Since 2011, the Ohio Division of Liquor Control has rejected liquor license renewals for 12 bars across the state because the establishments’ owners had repeatedly failed to pay smoking-related fines for violating the law to the Ohio Department of Health.
Two of those 12 bars sit in Butler County: Froggy Blues Cafe in Monroe has amassed $36,600 in smoking fines and Cobblestone Tavern in Fairfield has generated $24,100 since the state department began issuing fines in 2007, according to state records.
‘We have some teeth’
Most of the smoking fines establishments across Ohio owe to the department remain unpaid. The state has only collected $807,600, or one-quarter, of the $3.6 million owed. But once officials from the Department of Liquor got involved by rejecting the liquor licenses of those indebted to the department of health, some repeat offenders, including the Froggy Blues Cafe and Cobblestone Tavern, started to pay up.
“We have some teeth now with the ability to revoke or not renew liquor licenses,” Tessie Pollock, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Health said.
Establishments will get a warning letter the first time they are caught violating the Smoke Free Workplace Act. Subsequent violations can mean fines ranging from $100 to $2,500.
After 58 smoking complaints and $24,100 worth of fines, the liquor control notified Rick Sizemore, the owner of Cobblestone Tavern, that his license wouldn’t be renewed last month. Sizemore then started working out a payment plan to get the department of health the money it’s owed, his attorney said.With interest and attorney fees, the amount he’ll have to pay as a result of smoking violations will total closer to $30,000, his lawyer added. Sizemore’s paid off nearly $5,000 of his fines.
“I’m working with my attorney to resolve the situation,” Sizemore said. “I’m definitely in compliance now.”
Sizemore’s Columbus-based attorney, Kurt Gearhiser, said he has some clients who “dwarf” Sizemore’s fines. Some bar owners Gearhiser represents owe $50,000 or more to the Department of Health, he said.
Froggy Blues Cafe had its liquor license yanked in December of last year, an official with the Liquor Control said. After an appeal in February to the state’s Liquor Control Commission, the license was reinstated and the cafe’s owner worked out a payment plan. The cafe has paid down more than $12,000 on the $36,600 bill, according to state records.
The owner of the Froggy Blues Cafe could not be reached to comment for this story.
Even with the threat of hefty fines, enforcement of the no-smoking law can be difficult at times, one bar owner said.
Carol Stephens, who owns Carol’s Speakeasy in Warren County, has paid $1,100 worth of fines over 22 complaints. She said she does everything she can to comply with the law.
“When the bar is packed there’s not a lot you can do about it,” she said. “We tell them to put it out but you can’t call (police) every time somebody lights a cigarette. We discourage it, we tell them not to, but that doesn’t mean they pay attention.”
‘Hesitant to call and complain’
The Department of Health uses the money it generates from fines to investigate smoking violation investigations so the program essentially pays for itself through the fines, Pollock said.
All investigations are complaint-driven.
“The inspector must actually catch someone in the act,” Pollock said. “Inspectors have to go out to the establishment and witness someone (smoking).”
That means dozens of local offices, restaurants or bars in Butler County with the highest number of complaints are rarely fined.
The Loyal Order of Moose 501, a private fraternal organization in Middletown, has the highest number of recorded complaints within Warren and Butler Counties at 209 since 2007. The lounge has been fined a handful of times, resulting in $600 worth of fines, from the health department, far less than the thousands of dollars other Butler County establishments, with fewer complaints, owe.
Even Butler County’s government offices, from the sheriff’s department to the courthouse, have logged nearly 20 complaints since the law activated, but not once has the county been fined.
Butler County ranks sixth in the state for smoking-related complaints, with 2,900 complaints, while Cuyahoga County — the state’s most populous county — takes the top spot with 6,061 complaints. Overall, the state has logged 64,934 complaints since the law went into effect.
Warren County, however, which ranks within the top 15 most populous Ohio counties has a disproportionately low number of complaints. With only 519 smoking violation complaints, the county ranks 31st in the state.
County voters overwhelmingly supported the smoke-free workplace law back in 2006, Duane Stansbury, the health commissioner for Warren County said. He said county workers also passed out no-smoking signs to business workers to prevent violations.
“People were accepting of the law and willing to comply with it,” Stansbury said of his county.
The state’s smoking investigation program scored $2 million in state funding from this year through 2015 in an effort to publicize the smoking laws across Ohio, Pollock said. She said the Health Department will use that money in targeted areas, including southwest Ohio, to advertise how to record a smoking complaint with the state.
“We see a lot of folks that are hesitant to call in complaints,” Pollock said. “We’re in the process of analyzing the parts of the state where we might not see a lot of complaints, but we’re aware of violations.”
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