Kaine heralds dawn of smoke-free Va restaurants

Third Street Diner employee Jessica Prignano takes a smoke break at the bar in the diner in Richmond, Va., Monday, Nov. 23, 2009.

By: | Inside NoVA
Published: December 01, 2009

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Gov. Tim Kaine says the restaurant smoking ban that took effect Tuesday is literally a healthy development for tobacco-loving Virginia.

In a statewide tour of eateries, the governor took a term-ending victory lap over the compromise smoking restriction the General Assembly enacted last winter.

The new ban outlaws lighting up anyplace that serves food and drink unless it's in a room separately ventilated from areas that serve nonsmoking patrons.

At a downtown Charlottesville restaurant, Kaine said concentrations in bars and cafes that allowed smoking were many times worse than the level of cigarette smoke in houses or offices.

Dr. Tom Eppes, past president of the Medical Society of Virginia, said secondhand smoke kills 1,700 Virginians a year.