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The name on the paper is that of the first person to complain to the Lake County Health Department about the Ronan bar violating the Clean Indoor Air Act, yet patron Rich Gennison doesn’t seem concerned as he lights another cigarette and sips his beer.

“This law violates the Constitution, which gives us the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Gennison said. “My idea of happiness is smoking a cigarette while I drink my beer. Passing a law without a vote on it? I don’t like that.”

Six weeks into the state wide smoking ban and the effectiveness of the newly implemented law is yet to be determined. As the cold months of winter approach, questions of enforcement, public reaction and the displaced smokers that have taken up shop outside of bars have created a quagmire that have many wondering whether this law can work on a state-wide level. Others, both smokers and nonsmokers, have welcomed the ban, for health and personal reasons.

One of the more striking changes after Oct. 1 was the increase in groups smokers standing along Main Street. In the first few weeks after implementation, Polson Police Chief Doug Chase received complaints from town citizens about being harassed by smokers standing outside of bars.

“We’ve stepped up patrol because there have been complaints of disorderly conduct by unwanted or unappreciated comments, but it has settled down the last couple weeks,” Chase said.

Ted Murrin, the owner and manager of the Wolf Den in Polson, is still upset about the law being implemented in the first place. He installed air filtration and a ventilation system that cost him thousands of dollars to help with the smokiness inside, but now has no use for it because of the ban. And Murrin, a nonsmoker, says he has seen no new faces since the ban and fears that he is losing customers to places where smoking is still allowed inside, especially with cold weather on the horizon.

“I think it’s affected my income for sure,” Murrin said. “I don’t have a place where I can put them outside to smoke, so I’m sure it will hurt me even more when winter falls.”

Bev Machacek, the Lake County Department of Public Health tobacco prevention youth coordinator, has heard similar complaints about losing business, but feels the ban will help in the long run.

“I think that’s bogus because any bar that has been smoke free for the last couple years will see an increase in business,” Machacek said of complaints on the ban. “That’s a common fear many people have. We don’t like change.”

Elsewhere, owners have embraced the smoking ban. Willard Moore, owner of Willard’s in Ronan, said years of inhaling second hand smoke has left him with a chronic cough, and the ban has given him a reason to keep the smoke out of his establishment.

“I wish I had done it three years ago but I let myself off the hook and let it be someone else’s fault,” Moore said. “That was probably weak on my part, but I couldn’t be happier about it.”

Willard’s has a courtyard attached to the side for smokers, where long-time smokers like “Mule,” a patron at the bar, can be found. Mule, despite years of smoking indoors, still visits Willard’s for an occasional drink despite his discontent with the ban.

“I feel that people that own businesses in the state of Montana should have a right to conduct their business the way they deem appropriate,” he said. “If that means smoking, so be it. I go to places that I predominantly feel comfortable with and I’ve been personal friends with these people for years, so I have no problem stopping in for a drink.”

Chief Chase maintains the department is doing the best they can at monitoring how the situation progresses, despite the fact that “the state gave [police] no teeth.”

“I understand the health aspects and I understand the complainants concerns, but I also know our limitations,” Chase said. “But we will follow through with whatever we are directed to do as best we can.”

Machacek maintains that she has seen progress, especially with her target group, teenagers.

“Many of the youth are very supportive because now their parents don’t have to be in a smoky environment,” she said.

Even Murrin, who opposes the ban, has found a similar positive thing about going smoke free: “The only thing that’s good about it? I don’t smell like a cigarette when I leave.”

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