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HELENA -- The statewide smoking ban passed by Gov. Brian Schweitzer earlier this year, takes effect Oct. 1 for all buildings open to the public except bars. Bar owners have four years to prepare themselves for the smoking ban -- a ban that many local bar owners predict will hurt profits.

According to Teri Boettcher of the Lake County Health Department, in order for a bar to be exempt until 2009, it has to meet these qualifications;

• They must have at least 60 percent of their revenue coming from liquor and gaming.

• No one under 18 is allowed in areas where smoking is allowed.

• Smoke may not infiltrate into areas where smoking would not otherwise be allowed.

"If they do not fall under these regulations, they will need to prepare," she said.

Basically, it boils down to whether or not an establishment wants to allow smoking or patrons younger than 18 to have access to their building -- a decision business owners have just days to make.

Ted Murrin, owner of the Wolf Den in Polson, is convinced that the ban will take its toll on his business.

"As far as I'm concerned people who gamble and drink, smoke," said Murrin. "It's going to affect business a lot."

Murrin estimates that 95 percent of his patrons smoke.

Once the ban goes into effect, he fears he's going to have smokers outside littering the streets with cigarette butts.

Does all this concern over secondhand smoke have any validity or is it just hot air?

Murrin has owned the Wolf Den for five years and the only side effect he experiences is going home every night stinking of smoke, he said. Being over 50 years old, Murrin, a nonsmoker, prides himself in being healthy.

"I can keep up with most 20-year-olds," said Murrin.

His stance on the ban: It should be up the business owners whether or not to allow smoking.

"It will definitely affect business," said Willard Moore, owner of Willard's in Ronan, who favors the ban health-wise.

"I'd love to be able to be [a] non smoking [operation], but I'd have to shut my doors," said Moore.

Vicki Wheeler, owner of Club Bar in Ronan, plans to sell her business because of the ban.

"The laws are getting so hard on bars," said Wheeler. "We want to get out."

She fears that her a majority of her customers will go to tribally owned bars as they are exempt from the smoking ban, according to Boettcher.

Wheeler stated that if the ban was truly statewide, she wouldn't have a problem.

"It's discriminatory for us," said Wheeler. "What's fair for one business should be fair for all businesses. Montana has always been diehards. We've never adopted anything radical like this. Now we sound like California."

While tribal bars are exempt, Boettcher is hoping the CS&KT will follow in the steps of the Blackfeet who recently passed their Tobacco Free Act, declaring all businesses on their land smokefree.

KwaTaqNuk is owned by the Tribes, but acting general manager Bob Gauthier declared their new restaurant/sports bar Jocko's smokefree regardless.

"It used to have a smoking section, now we're completely smoke free," said Gauthier.

(Gauthier has left the KwaTaqNuk since this interview took place.)

Brooks McKinley, whose wife owns Pablo Bar, isn't as concerned about local bars suffering losses as he is about the negative impact the ban will have on the community.

McKinley explained that people are going to seek alternative locations to drink and smoke. He predicts people are going to host house parties where people are going to drink and smoke more.

"The government shoots themselves in the foot when they ban this stuff," McKinley explained, saying that the community benefits from the taxes on smoking and gambling.

Once the ban takes place, fewer people will go to the bars to drink, smoke and gamble, and that means there will be less taxes to pay for things like public roads and libraries, McKinley explained.

He and his wife plan on selling the business a year before the ban takes place while it is still making money.

"We like coming in here and we like the people," McKinley said. "But we can't come in here for nothing."

Boettcher predicts the ban will have no effect on profits; in fact, bar owners may even experience a slight increase as they will now be more accommodating to those who avoid the bar scene because of its smoky atmosphere, she suggested.

Boettcher suggests bar owners talk to their employees and train them now in order to avoid conflicts with customers who continue to smoke despite new regulations.

"Tell them 'Look, I'm sorry. It is the law now,'" she said. "Make your decisions and talk to your employees and customers. They'll get used to it in a week or two."

Tomorrow in Helena at 111 N. Sanders at 1:30 p.m., the Department of Public Health and Human Services is hosting an event where more information regarding the regulation will be available. The event will also be broadcast via MetNet. MetNet sites are at Flathead Valley Community College in the learning resource center and at the University of Missoula in the Gallagher building, Room 104.

For more information call Boettcher at the Lake County Health Department at 883-7341.

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