Jayhawks in the mist
Marlboro Ma'am
Butting Heads
Who will win and who will lose if the lights go out in Lawrence.
By Laura Kinch, Jayplay writer
At about 11:30 p.m. on a Friday night most Lawrence bars are hidden underneath a low-lying cloud of cigarette smoke. The music is pumping and you take a sip of your icdy cold Miller Lite and a nice long drag of your freshly lit cigarette. As you inhale the first stream of smoke, you finally begin to relax after a long week of hard work. You can't wait to spend the night drinking, smoking and socializing with your friends. To your dismay, this nightly ritual may be a thing of the past. The city of Lawrence is considering a smoking ban which would prohibit smoking in bars and restaurants. With the future of all unit cigarettes uncertain, most Lawrence smokers are left fuming.
While hitting the club with friends, one can become attracted to working in such a happening environment. The bar scene can provide a perfect place to earn some extra money while not missing a single beat of the Lawrence nightlife. Nicole Polley, Plymouth, Minn. senior has worked at The Hawk, 1340 Ohio, and The Cadillac Ranch, 2515 W. Sixth St., for a year. The Ranch is smoker-friendly but the Martini Room at The Hawk is smoke free. The Martini Room was added to the Hawk in the fall of 2003. The bar is located on the lower level of The Hawk and comes complete with an extensive martini menu, sophisticated wooden décor, large leather lounge chairs and — most importantly — a non-smoking policy.
Polley says she enjoys working at both establishments but after working a typical six-hour shift at The Ranch, she notices the impact of secondhand smoke. "At the end of the night it irritates my eyes they get red and my contacts get dried. When you go outside at the end of the night you reek." Pollev says.
On the other end of the spectrum, she finds the Martini Room to be pleasant to work in because of the non-smoking policy. "It's nice going home at the end of the night not smelling like smoke," Polley says.
She thinks that customers are not used to the non-smoking policy in the Martini Room and changes such as stricter smoking laws and fines in bars would have to be made if the ban were enacted through out Lawrence. "I think a lot of people smoke when they go out and smoke socially. The ban would be hard for them to regulate," Polley says. "In the Martini Room, people sometimes still light up and we have to tell them to put it out."
Only one accessory can compliment Jessica Robbins' cranberry and vodka: a cigarette.
Robbins, Lawrence senior, is a smoker and says she does not see herself changing her ways. "I think that non-smoking bars and restaurants are crap. Smoking is legal and you should be able to smoke if you want to," Robbins says. Despite newer establishments like the Bella Lounge she thinks that no bar should be totally non-smoking. "I don't think there should be a totally smoke-free bar. There should be somewhere to smoke like an area outside or a section of the bar," says Robbins. She has visited the Martini Room at The Hawk and was not aware of the non-smoking policy. "I've been to the martini room and I smoked a cigarette, I wanted to smoke and nobody told me to put it out," Robbins says. She says she didn't think about the smoking policy because she was so used to lighting up when going out to bars. Robbins says that the majority of her friends don't smoke, but she says that smoking is such a norm at college bars that most non-smokers get used to the atmosphere. "I sometimes feel bad smoking around my friends that don't smoke, but bars are busy and everyone else is smoking so it really doesn't matter," Robbins says.
photo illustrations: Amanda Kim Stairrett