Gov. Blagojevich signs law making Illinois's public places smoke-free

CHICAGO -- Tim Main worked Monday tossing out beer bottles and beer-soaked cigarette butts from a lounge in the Mississippi River city of Alton, Ill. To Main, there was ample room in the trash bin for something else -- the statewide smoking ban Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed into law that same day.

A nonsmoker, Main said the new smoking ban oversteps on folks like his wife, a smoker whose habit doesn't bother him in the least.

"I feel like it's the Nazi regime coming in here, talking away all of our rights. It should be a smoker's business" when and where they light up, said Main, who cleans Mike's Ten-Pin Lounge. "First they make it so you have to wear seat belts, and now they want to put a stop to smoking. What's next?"

The new law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, means smokers like Main's wife will have to take their butts outside because the new Smoke-Free Illinois Act bans smoking in public places -- including bars, restaurants and work places. Illinois is one of 19 states with a comprehensive smoking ban, according to the state.

The new law trumps local ordinances that are weaker, including those that allowed smoking bans to be phased in later or exempted businesses with air filtration systems. More than 40 communities, including Chicago, have approved restrictions on smoking in public places and a local ordinance must be as strong, or stronger, than the state ban to remain in place, said Illinois Department of Public Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold.

"This law will save lives," said Blagojevich, who was joined by lawmakers and anti-smoking advocates at the bill signing at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Still, bar owner Dennis McCarthy is concerned the ban will kill business. McCarthy owns Rossi's, a small, smoky watering hole off a downtown Chicago alley, and he estimates that 70 percent of his customers smoke.

"If people don't like the atmosphere in my bar they can go somewhere else. That's what life is all about," he said.

Under the law, people still will be allowed to smoke in their homes, cars, at retail tobacco shops, in certain hotel or motel rooms and outdoors.

"It looks like I'll be spending a lot of time outside," said Chicago carpenter Rob Nelson.

Smokers who violate the law could be fined between $100 and $250. And businesses that repeatedly violate the law could be fined at least $2,500.

Sarah Younger of Chicago predicted smokers like her would adjust to the new rules, but she doubted whether the hassle of having fewer places to smoke would make people quit.

Sandy Corona, 55, a nanny in Chicago, said she hopes to kick the habit by the end of the year, but that doesn't make her any less annoyed about the new ban.

"We're supposed to live in a free democracy, and we don't live in a police state," she said as she stopped along crowded Michigan Avenue for a smoke.

Anti-smoking advocates say that freedom means they shouldn't have to be smoked out in public places.

Lisa Cristia of Chicago blames her years working in bars and restaurants for the "smoker's cancer" of the tongue and throat that she survived. She uses makeup to cover a scar that runs from her ear to her chin and she said people often wonder who brutalized her.

"I am a victim, a victim of second-hand smoke," said Cristia, 38, who now works as a massage therapist and who has used her story to draw attention to efforts to pass the statewide ban.

Catty-corner from the Ten-Pin in Alton, Phil Barboro took a drag from the cigarette hanging from his mouth as he toted a tea set into an antique shop. A 47-year-old who figures he has smoked about three decades now, these days a pack a day, Barboro said he understands and accepts what lawmakers -- and the ban -- have in mind.

"I think people who don't smoke but are paying good money at a restaurant have a right to enjoy their meal without smoke," while nonsmokers should accept that bars historically have been refuges for adults who smoke, he said.

"It depends on the place," Barboro said.

Still, he favors anything that discourages young people from smoking.

"It's a bad, nasty habit," he said.