Long may they waive

It’s not often I don’t know how I feel about an issue, but there have been a couple of them over the past couple of months I can’t seem to let go of. I’m a pretty black-and-white person in this very gray world of ours, a characteristic made easy by relying on a well-established value system that helps keep me – for better or worse – on a forward-moving path.

And so it is that I find myself deeply bothered, and surprised at the depth of that unrest, in the case of one unlikely scofflaw: Brad Dixon, owner of the Hotel Solsville in the southern reaches of our bucolic Madison County.

I met Dixon in 2003 after the announcement by the state Department of Health that the Clean Indoor Air Act would be legislated later that same year. It was originally scheduled to be implemented in October, then September and finally was moved up to July 24. Dixon, a non-smoker, said – loudly and repeatedly – that he was going to ignore the smoking ban. I couldn’t figure out if he was gallant, stupid, a liar or insane. As it turns out, maybe all of the above, except a liar: Ignore the law he did.

Flash forward to late 2006 when the Madison County Public Health Board met and Dixon’s establishment was mentioned. He had received his fourth violation and the hearing officer’s recommendation included a $1,000 fine and a letter to the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board recommending revocation of Dixon’s liquor license. It was his fourth fine; the second at the $1,000 level.

I can’t stand people who think they are above the law or that the rules don’t apply to them. In fact, I am the type to volunteer to help hammer nails into their coffins, but this left a knot in my stomach. I wanted to throw up.

I am a non-smoker, but suddenly I was sorry for every time I wished I didn’t have to wait 90 minutes to be seated at one of the four non-smoking tables in a restaurant that seated hundreds; every time I wished I didn’t have to walk through a smoky bar to get to the non-smoking section, frequently separated from the smoking section by a brass rail or a fern; every time I wished I didn’t have to shower after having dinner with my friends so my husband wouldn’t have to smell the smoke in my hair all night.

I wished I could take it all back because this wasn’t how I wanted it played out. I didn’t even want smokers outdoors; I felt there had to be other options.

Smithfield Supervisor Richard Bargabos (in my predictions a rising star on our county’s Board of Supervisors) is an officer on the Public Health Board and chairman of the Public Health Committee of the Madison County Board of Supervisors. He summed up in one sentence that night what bothered me: “Our objective is to bring people into compliance, not put them out of business, right?”

The state law contains a provision that allows counties to grant waivers. Madison County granted one waiver to a DeRuyter establishment that first year out, but it sunset after one year.

Then the option was eliminated altogether.

The state DOH touted the law as being in the interest of health, yet smoking is allowed in private membership institutions. Never mind that members of these clubs and organizations frequently have “mandatory volunteerism” requirements that could put someone on bar duty, breathing secondhand smoke. The state DOH also gave the option for counties to issue waivers. These two facts alone controvert the claim that this is in the interest of health. And don’t get me going on how I feel about the state giving our county’s already overburdened DOH one more thing to do.

I spent more time in bars in 2003 than I have in my entire life, and there are plenty of establishments in this county whose structures would allow the construction of isolation rooms where people could take their food and drinks and smoke to their hearts’ content. Staff need never enter. Just make it clear to patrons that they must come to the bar to get what they want.

Tobacco is a legal substance, and legislating around that fact is a waste of time, money and effort. If the long-term goal is to force the world to quit smoking, be a little more honest about it and outlaw tobacco altogether. Otherwise, resurrect the waiver option. This county is not so business-rich that it can afford to lose any.

If you’re out Solsville way, stop for a bite at Dixon’s hotel. He’s got a burger, among other dishes, that’s so good, it’s obscene. You’ll have to smoke outdoors, though, because he’s given up the fight. I am reminded by county officials every now and again that Dixon’s is the only Madison County establishment to receive a fourth violation. I offer that the others simply haven’t been caught.

Reprinted courtesy Eagle Newspapers, Syracuse, New York.