KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) – No smoking, no business – Kanawha County bar owners said they have the numbers to prove it.

They blame the economic slide on an extended smoking ban, which went into effect on July 1, forbidding smoking in bars and gambling parlors.

“It’s not just an inconvenience,” said Greg White of the Nitro Moose Lodge. “It’s crippling us. …It has actually crippled everything we do.”

White said the extended smoking ban is taking a toll on his bottom line.

But Brenda Isaac, an official with the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, said smoking in public establishments is harming others’ health.

“It’s never a goal to shut down businesses, but it’s our goal to make businesses safe,” she said. 

{Not their goal, but quite often the result, despite their constant denials of this fact.} 

White estimates that his establishment lost as much as $65,000 in August alone.

“We’re considering all kinds of options right now,” he said. “But when you don’t have the dollars to make the bills …there is very little option left. It’s driving everybody out of business.”

Source: WSAZ.  Link

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