Smoking’s a Drag, Butt of Jokes

In Laguna Beach, police reserve officers make spot checks at local restaurants, making sure that at least 25% of the seats have been set aside for nonsmokers.

At businesses and public buildings around Orange County, diehard smokers huddle out of doors, taking their allotted cigarette breaks on back patios, balconies and, at one Fountain Valley insurance company, on the loading dock.

Around the county, a growing majority of nonsmokers have sent smokers on the run.

That is the word from county enforcement officers, committed smokers and avid nonsmokers alike as the American Cancer Society observes the 11th annual Great American Smokeout today.

‘Take a Breather’

On this day here, as around the country, smokers are urged to “take a breather”--to abstain for at least a day from a habit that has long annoyed nonsmokers and has been linked by the U.S. surgeon general to cancer, emphysema and complications in pregnancy. For the 24-hour period of the Smokeout, nonsmokers are invited to adopt a smoker to nag, to hide the cigarettes and otherwise make life difficult if the smoker gives in to temptation.

Since the Smokeout began in 1974 in the small town of Monticello, Minn., as the brainstorm of the local paper’s editor, the ranks of the nation’s smokers have thinned substantially.

In addition, corporate policies as well as tough city and county laws restrict smoking in the workplace--forcing some smokers, including those at Pacific Mutual insurance company’s Fountain Valley office, to take cigarette breaks outside--even on loading docks.

“I think the laws have put a lot of people back outdoors,” said Huntington Beach environmental officer Sally Tully, who enforces that city’s smoking ordinance, which was adopted in 1986.

Recalling more genteel days when, after dinner, men retired behind the barn for a smoke, Tully added: “We’re just forcing those people out behind the barn--where they belong.”

Many committed smokers, however, disagreed strongly, and some said the new policies smack of “reverse discrimination”--that smokers are being treated the way black people were in the South, pushed “to the back of the bus,” as one disgruntled smoker groused this week.

As testament to the no-smoking fervor, 11 Orange County cities have adopted no-smoking policies. The first was Westminster in 1974. Irvine and San Clemente recently joined the list.

In addition, a survey by the Orange County Chamber of Commerce indicated that 85% of Orange County’s 5,700 major companies either have a smoking policy or are considering adopting one, chamber president Lucien D. Truhill said.

And on Nov. 1, the county began enforcing a tougher law that restricts smoking in any workplace with 10 or more employees.

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors made life even harder for smokers who work at or visit county facilities. Acting on the recommendation of Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, a former smoker who suffers from severe asthma attacks, the board voted, 5-0, to remove cigarette vending machines from buildings owned or leased by the county.

Still, some of those who enforce the smoking policies, as well as some of smokers trying to cope with them, expressed the opinion that such policies should be fair to the smokers--both those who enjoy the habit and those who would like to stop but are addicted to nicotine.

“My customers are a little disturbed about being told where they can and can’t smoke,” said Chuck Allen, a longtime pipe smoker and owner of the Tobacco Barn Pipe Shop in El Toro.

“Some of them have backed off of smoking” because of social pressure and the recent ordinances, he added.

Allen also called the recent flurry of municipal no-smoking laws a waste of tax money, adding: “As far as contaminating the air, there are not near as much contaminants (produced by smokers) as sitting out in the third lane of the freeway.”

Ronald L. Saldana, a nonsmoker from Yorba Linda who is regional director for the American Tobacco Institute, agreed.

Local ordinances have gone too far, and now “we see a backlash” among smokers and business owners who don’t believe city or county officials should have the right to impose smoking rules at a private workplace, he said.

“It’s no longer a smoking issue; it’s a personal rights issue, a business rights issue, “ said Saldana, who has unsuccessfully fought many of the county’s smoking ordinances.

Personal rights or no, the number of smokers in Orange County and around the country has been dropping steadily since the Great American Smokeout began in 1974.

According to figures compiled by the American Cancer Society, the federal Office of Smoking and Health and the Census Bureau, 37% of all Americans over age 17--about 55.3 million adults--were smokers in 1974. But now, an estimated 26.5% of the adult population, about 50 million people, smoke.

In Orange County, no statistics were available for 1974, but the American Cancer Society and some county officials have estimated that in 1979, there were about 630,000 adult smokers in the county. That number today is estimated at 300,000 to 400,000, about one smoker in every three or four Orange County residents.

Cancer Society officials note that many of the nation’s new smoking laws were adopted in reaction to a pronouncement by Surgeon General C. Everett Koop in December. He warned that nonsmokers who inhale tobacco smoke of nearby smokers are subjected to “involuntary smoking” and, like smokers, may run the risk of contracting lung cancer.

But despite all the legislation on smoking, enforcement officers from the county, Brea, Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach say they don’t believe they have ever levied a fine for violations of a city or county anti-smoking law.

“What we have done is taken an educational approach,” said Molly Brenner, program supervisor of employee health and smoking risk reduction at the county Health Care Agency. She and county smoking coordinator Shirley Jandron handle complaints, answer questions from employers, nonsmokers and smokers alike on a county Smoking Hot Line, (714) 834 7236. They also send warning letters to violators, sometimes on the letterhead of Dr. L. Rex Ehling, the county’s public health director.

“When things come on an official letterhead, you imply a threat. You mention there is an ordinance, and it does call for a $100 fine per violation per day,” Brenner said. “I’ve never had to fine anybody.”

The days of the smoker as the romantic, macho “Marlboro man” are gone, Ehling said. “It’s kind of funny how the tables turn,” he mused, for in addition to county ordinances, there is now tremendous social pressure to stop smoking.

He recalled attending a recent meeting at the Doubletree Hotel in Santa Ana where “there was somebody smoking in the fourth row, and the chairman got up and announced, ‘This is a ‘no-smoking’ meeting.’ . . . You don’t find anyone (smokers) leaving in a huff. People politely leave the room or go into a hallway (to smoke).”

It wasn’t always that way. Consider these events from some smokers’ recollections, as well as newspaper stories:

In Anaheim in the late 1970s, Councilman W.J. (Bill) Thom, a cigar smoker, used to trade insults and blow his smoke at Councilwoman Miriam Kaywood, a determined nonsmoker, Thom recalled recently. Kaywood blew smoke away from her face with a small fan. “It made me ill,” she said.

In Irvine in 1976, a story in The Times began with this sentence: “If he can’t smoke, she can’t wear perfume.”

It recounted how Irvine Councilwoman Mary Ann Gaido proposed a smoking ban, saying that nonsmokers should not be subjected to the harmful effects of cigarette smoke. But Councilman John Burton objected, and Councilwoman Gabrielle Pryor backed him up, remarking in Burton’s defense that he was allergic to Gaido’s perfume.

Also in 1976, 10 people were subjected to citizen arrests for smoking in the county courthouse by members of the Group Against Smoking Pollution. A Municipal Court judge threw out charges against at least two of the accused, noting that although smoking technically was prohibited in the courthouse, it was “tacitly encouraged”--ashtrays were stationed every 15 feet or so along courthouse corridors.

In this era of concern about smoking, enforcement officers such as Tully of Huntington Beach or Janna Moore of Laguna Beach say there may not be arrests, but city laws are easy to enforce because nonsmokers are so quick to complain if laws are violated.

Moore said, “It’s the assertiveness of nonsmokers . . . (who say) ‘Why should we put up with this (second-hand smoke)?’ ”

Faced with the laws, increasing social pressure from nonsmokers and growing concern about their own health consequences, many smokers have quit or tried to do so.

Around Orange County, no-smoking classes are reportedly booming. To ease the transition into new smoking rules, the American Lung Assn. of Orange County is offering about 36 classes a year to corporations whose employees want to quit, said Debbie Mahood, the association’s director of smoking education. Three years ago, Mahood said, the association offered just 15 such classes.

On July 1, when Pacific Mutual, a large Newport Beach-based insurance firm, restricted smoking for more than 2,000 employees in all its offices, the company also had offered stop-smoking classes for the previous six months.

About 75 employees went through those classes, company spokesman Geno Effler said. Although some workers could not quit, some smokers--such as executive secretary Debra Newberry--said the company’s new policy and the no-smoking class enabled her to cut down from about 2 1/2 packs a day to a pack every two or three days.

“With the proper incentive, people can quit,” said Dr. Ray Casciari, a pulmonary specialist and president of the county Lung Assn.

He applauded the new ordinances, adding that “smokers are in the minority now, and therefore they’re all resigned to it.”

CITIES THAT HAVE SMOKING POLICIES

Anaheim Enacted: 1986

Restaurants: Those with capacity of 50 or more must provide adequate amount of designated areas to meet non-smokers needs.

Offices: Smoking prohibited in meeting rooms, service lines, auditoriums, restrooms, medical facilities, hallways and elevators. 50% of the cafeteria must be designated non-smoking.

Public Places: No smoking in City Council Chambers, theaters, public restrooms, service lines, elevators, hospitals and health care facilities.

Penalties: Infraction: First violation $50 fine; Second of same ordinance within year $150 fine; Third in same year $500.

Brea Enacted: 1986

Restaurants: Establishments required to reserve 50% of floor space for non-smokers.

Offices: In offices, every employee is entitled to a non-smoking area. Authorizes employer to make entire business a non-smoking area. 50% of the cafeteria must be designated for non-smokers.

Public Places: No smoking in public meeting rooms, elevators, theaters, auditoriums, service lines, public rest rooms, hospitals and health care facilities.

Penalties: Infraction: First violation $100 fine; Second within a year $200 fine; Third for additional violation in the same year $500 fine. Complaints referred to Chamber of Commerce, then to the city.

Cypress

Enacted: 1987

Restaurants: Establishments required to reserve 25% of floor space for non-smokers. If they do not designate an area, it is assumed the whole restaurant is a non-smoking area.

Offices: In offices greater than 1,500 sq. ft., with 5 or more employees, 50% of total space must be set aside for non-smoking areas. No smoking in conference and classrooms. In smaller workplaces, employees may request that smoking be prohibited, and 25% of cafeterias, lunchrooms and breakrooms must be non-smoking.

Public Places: No smoking in all public buildings, elevators, public restrooms, service lines, retail stores, and 50% of all theater lobby areas.

Penalties: Infraction: First violation $100 fine; Second for same ordinance within a year $200 fine; Third violation within same year $500 fine. Chamber of Commerce serves as an advisory board for complaints.

Huntington Beach Enacted: 1986

Restaurants: Establishments with a capacity of 50 people or more must provide 25% of floor space as non-smoking area.

Offices: Businesses are required to adopt a smoking policy, allowing employees to designate their own non-smoking area and make a “good faith effort” to accomodate the needs of non-smokers.

Public Places: No smoking in city meeting rooms, theaters and auditoriums, public restrooms, elevators, hospitals and health care facilities.

Penalties: Infraction: First violation $50 fine; second, $100; third, $250. The city stresses working with violators rather than penalizing them.

Irvine

Enacted: 1985

Restaurants: Establishments with a capacity of 40 or more, must provide at least 50% of its floor space as a non-smoking area.

Offices: Businesses must establish a smoking policy in the immediate work areas. No smoking in restrooms, hallways, meeting rooms or manufacturing areas.

Public Places: No smoking in elevators, hospitals, health care centers, public meeting rooms, theaters, auditoriums, restrooms or indoor service lines.

Penalties: Infraction: Fines determined by courts.

Laguna Beach

Enacted: 1987

Restaurants: Establishments must provide at least 25% of its floor space as a non-smoking area. For those that do not comply with the ordinance, the alternative is no smoking at all.

Offices: Businesses must provide a smoking policy, designate non-smoking areas and give preference to the non-smoker.

Public Places: No smoking in elevators, libraries, city hall, conference rooms, lunchrooms, indoor service lines, health care facilities, hospitals, theaters, auditoriums, and public transportation.

Penalties: Infraction: Fines determined by courts.

Newport Beach

Enacted: 1985

Restaurants: Establishments with occupancy of 50 or more must provide at least 25% of its floor space as a non-smoking area.

Offices: Businesses must establish a smoking policy that allows an employee to designate his own work area as a non-smoking area, giving preference to the non-smoker.

Public Places: No smoking in meeting rooms, elevators, hospitals, health care facilities, theaters, auditoriums, public restrooms and indoor service lines.

Penalties: Infraction: Fines not specified.

San Clemente

Enacted: Dec. 1987

Restaurants: Establishments must devote 50% of its floor space for a non-smoking area, without remodeling costs.

Offices: Businesses with four or more employees must adopt a smoking policy, posting signs at designated non-smoking areas.

Public Places: No smoking in elevators hospitals, health care facilities, meeting rooms, theaters, auditoriums and public restrooms.

Penalties: Infraction: First violation $50 fine.

San Juan Capistrano

Enacted: 1987

Restaurants: No smoking in any public buildings. Notices must be posted.

Penalties: No penalties.

Tustin

Enacted: 1985

Restaurants: Any public place must have non-smoking areas for employees.

Offices: Employers must set up non-smoking areas including work areas, employee lounges, conference rooms and cafeterias.

Penalties: Infraction: First violation $50 fine; Second in same year $100 fine.

Yorba Linda

Enacted: 1985

Restaurants: Establishments with capacity of 40 or more must provide at least one-third of both the seating capacity and the floor space as a non-smoking area.

Offices: Employers must establish a smoking policy giving preference to non-smokers. Employees have the right to designate their work area as a non-smoking area. No smoking in meeting rooms, classrooms, auditoriums, restrooms, medical facilities, hallways and elevators.

Public Places: No smoking in elevators, hospitals, health care facilities, public meeting rooms, city-owned buildings, theaters, auditoriums, public restrooms and indoor service lines.

Penalties: Misdemeanor and nuisance: penalities determined by the court.