The Dispatch wrote
Bars slow to snuff smoking
Sunday, February 3, 2008
BY MATTHEW MARX
If no one had ever complained about smoking at the Oakland Park Bar & Grill, city health inspectors wouldn’t have dropped in Thursday night.
But someone had reported the North Linden bar, so investigators walked inside and saw six patrons — half the clientele — puffing away as if Ohio’s public smoking ban didn’t exist.
Columbus health investigator Calvin Collins politely introduced himself to the bartender and advised her to expect a warning letter within 30 days. Because it was the bar’s first offense under the new state law, the owners won’t be fined, Collins said.
And then he left. No one was told to “cancel the cancer stick” or finish smoking in the parking lot, where outdoor temperatures straddled the freezing point.
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