By Nicole Falco
A Marlboro red in one hand and a stiff drink in the other, Lemieux, a 30-year smoker, said, "I'd drink at home, I guess. I realize it's a health issue but so are fumes from cars."
Lemieux enjoys stopping in P.J. Harper's on Rockaway Avenue after a hard day on the job. Paul Pandolfi, owner of the Rockaway Avenue bar/restaurant, has been closely following the Legislature's hearings concerning smoking in bars and restaurants.
"I am opposed to [a ban] unless they are going to make a law that's uniform and bans smoking in all bars and restaurants regardless of their size or seating capacity," said Pandolfi, a non-smoker. "If the laws were not uniform it would be terribly unfair and it would tie the hands of small restaurants [like P.J. Harper's] who are unable to provide completely separate smoking sections and entrances."
Valley Stream's county representative, Legislator Francis X. Becker, a Republican, said he has concerns about the possible negative economic impact small bar owners might have if a ban were implemented. Similar to Pandolfi's sentiments, Becker said a uniform law regarding smoking in bars and restaurants among municipalities including Nassau, Suffolk and New York City, might be the solution.
"There is so much confusion when you go from one place to another it makes sense to have uniform smoking regulations," Becker said.
That doesn't mean Becker would support an outright ban on smoking in restaurants and bars. Becker said a possible ban is only in a discussion stage and making a decision would be premature.
"At this point I am satisfied with a lot of the smoking regulations in place at this time," Becker said.
The proposed ban has been a hot topic of conversation among bar patrons throughout Nassau County as well as New York City and Suffolk and Westchester Counties, where similar bans are being considered.
"Most of my customers said they would stay home if smoking were banned," said Maura Buckley, a bartender at Buckley's. Her father has owned the So. Franklin Avenue bar/restaurant for 33 years.
There have been smoking restrictions in place in Nassau County since 1998, including a ban on smoking in most restaurant dining areas. Some members of Nassau's legislature, mainly Democrats, and other municipalities, perhaps following California's lead, are looking to further tighten those restrictions.
Democrats on the Legislature sent out a joint press release supporting the ban. Among the reasons included in the release for supporting the ban is the health of restaurant and bar employees.
According to the American Cancer Society, second-hand tobacco smoke is responsible for 63,000 deaths each year in the United States, and studies have linked second-hand smoke to the development of childhood asthma.
Buckley doesn't smoke and never has but she has been working in her father's business since she was 12-years-old. She said that out of the six bartenders employed at Buckley's, she is the only one who has never smoked.
"I think it's a known fact that most people who drink, smoke. Let the smokers have their one spot," Buckley said.
Like Buckley, other restaurant and bar employees said they are not concerned about working in a smoke-filled environment.
"There are a lot of risks on every job," said Kathy Sweeney, manager of the Railroad Inn on So. Franklin Avenue.
Pat Bistany, a waitress at P.J. Harper's, has been smoking since she was 19-years-old and has been working in the restaurant business for 15 years.
"If you come into a bar you have to expect there's smoking. Drinking and smoking just go together. Ninety percent of people who work in bars probably smoke," Bistany said.
The bartender at P.J. Harper's agrees and he doesn't smoke and never was a smoker.
"If you don't like the smoke [in bars] there are other places you can go. People have a right to enjoy themselves and a business man has a right to earn a living," said Mick O'Hara, who has been bartending at P.J. Harper's for two years.
Even as O'Hara and Bistany speak out against the proposed ban, another employee chimes in that he'd really enjoy being able to come home from work without the smell of smoke attached to his clothes.
