Smoking ban hits S.D. bars, restaurants

One month after South Dakotans voted to expand the state's smoking ban, citizens and business owners are beginning to see its effects.

Referred Law 12, approved on Nov. 2 by 64 percent, went into effect 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 10.  The law expanded the ban to include restaurants, bars, package liquor stores, Deadwood casinos and video lottery establishments, but does not apply to tobacco shops, hotel rooms designated as smoking rooms and existing cigar bars.

For some, the ban means going out without inhaling secondhand smoke or bringing the smell home after a night out with friends.

"The best thing [about the ban] is being able to go eat at a restaurant and not have the back of my throat burning," junior Kelsey Thie said.  "Or go to a bar and not bring the bar home with me on my clothes."

Others see the ban as an infringement on business owner's property rights and worry that it will be a stepping stone to even more government control.

"Sure, it's annoying that I have to step outside to smoke in the middle of January," one Augustana student said.  "But it's about more than that.  First the government tells me where I can and can't smoke—what's next?"

Other opponents of the ban, like members of the group Citizens for Individual Freedom, argue that the ban will hurt South Dakota's economy by decreasing state revenues from video lottery. 

While it's too early to tell if these predictions are accurate, Sioux Falls business owners say they have already seen an impact on business since the smoking ban took effect. 

"We've actually seen business increase," Maria Cade, the owner of Tinner's Bar and Grill on 69th and Minnesota Avenue, said.

Under the law, owners, managers and operators of places where smoking is prohibited are required to inform violators of the smoking ban.

"We've had a few people try to light up," Cade said.  "Some of them object at first when we tell them to take it outside, but they all comply in the end."

This compliance makes a big difference to those with asthma and other respiratory disorders.

"The smoking ban means that I can start going out to eat again," said senior Lisa Karst, whose asthma often prevented her from going to certain restaurants where smoking was allowed, or forced her to leave half-way through the meal. 

According to Karst, the health benefits of the ban outweigh any of the arguments against it.

"I have the right to breathe and to live," she said.  "And I think that my right to live trumps your right to enjoy yourself." 

Referred Law 12 expanded the 2002 law that banned smoking in workplaces and public areas and made South Dakota one of 27 states to enact a state-wide smoking ban.