By Timothy B. Wheeler , Sun reporter|March 27, 2008
Del. Joseph J. "Sonny" Minnick co-owns a tavern in Dundalk, and he said he has lost business since the state banned smoking in bars and restaurants.
Now, at the request of fellow tavern owners, he is backing a bill that would create an "outdoor" exemption for Baltimore County bars and restaurants. This week, the proposal won the support of a state Senate committee, alarming health advocates.
The measure would allow smoking on enclosed decks and patios, in tents or in other outdoor structures of bars and restaurants, and it would apply only to Baltimore County. Minnick doesn't have an enclosed deck, patio or tent, but he said he'd like to have one to make smoking customers more comfortable.
"I just thought it was a little ridiculous - overkill," Minnick said, for the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to extend the smoking ban to outdoor decks or canopies if they have walls or flaps to keep out rain and wind.
Minnick, who represents Dundalk, said he introduced the bill at the behest of tavern owners. He said they want to provide some protection from the elements for their patrons when they go outside to take a puff.
"It is a real inconvenience for their customers to go outside and stand on the sidewalk," said Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr., a Baltimore County Democrat who is the sponsor of the Senate bill. "Most people didn't believe that the regulations would include a tentlike structure or an awning where you could put down the sides."
Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr., state health officials and the state association of county health officers oppose the bill, as do health advocacy groups such as the American Heart Association and American Cancer Society.
"We worked so hard for so many years to pass a wonderful Clean Indoor Air Act for the state," said Michaeline Fedder of the Heart Association. "Anything that would dismantle anything built into that bill would be horrible."
Minnick said his establishment, Minnick's Restaurant, a bar and catering hall at 7100 Sollers Point Road, has a small canopy over one entrance that he'd like to enclose for the benefit of smoking customers. He said legislators from Baltimore City and two Southern Maryland counties have approached him about adding their jurisdictions to the bill.
"It has hurt business," Minnick said of the smoking ban. He recalled one couple in particular that stopped frequenting his bar after the ban took effect.
