The Cupertino Courier

First Word

Who's in control, the government or the smokes?

By Jon Hoornstra

When Shannon Perry goes to work, she reports to Ed Kato and then steps behind the bar at P.J. Mulligan's. She's in charge of serving beer, mixing drinks and keeping the atmosphere right for customers at the bar's corner location on Stevens Creek and Blaney.

Like her customers, though, Perry must step outside to smoke a cigarette, rain or shine. It's been that way since midnight Jan. 1, under a state law that bans smoking in all bars and restaurants.

Given the power of nicotine, the transition hasn't been easy. Bar owners and patrons grumbled through the first three smoke-free weeks of January. But then, in the middle of the fourth week, something changed. The State Assembly voted 44-24 to rescind the smoking ban. A short burst of happy chatter zipped through city bars. A patron at Paul & Eddie's Bar & Grill sounded barely a notch short of ecstatic.

But no one, especially a smoker, should hold his breath waiting for the change. The Senate may take months to consider the Assembly action. Then everyone will have to wait on the governor. Only the speeches will move fast.

There will be a battle royal in Sacramento, where lobbying powers are already lining up votes and dollars, though the distinction is often unclear. Judging by Assembly rhetoric, however, you'd think lawmakers fear protesting smokers may riot and bar owners may quit pouring booze.

But the grumbling hasn't resonated much in Cupertino, where real people eat and drink. The Blue Pheasant has served food and drinks to several generations of loyal customers since 1971, including many smokers. General manager Lona Means says her customers have been very cooperative and understanding. She estimates that half the restaurant's 25 employees smoke, so the change has affected people on both sides of the lunch counter.

Means said the Blue Pheasant would like to add a verandah to the back of the building to accommodate smokers, but she's doubtful the city, which owns the building, would agree to it.

If she's right about the city, it's unfortunate, as a verandah view of the surrounding 160-acre Blackberry Farms golf course would significantly enhance the appeal and value of the property, with or without smoking.

So what's in store for the smokers? I have some thoughts for them to ponder as they wait for relief from government. I offer them as one who smoked for more than 30 years.

One morning 14 months ago I tried to enjoy my first cigarette of the day. My lungs, however, shut down and would no longer accept oxygen. It was a mandatory, no discussion, end to my smoking.

But most smokers know the drill--the lectures and the statistics on diseases associated with smoking. So I offer just a couple fresh "facts" for smokers to consider, information they may not have heard.

First, some news from corporate board rooms. Two weeks ago Steven Goldstone, chairman and CEO of the company that owns R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., made a startling declaration. "This business will not grow," he said emphatically, referring to the entire U.S. tobacco products industry. Although Goldstone never said it explicitly, I interpret his comments on public television's "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" to mean that U.S. tobacco companies expect to get out of the cigarette business as we know it today.

Who knows? Smokers may soon find themselves puffing on imports from Albania, after presenting their physician-issued permits at authorized pharmacies.

A second, more basic consideration for smokers may be an observation from bartender Perry at P.J. Mulligan's.

"Sometimes there may be 30 or 40 people standing out there in the rain for a cigarette," she said.

So, I ask, what is to be learned when clusters of 30 to 40 people leave their warm seats in the friendly bar to go out into a cold and wind-whipped rainy night to smoke? It means the cigarette is in charge. However much smokers may resent an intrusive government--and I join them in that--the real intruder, the sinister force that really has them in its grip, comes in packs of 20.

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