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Show Study shows Park City restaurants are ignoring no-smoking area laws by RICK BROUGH Record staff writer Park City may have some catching up to do with Utah's "non-smoking area" law. The law, passed in 1976, calls for restaurants, among other public places, to provide space for customers who do not smoke. But evidence suggests a substantial number of Park City restaurants do not have such a space. In response to a query from the Record, the Park City Chamber of CommerceConvention and Visitors Bureau polled its 32 member restaurants by telephone. According to the survey, repondents from eight eating places said they had a non-smoking space, eighteen repondents repon-dents said they did not have such a section and six restaurants were not available for comment. One restaurateur, Terry Jannott, said he has not had any requests from his customers to create a non-smoking section. But at least one Park City visitor did ask for a non-smoking area. In a May 16 article in the Deseret ews, columnist Clifton Jolley told how he visited the Claimjumper for dinner this April, and was rebuffed in his request to be seated in a nonsmoking non-smoking section. (In the Chamber poll, the Claimjumper said it did not have a section, i According to Jolley, the Summit County Health Dopart- the health department has time to make two regular inspections per restaurant per year. He noted the environmental health staff includes three people, who are in charge of monitoring the county's restaurants, construction sites, oil wells and an extensive number of water companies. com-panies. He added that restaurants receive a demerit of one point for non-compliance with the Clean Air Act. But he indicated that is usually not enough to hurt their overall score. Jenkins said this year he is initiating steps to enforce the law more vigorously. The county is buying over 100 signs for restaurants to designate smoking non-smoking areas using about $300 of state money. He said he will also begin a policy of sending written notification to restaurant owners if they repeatedly violate minor items. Terry Jannot said, "If I get even some requests, I might do it (a section). But you lose a lot of flexibility." He said he had been under the impression that he complied with the law if the entire restaurant was officially designated as a smoking area. Jannot is also chairman of the Chamber Bureau's Restaurant Committee. Com-mittee. The Clean Air topic might be discussed at the committee's meet-inn meet-inn next Monday, he suggested. Utah law says public places should provide no-smoking areas, but a study shows that in most Park t itv restaurants smoke gets in your eyes. ment also said it had received four complaints about violations of the act, all from Park City. In 1997. he joked, Park City would secede from the state in defiance of the Clean Air Act. "I was waiting for the problem to turn up before I did anything," he added. The county health department depart-ment had not talked to him about the need to comply with the law. Summit County Health Director Steve Jenkins said the county has its own problems. With a small staff and heavy workload, he said, the county doesn't have much time to enforce the law. And the1 penalty is not heavy for non compliance. The Utah Indoor Clean Air Act, including 76-10-108 and 76-10-109, says the proprietor of a public plat shall make reasonable efforts to ' provide a smoke-free area by arranging seating and ventilation and posting appropriate signs in a conspicuous manner. It also states, "No public place other than a bar shall be designated as a smoking area in its entirety." The State Health Department provides that enforcing the non smoking law is part of regular restaurant inspections. The state provides a standard 'form to counties in their inspections, said Dale Mara, environmental health scientist for the state. Under "Ventilation" on the form, inspectors must check for compliance with the Clean Air Act. But what happens if a restaurant does not comply? Marx said the owner would be notified, and the item would be checked at (lie next regular inspect ion. In Summit County, Jenkins s;iid. |