Iowa bar owners preparing for legal fight against Iowa smoking ban

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By Steven Martens | Saturday, April 19, 2008 |

CLINTON, Iowa — Jon Van Roekel, a self-described history buff, says Iowa’s new smoking ban has similarities to the beginnings of Prohibition.

Van Roekel, president of the Clinton Organized Bar and Restaurant Association, or COBRA, said his group is gathering support for a legal fight against the ban.

“Our rights are being violated, and we’re not going to stand idly by and let it happen,” Van Roekel said. He said his organization has been in contact with a Quad-City law firm, but declined to name it.

Van Roekel said if $200 could be raised from every bar and restaurant owner in the state opposed to the ban, there would be enough money to fight the new law all the way to the Supreme Court.

“We’re in this to the bitter end,” he said.

The new law goes into effect July 1 and bans smoking in Iowa bars, restaurants and most workplaces, with the exception of casino gaming floors and the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown.

COBRA will hold a public meeting about the issue at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Club 110, 110 Main Ave. in Clinton.

Brian Froelich, owner of Fro’s Pub and Grub in Wilton, also is organizing Iowa bar owners for a legal fight against the new law. Froelich said he has spoken to bar owners from across the state and is forming a group called the Iowa Bar Owners Coalition. He is planning a public meeting for anyone interested in the issue at 4 p.m. May 4 at the Knights of Columbus hall at 1111 W. 35th St. in Davenport.

Froelich said he has contacted Davenport lawyer John Bribriesco about filing a lawsuit. Bribriesco could not be reached for comment about possible legal tactics.

“It’s got nothing to do with smoking anymore,” Froelich said. “This is a rights issue.”

Rep. Polly Bukta, D-Clinton, who voted in favor of the bill, said she preferred a total ban rather than the exemption for casino gaming floors.

“It really isn’t fair to exempt some and not others,” she said.

Bukta said she knows some of her constituents in Clinton are not happy with her vote, but she believed public safety was the most important issue.

“I’ve seen people die of lung cancer,” she said.

Bukta said she expects that eventually the exemption for casino gaming floors will be revoked and that the impact on bars won’t be as bad as the owners fear.

“I really think in the end it’s going to work out, I really do, because it has in other states,” Bukta said. “Change is never easy.”

Steven Martens can be contacted at (563) 659-2595 or smartens@qctimes.com.