Española adopts smoking ordinance

Española will join Santa Fe in banning smoking from almost all public places and workplaces, including full-service bars, at the first of the year.

On Monday, the Española City Council unanimously approved a new smoking ordinance that will go into effect Jan. 1.

The Española ordinance was sponsored by Councilor Rosario "Chayo" Garcia, who with her husband, owns Anthony's at the Delta, an Española bar, restaurant and flower shop.

She said patrons are allowed to smoke at the bar, and her husband, Manuel, a nonsmoker who tends bar there, often "wakes up hacking and hacking."

Councilor Garcia, who quit smoking cigarettes more than 15 years ago, said she became concerned about second-hand smoke five years ago when her first cousin, a nonsmoker, died at age 27 from lung cancer.

When she quit smoking, the councilor said, "I promised myself I was not going to be one of those pain-in-the-ass nonsmokers, and guess what? I am."

The city of Santa Fe has banned smoking from restaurants and most other public places since 1999. But in May, its City Council extended the ban to full-service bars.

The Española ordinance, like Santa Fe's, exempts:

_Up to 20 percent of a hotel or motel's rooms, if they are labeled for smoking.

_Private residences not used for child care, adult day care or health care.

_Private clubs, such as veterans clubs, if they have no employees and are staffed by volunteers. (The no-smoking ordinance applies when the clubs are used for public events.)

_Tribally owned casinos and gaming facilities.

_Retail tobacco stores if there is no infiltration of smoke into adjoining shops.

The main difference between Española and Santa Fe's laws is that Santa Fe bans smoking on restaurant patios while Española allows it if a smoker stays 20 feet from windows, entrances and ventilation intakes. Santa Fe's law specifically exempts "cigar bars" while Española specifically exempts cultural ceremonies where tobacco is used. Española's city limits overlap Santa Clara Pueblo and Ohkay Owingeh.

Cheryl Ferguson of New Mexicans Concerned About Tobacco, an Albuquerque-based nonprofit, said Española is the 13th New Mexico municipality to enact a "strong" anti-smoking law.

Edgewood in southern Santa Fe County also bans smoking in most public places, including bars. In August, Farmington passed a similar ordinance, effective Jan. 1.

Ferguson said Albuquerque continues to allow smoking in bars. Taos and Las Vegas, N.M., do not regulate smoking except in municipal buildings, she said.

Ferguson's group will back a bill in the 2007 Legislature to ban smoking in bars statewide.

Contact Tom Sharpe at 995-3813 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.