Reaction mixed on smoke shack ruling

The ashes are settling on the Montana Supreme Court's recent decision declaring that the smoking shelters built at two Great Falls casinos violate Montana's Clean Indoor Air Act, yet casino operators, gamblers and the public still are voicing contrasting views.

The high court issued an opinion Tuesday reversing a Cascade County District Court decision that had found the smoking shelters, commonly called smoke shacks, were in compliance with the law. The decision could result in shutting down the smoking rooms or substantially changing their use.

Officials said it might take several weeks to determine exactly what impact the ruling will have on Gold's Casino and Players Casino, the two 10th Avenue South casinos owned by brothers Doug and K.C. Palagi and their attorney and business partner Gregg Smith. They also own two other Great Falls casinos with similar smoking room setups, The Do Bar and Palace Casino.

Varying views

Donna Ott, a retired Lethbridge woman who visits Great Falls monthly with her husband, Lloyd, to shop, dine out and play video keno machines, said she is tickled at the ruling because the smoking structures that she says are fully incorporated into the casinos — not extraneous outdoor shacks — aggravate her asthma.

When smokers open the doors of the rooms, smoke can flow out, she said.

"It's triggered my asthma and forced me out to the car," she said. When she's tried to play a machine away from the smoking room, Ott said she's still been bothered by cigarette scents when smokers walk by her machine to get to the bar.

"People who smoke don't realize how the vapors can affect some of us," Ott said.

Smith said the casinos have had non-smoking customers who say the smoke rooms eliminate the need for smokers to congregate by the outside door, forcing others "to run the gauntlet of smoke to enter."

Retired locomotive engineer Jeff Beck said he's "very discouraged' at the prospect of losing "a convenient and comfortable place to play gaming machines while smoking.

"This is a big part of my retirement recreation," he added. "I don't want to leave the building every few minutes to smoke since it might be cold or icy outside."

"If we're in a ventilated room separated from nonsmokers and serve ourselves getting drinks from the bar, who are we hurting?" said William Johnson, a laborer playing next to Beck at The Do.

Former smoker Daniel Biehl, a personal care aide, said he always avoided smoking inside after the dangers of secondhand smoke were discovered.

"But smokers are people first and deserve some compassion," he said. "In a place like Great Falls with screaming winds and piercing cold, there needs to be at least some kind of windbreak for smokers, so gamblers don't catch pneumonia when they service their habit."

Retired banker John Koppelman approved the Supreme Court's ruling and said he considered the smoke shacks "a sham" designed to get around the intended purpose of the smoking ban in bars, which was phased in over five years.

"I sympathize with casino owners, who took a big financial hit with the smoking ban," Koppelman said. "But the law was designed to improve the health of all Montanans, including folks who work in casinos and others like my family who want to enjoy good meals out without smoke drifting in."

Koppelman said he has gone back to favorite restaurants more since smoking was banned.

Amy Dail who played the gaming machines at the Palagi's casinos before taking a job as an attendant a year ago, said most of the smoking customers are upset at the court ruling and nonsmokers don't seem to care.

"The smoking customers sign a form acknowledging they know the risks of smoking and don't think it should bother anybody else," she said. "The smoking rooms are their comfort zone where they can enjoy themselves while they play the machines."

The American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network praised the Supreme Court ruling.

"We are glad that the Montana Supreme Court saw the plaintiff's lawsuit against the county for what it was — a creative attempt to skirt the law," said Kirstin Page-Nei, the organization's government relations director in Montana. "No one should have to choose between their health and a good job."

Most common in Cascade County

Doug Palagi said there are as many as 20 to 25 bars and casinos in the Great Falls area with some type of smoke rooms. Some have gaming machines inside and others just provide a shelter for smokers, he said, while some are attached to or inside the casino and some are detached.

It's not clear how many will be affected by the Montana Supreme Court ruling, but a top Montana health department official said there are four other bars and casinos in Cascade County that may have similar smoking rooms to those at Gold's and Players casinos that received complaints regarding possible Clean Indoor Air Act violations during 2014 and 2015.

Todd Harwell, administrator of the Public Health and Safety Division of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, said complaints about smoking shelters violating the Clean Indoor Air Health Act primarily have occurred in Cascade County.

Smith conceded that the gaming machines in the smoke rooms of his partnership's four Great Falls casinos might have to removed, but he hopes a way can be found to allow customers who smoke to still use the smoke rooms, which cost about $40,000 to build, furnish and equip with high-end air exchange systems.

Smith said he is meeting with county officials to help determine a way to comply with the ruling that is fair to his team's casinos and several others in town that have smoke rooms of one type or the other.

"We were disappointed with the decision, but plan to comply with it," he said. "We would have preferred for the court to provide some objective guidelines about what can be done to make our shelters legal. Do we need to make them more open or less open or what do we need to do to satisfy the county health department?"

The state Health Department's Harwell said the Supreme Court decision "confirmed what we thought, that those facilities were in violation of the law, allowing both workers and customers to be exposed to second-hand smoke."

Shannon McDonald, deputy chief legal counsel for the state Health Department, said there probably are ways for casinos and bars to provide roofed shelters open to outside air that smokers can go outside to use, but it's the department's role to prevent smoking.

Sue Warren, chairwoman of the City-County Board of Health in Great Falls, said the agency "will continue to provide education and support to all the establishments in Cascade County that are subject to and impacted by the court's ruling."

The local health board will seek voluntary compliance from the bars and casinos and if necessary use the law's enforcement provisions "to protect the health of the community, patrons and employees of establishments that do not comply," she said.

There's a graduated system of fines for failing to comply with the clean indoor air law, with a warning for the first violation, a written reprimand for the second, a $100 fine for the third, a $200 fine for the fourth violation and $500 fine for the fifth and subsequent violations.

Health board vice chairman Bill Bronson, also a city commissioner and attorney, said it could take anywhere from a few days to several weeks for the Montana Supreme Court to remand its decision to Montana District Judge Greg Pinski in Great Falls, the original trial judge, to execute the ruling. Bronson said county health department officials also will consider Smith's suggestions in how to carry out the ruling.

But casinos with smoke shelters similar to the two cited by the Supreme Court should realize they're not in compliance with the clean indoor air law and will need to make some changes, Bronson added.

How smoking shelters work

Both Gold's and Players casinos have a large, windowed room with signs describing it as a "smoking patio." Other signs say the rooms are restricted to smokers only and are self-serve, meaning the smokers leave the room to get their own drinks. Another sign asks them to extinguish their cigarettes when a strobe light is flashing. The ventilation system clears the air in a few minutes so an attendant can come in to fix a machine or clean.