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Excerpts from: Puff rebuff: The scene in Corvallis offers idea of how Eugene smoking ban would  work

                     By JEFF WRIGHT,  The Register-Guard [09/24/00]
 
                     Open the door to the Peacock Tavern in
                     downtown Corvallis.

                     Patrons fill about half the stools at the long bar to your left and a
                     handful of guys are leaning on cue sticks around the pool tables to
                     your right. Mounted TVs show football highlights and Keno numbers.
                     The stage and dance floor are empty - but not for long. A woman
                     tries her luck at one of the video poker machines along the front wall.

                     So what's missing? You already
                     know the answer if you've been
                     paying attention to the cultural
                     debate playing out in Corvallis
                     and a half-dozen other
                     communities around the state,
                     including Eugene.

                     The bar has no ashtrays. No
                     cigarettes. No smoke.

                     A similar scene could come to
                     pass in Eugene: On Monday,
                     the City Council is expected to
                     approve a controversial
                     package of ordinances that
                     would restrict cigarette access
                     to young people and ban
                     smoking in workplaces and enclosed public areas, including bars,
                     taverns and bingo halls.

                     As a public hearing two weeks ago made clear, emotions run deep
                     on an issue that pits the perils of secondhand smoke against smokers'
                     freedom of choice. As the council leans toward approving the ban in
                     some form, all kinds of predictions are flying about how it will change
                     the Eugene landscape for better or ill.

                     Some clues are available in Corvallis, which has lived with its smoking
                     ban since July 1998. The Corvallis ordinance is the primary model for
                     Eugene's proposed ban.

                     By most accounts, Corvallis has imposed its smoking ban with no
                     exodus of smokers to out-of-town bars, no tavern closings and only
                     two people cited for violations. More than two years after the
                     Corvallis council approved the ban - and voters later affirmed it - it's
                     an accepted, even forgotten, part of the city's fabric.

                     "It's a done deal, we're over it," says Corvallis police Lt. Michael
                     Russell, whose duties include helping enforce the ban. "It is, in fact, a
                     way of life here."

                     Many patrons at the Peacock and other Corvallis watering holes
                     agree - even as they continue to grumble about a ban they consider
                     unjust and stupid.

                     Peacock owner John Carter says he wouldn't have bought the
                     business earlier this year if he didn't think he could turn a profit with a
                     nonsmoking bar.
 
                     The ban seems to fit Corvallis, a
                     city where many residents
                     regard smokers "as something
                     of a pariah," says Mary Nolan,
                     public affairs director for the
                     Corvallis Chamber of
                     Commerce.

                     Dresser last year conducted a survey on Corvallis' smoking ban for
                     the state Health Division. He reviewed state liquor, beer and video
                     poker sales in Corvallis and neighboring communities, and
                     interviewed restaurant and bar owners and customers.

                     His conclusion: The ban has had little or no economic impact. Alcohol
                     sales did go down, he says, but they also went down in neighboring
                     Albany, which has no smoking ban, so the drop in Corvallis can't be
                     attributed to the ban.

                     Dresser also found that, for most businesses, any drop in smoking
                     customers was offset by an increase in nonsmoking customers.
                     "About 75 percent of the population doesn't smoke, but 70 percent
                     does drink alcohol, so you've got this huge potential customer base,"
                     he says.

                     But other predictions about the ban didn't materialize. Some critics,
                     for example, said the ban would cause far more arrests for fights and
                     disturbances outside the city's bars as more patrons went outside for
                     their smoking breaks.

                     That hasn't happened. The number of calls for police assistance on
                     the block where the Peacock and two other bars are located nearly
                     doubled - from four to seven - in the ban's first year. But most all
                     those calls were related to arguments that began inside the bars and
                     spilled outside, not by smokers already outside, Lt. Russell says.

                     One unexpected result of the ban has been an increase in the number
                     of businesses with sidewalk or other outdoor seating - where
                     smoking is allowed. Greg Little, owner of Squirrel's, added outdoor
                     seating to his landmark downtown bar - a favorite hangout of
                     graduate students - earlier this year.

                    But others say the smoking ban has cleared the air in Corvallis,
                     figuratively and literally, and that Eugene has nothing to fear.

                     Little, the owner of Squirrel's, was a strong critic of the ban early on
                     and says he still objects to the idea of government telling him how to
                     run his business. But he says he's come around to the view that the
                     ban is probably good for the city - and good for his business.

                    CORVALLIS SMOKING BAN FINDINGS

                     Study conducted April-September 1999 for Oregon Health Division
                     found that:

                     Ban had little or no economic impact on most businesses. Liquor and
                     beer sales dropped, but not because of the smoking ban. (Sales also
                     dropped in nearby Albany, which has no smoking ban.)

                     Some Corvallis smokers moved to bars in nearby communities such
                     as Philomath and Tangent, but didn't travel to Albany.

                     Corvallis bars with video poker saw a drop in video poker sales as a
                     result of the smoking ban.

                     Most smokers remained loyal to their favorite bars and were willing
                     to smoke outside. One-fourth of Corvallis smokers prefer
                     nonsmoking establishments.

                     For most businesses, loss of smoking customers was offset by gain in
                     nonsmoking customers.

                     - Jack Dresser/Pacific Research Institute, Eugene

                     BY THE NUMBERS

                     21 percent of Lane County residents say they're cigarette smokers

                     67 percent say smoking shouldn't be allowed in any indoor work
                     area

                     70 percent say smoking shouldn't be allowed in restaurants

                     86 percent say people should be protected from secondhand smoke

                     91 percent say secondhand smoke is harmful to a person's health

                     - Oregon Health Division, 1999 data

                     SMOKING BANS IN OREGON

                     At least five communities in Oregon already ban smoking in public
                     workplaces

                     Corvallis: Ban includes bars. Effective July 1, 1998. Affirmed by
                     voters, 57 percent majority, in November 1998. Lawsuit filed by
                     Oregon Restaurant Association rejected by Oregon Court of
                     Appeals.

                     Benton County: Approved in 1998. Exempts free-standing bars.

                     Multnomah County: Effective July 1, 2000. Exempts bars, bingo
                     halls, truck stops.

                     Baker City: Approved by voters, 55 percent majority, in February.
                     Exempts bars. Initiative to appeal ban will appear on November
                     ballot.

                     Central Point: Approved by City Council in January. Upheld by
                     voters, 63 percent majority, last Tuesday. Exempts bars.