New effort to ban smoking in Hall restaurants

GAINESVILLE - A new effort is underway to get all restaurants in Hall County to go "smoke free."

The Hall County Clean Air Coalition and Students Working Against Tobacco recently conducted a survey of about 200 restaurants in the county, asking about their smoking policies.

Judy Brownell of Center Point, a nonprofit counseling center in Gainesville, helped coordinate the survey, and says reaction to the survey was varied.

"We got a few who said to us that they would prefer to have a 'no smoking' restuarant, but were concerned that they would lose customers if they did that," Brownell said.

However, she said, just the opposite appears to be true.

"The experience with the restaurants and places is that they have not lost business," Brownell said. "That, actually, they have increased their business."

Students who conducted the survey are middle- and high-schoolers from Flowery Branch and West Hall high schools and West Hall and Davis middle schools.