Oklahoma Smokers

For those unaware, Oklahoma’s numerous tribal casinos do not fall under the Oklahoma smoking ban. Whether a tribal casino with dining facilities offers a smoking section or not is entirely up to the tribe/nation itself and many of them do.

This past weekend my family had the pleasure of brunch in the Wild Potato Buffet in the Cherokee Casino located at I-44 and 193rd E. Avenue in Tulsa, or more accurately Catoosa.

The selection of food, both breakfast and dinner fare, was outstanding as was the option to ‘light ‘em up’ after our meal. The buffet is ‘all you can eat’, the food is great and the price is reasonable at $10 per-person. If a buffet is not your style there are four other dining facilities within the casino proper, and the BBQ restaurant also has a smoking section.

After brunch we made the grand tour of this truly remarkable facility, enjoyed playing the slots and even took home more money than we spent for dining in a smoker friendly restaurant. The gaming area of this remarkable casino also welcomes smokers with ash-trays right at the various gaming machines and smokers are free to wonder from area to area without having to worry about ‘offending’ someone.

Those Oklahomans looking for a smoker friendly place to dine might want to check with their nearest tribal casino, they just might be in for a pleasant surprise. And if you decide to patronize one of the many tribal casinos in Oklahoma keep in mind that smoke shops are often found adjacent to the casino proper. In practically any tribal smoke shop in Oklahoma you will enjoy a significant savings on tobacco products.

On February 27, U.S. District Judge Terence Kern in U.S. District Court in Tulsa ordered the State of Oklahoma to enter into binding arbitration with the Osage Nation which maintains that Governor Brad Henry’s emergency rule applying to tribal smoke shops violates the 2003 tobacco compact between the Osage Nation and the State of Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Tax Commission argued that before the new rule was implemented, cigarette taxes were being avoided by retailers who were using the lowest-rate tax stamp but who were not entitled to them. The tax commission proposed a rule to to limit the number of ‘low tax’ cigarettes which wholesalers could sell to tribal smoke shops to their 2004 sales volume plus ten percent. Governor Henry signed the rule, giving it the effect of law and imposing the restriction upon wholesalers rather than the smoke shops themselves, over which the Oklahoma Tax Commission has no authority.

The compact between Oklahoma and the Osage Nation says issues that are not resolved by “good-faith negotiations” within 30 days are subject to binding arbitration. Oklahoma refused to enter into negotiations with the Osage Nation which then filed suit seeking binding arbitration. In binding arbitration the state and the Osage Nation each name one arbitrator. Those arbitrators then name a third arbitrator, one upon which they can agree.

The Osage Nation named as arbitrator Kevin Gover, who served as a U.S. assistant secretary for Indian Affairs from 1997 to 2000, is a law professor at Arizona State University’s College of Law in Tempe and teaches courses in federal American Indian law. Gover also serves as an associate judge of the Tonto Apache Tribal Court of Appeals and of the San Carlos Apache Tribal Court, both in Arizona. He is originally from Lawton and a member of the Pawnee Nation.

The State of Oklahoma named as arbitrator Michael Burrage of Durant, who is the state’s arbitrator in a tribal compact dispute with the Cherokee Nation, retired in 2001 as chief judge of Muskogee federal court and as a district judge in Tulsa federal court.

The ruling by Judge Kern is a clear win for the Osage Nation and one certain to be causing worry in the Governor’s mansion, where a second ruling attempting to regulate interstate commerce between the Indian Nations and their wholesalers awaits the Governor’s signature.

Late last year, in an internet forum, I had occasion to engage in a debate of sorts regarding the Oklahoma smoking ban. My position was that restaurant owners should be free to choose for themsleves whether their establishment is non-smoking, smoking or a combination of the two. In that way customers could vote with their dollars, patronizing those establishments which best meet their needs and desires.

The gentleman with whom I engaged in debate on the issue opposed the existence of smoking only establishments and spoke out in support of the current smoking ban under which all restaurants are non-smoking with the option of maintaining an environmentally isolated ’smoking room’.

I pointed out that, according to the Oklahoma State Health Department, the vast majority of Oklahoma restaurants were already non-smoking. Health Department press releases claim that seventy percent of Oklahoma’s restaurants were totally non-smoking prior to the ban and estimates are that after the ban ninety-seven percent will be totally non-smoking.

I asked, “So what’s wrong with permitting all-smoking restaurants? Why should restaurant operators that want to operate a smoking only establishment be denied that right?” After all, with ninety-seven percent of the restaurants catering to no-smokers wouldn’t it be fair to have a few just for smokers, if their operators so desired?

His reply was somewhat surprising and very revealing.

His contention was that since he did not wish to dine in the presence of tobacco smoke, the existence of any smoking only restaurant would deny him his right to dine where he wished. He based the argument on the remote possibility that an all-smoking restaurant just might be the only establishment which served the food he desired and therefore must be required to adhere to the smoking ban otherwise he would be unable to dine there.

And that my friends, is simply a matter of greed.

Greed goes a long way toward explaining the mentality of the anti-smoking zealots and why they simply refuse to consider how the rights of restaurant owners are infringed by the smoking ban. In their mind their rights trump those of everyone else, even those who operate restaurants they may never patronize.

Restaurant operators get to choose where to locate their establishment, what to call it, what to offer on their menu, when their restaurant is open and when it is closed and to which segment of society it caters. In other words, restaurant operators get to choose for themselves the nature of their business venture. Or at least they did. Oklahoma restaurant operators no longer have the option to choose to operate an establishment which caters exclusively to smokers. That option was eliminated by the smoking ban which took effect on March 1st, 2006. From that day forward anyone opening a restaurant in Oklahoma has only one option, non-smoking. That is not an option, it is simply a government mandate.

If one is willing to spend extra money to construct an environmentally isolated ’smoking room’ as an adjunct to their non-smoking establishment they are free to do so. That however does not equate to a choice. A choice would mean that each and every restaurant operator in Oklahoma had the ability to opt for non-smoking only, smoking only or a combination of smoking and non-smoking. In that way customers could choose for themselves which restaurants they wished to patronize on the basis of their preference for non-smoking or smoking.

The smoking ban while encouraging restaurant operators to opt for non-smoking only also provides a means to accommodate smokers, albeit an expensive means. This fact gives rise to the question “Why no choice for restaurants to be smoking only?”.

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As the Oklahoma smoking ban has shifted into high gear we have been following news media reports from across the state to learn ‘what the locals are saying’. Throughout these reports over the course of the past few weeks comments from restaurant operators have fallen into three generalized categories.

Some are happy with the smoking ban in that it provides them the excuse to go non-smoking, a move they have wanted to make for some time but were afraid to make individually.

Others have paid the price to provide accommodations for their smoking customers and we salute them and will patronize such businesses in our area and encourage our fellow smokers to do likewise.

The third group is that which is taking the ‘which way the wind blows’ approach, waiting to see how the smoking ban will affect their individual business. With the smoking ban now in effect they are watching closely to determine how their smoking customers react. If they still patronize the business odds are it will remain non-smoking. If smokers abandon the business they will likely make the minimal investment necessary to provide a smoking section. The great unknown is whether non-smokers will fill any void created by smokers abandoning the now ’smoke free’ restaurant.

While smokers have no control or even any infuence in the actions of non-smokers patronizing these establishments, they most assuredly do have the ability to refrain from patronizing any business which has thus far refused to provide accomodations for smokers. Smokers have both a right and a duty to make their views known to business operators. If smokers refuse to act, make their voices heard and simply fade into the woodwork, they have no one to blame but themselves.

Welcome to oksmokers.com - news and information for smokers in Oklahoma.

Today, March 1st, 2006 marks a milestone for smokers in Oklahoma. As of today, smokers are no longer welcome in the vast majority of Oklahoma restaurants. It is a sad day, for not only have Oklahoma smokers lost a right which existed since statehood but so have the operators of thousands of private businesses in our state.

While smokers have lost the battle to enjoy an after meal cigarette, cigar or pipe in the vast majority of Oklahoma restaurants they have not yet lost the war. And make no mistake about it, there is a war going on. A war against an enemy whose ultimate goal is to outlaw smoking altogether.

Oksmokers.com is about fighting back, providing news and information to Oklahoma smokers on who is waging war upon your rights, how they are doing it and what you can do to about it. We will also be providing information on how to reduce the ‘tax bite’ when purchasing tobacco products, how to ’shop around’ for the best prices and how to fight back against big government and those that support it.

Our first project is to provide a list of those few restaurants in Oklahoma which still welcome and provide accomodations for smokers. As of today, there are very, very few such businesses in our list. If you are aware of an Oklahoma restaurant that does welcome smokers and which is not on our list, please let us know so that we may include it.

Thanks for spending some time with us.