Law endangers smokers’ refuge

BANGOR (AP) – A new law could ban smokers from lighting up in one of the few remaining refuges for smokers: private clubs.

The law, which affects about 150 clubs across the state, requires the approval of all workers and a majority vote of the full membership before smoking will be allowed at American Legion posts, Elks lodges and other clubs.

Clubs must cast their tallies by secret ballot by Sept. 17. Those without employees are free to make their own rules on smoking.

The bill was signed by Gov. John Baldacci on June 10.

represented a compromise. The original bill before the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee would have resulted in an outright ban on smoking in all workplaces, including private clubs.

“We fought like heck just to give us an opportunity to allow memberships to vote. It was a real tough compromise,” said Donald Simoneau of Livermore Falls, legislative chairman for Maine’s American Legion posts.

The law addresses veterans service organizations and private clubs, said John Archard, tobacco enforcement coordinator for the attorney general’s office.

The VFW halls, Legion posts and Elks lodges must hold a vote of their membership at least once every three years, he said, and the ballots must be on file for inspection by the state Health and Human Services Department.

But Simoneau and others are still fuming over the requirement that a majority of all members, not just those voting, approve smoking. That means, for instance, if a VFW has 600 members on paper, 301 must vote in favor of allowing smoking.

Simoneau said he knows of one American Legion post with 1,000 members, 200 of whom live outside Maine. Getting ballots to those members may be tough, he said.

At least one post, the Belfast American Legion, has sent notices to its members stating that a failure to vote is the same as a vote to ban smoking, he said.

Private clubs were among the few places spared by the original ban on smoking that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2004, at bars and bingo halls.

The law was passed to help servers, bartenders and others who work in taverns from having to endure secondhand smoke in order to keep their jobs, said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine Bureau of Health.

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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

AP-ES-08-23-05 1258EDT