Local restaurants, customers get ready for anti-smoking law

Pittsylvania County restaurateurs are bracing themselves for the anti-smoking law that takes effect Tuesday across the commonwealth.

Restaurant owners in Gretna and Chatham seemed ready for the change in a state with 400 years of tobacco heritage.

Diego Cardamuro, manager at Mama Rosas Italian restaurant in Gretna, said he welcomes the new law.

“All the places that go non-smoking do more business,” said Cardamuro, a smoker. He said he has no problem going outside to smoke.

The eatery has had a small smoking area and only about 10 percent of the restaurant’s customers smoke, he said Saturday afternoon as dinner patrons trickled in.

Mama Rosas already had a non-smoking policy from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays, when churchgoers pour into the dining area.

“Everybody wants non-smoking at that time,” Cardamuro said.

However, two customers had strong words against the upcoming ban in restaurants. The law will prohibit smoking except where smokers are seated in rooms with ventilation systems separate from those for nonsmokers.

“That is taking our freedoms away,” said Gretna resident Kathy Shelton, while puffing on a cigarette.

Shelton said she will continue to frequent Mama Rosas after the ban goes into place. People view smokers as second-class citizens, but nothing is said about consuming alcoholic beverages, which can cause fatal car accidents, Shelton said.

Shelton’s friend, Cindy King, of Gretna, summed up her view of the law succinctly: “I think it’s stupid.”

Politicians should stop worrying about smoking and focus on the soldiers overseas fighting for our freedoms, King said.

Over at Crossroads restaurant in Gretna, owner and Callands-Gretna Supervisor Fred Ingram said customers are upset about the law, but he respects it.

“I have a coffee club of senior citizens that enjoy their coffee and cigarettes and they are not happy about the ban at all,” Ingram said.

Personally, Ingram said he has mixed emotions about the ban.

“I hate to be told by the government what I can and what I can’t do,” he said. “But I respect the government and the General Assembly and I will do my best to make sure the law is obeyed.”

Ingram’s’ wife, co-owner Carol Ingram, said she is glad the law was passed.

“I hate to be so negative in the middle of tobacco country, but I think it’s for the best,” she said.

Patsy Swain, a food server who has worked at Crossroads for 16 years, also supports the prohibition.

“I know how hard it’s going to be for them, but it’s better for everybody health-wise,” Swain said.

Adel Ahmed, owner of Pino’s Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria in Chatham, said about 20 percent of his patrons smoke. The new law will not impact his business much because it doesn’t have a bar, said Ahmed, a nonsmoker who does not like cigarette smoke.

The ban will make little difference at El Cazador Mexican restaurant in Chatham, where only about 5 percent of patrons smoke, said owner Benigno Argueta. “I don’t see a lot of people that smoke in here,” Argueta said.

Sal Carannante, manager at Frank’s Pizza in Tightsqueeze, said the change may be a little tough where about 25 percent of customers smoke. He said he plans to have a separate area for smoking.

However, whether a dining establishment allows smoking makes little difference from patrons’ points of view, Carannante said.

“You choose a restaurant for its food and service,” he said.

Customer Sylvia Hawkins, a smoker, said she respects nonsmokers’ perspective on the issue, but smokers should still be allowed to puff away in restaurants.

“I can understand the opposition to smoking,” Hawkins said, “and I can understand how people who do not smoke do not wish to dine with the offensiveness of smoking.”

However, “there ought to be a place available for people who do smoke,” she added.

Her husband, former state senator Charles Hawkins, said the government should stay out the matter and let the free market decide which restaurants allow smoking.

“I think the market would work if you’d just leave it alone,” said Hawkins, who’s also chair of the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Revitalization Commission.