the fall.
Health Agent Robin
Chapell suggested that each establishment have contractors or
ventilation people on hand when the board pays its initial visit.
Millette said he wants
the air quality in the dining rooms to be ideal all the time, not just
during testing – which will be supervised by the board of health.
Establishments that can’t
comply or choose not to comply will have to go totally smoke-free, the
board said.
The board had
established June 17 as the date on which a total smoking ban would go
into effect, including in the bar areas of all restaurants in town.
But Millette said
Tuesday night he was somewhat influenced by the results of Saturday’s
non-binding referendum in which voters turned down a total ban 2,995
against to 2,463 in favor.
"We respect what
the town has said in the election," Millette said.
The restaurateurs and
the health board were scheduled to meet with selectmen at 7:30 p.m. to
discuss the results of the referendum. But because the health board and
restaurateurs hammered out an agreement prior to that meeting, the
selectmen found that there was not much to discuss.
Millette reminded the
restaurateurs that his board’s "major concession" was
bypassing for now an opportunity to protect the waitstaff in the bar
areas from second-hand smoke.
"We’re working
on that," Millette said. "We’re going to try to figure out a
way to do it."
At the end of the
meeting, Dr. Norman Albert, representing NORCAP, a regional substance
abuse center, said he was disappointed with the board’s revised
position.
He said he feels it’s
important for Walpole to be a pioneer on the smoking issue.
Albert noted that those
who want to quit smoking say they find it difficult when they see others
with cigarettes in their mouths.
He also said that while
he understands the "business end" of the issue, a smoke-free
state and perhaps country is inevitable.