One positive of new smoking law is more bars bar kids

Moving to Las Vegas from the Bible Belt many years ago, I was taken aback to see children in taverns. They weren’t boozing, of course, but they were eating, usually with their families, sometimes with their soccer and Little League teams.

Even though they hadn’t bellied up to the bar but sat in the food service section, it was unsettling and didn’t seem quite right. Why weren’t the munchkins at McDonald’s?

Well, parents and coaches couldn’t get a beer at McDonald’s. Plus, bar food is often better than fast food. Basically, kids in bars are there for the family’s convenience, not the kids’ benefit.

I never became comfortable seeing tykes and toddlers in bars, especially back in the days when you could smoke in a bar wherever you sat. After Nevada’s Clean Indoor Air Act of 2006 passed, taverns that served food couldn’t allow smoking, unless the food area was physically separated.

After the 2011 Legislature adopted Assembly Bill 571, negating a portion of the Clean Indoor Air Act, tavern owners made decisions. They could go adults-only and be able to serve food in smoking areas. Or if they had food service areas separated physically from a bar where there was smoking, they could continue feeding families.

The choices have been made, and kids are the losers.

All across the valley, signs at the front door declare various bars to be adults only. Families with kids are being turned away.

I’m OK with that. I’m not keen on kids in bars, nor do I see why that’s the best option for them.

Las Vegas attorney Sean Higgins, lobbyist for the Nevada Tavern Owners Association and the lead proponent of the new law, owns the Three Angry Wives Pub in Boca Park. He’s one of those bar owners who had separated the food area from the bar area, so he could continue to have minors in the restaurant portion. His family business might grow stronger.

But he understands why it was an easy economic decision for others to eliminate family business.

Roger Sachs, head of the Tavern Owners Association and a co-owner of three Steiner’s pubs, estimated that 90 percent of the bars have become adults only since the law kicked in June 17.

“The only people who still allow kids are the ones who already had a separation,” he said.

Steiner’s changed from a nonsmoking, family-friendly bar that served food to a smoking, adults-only pub that serves food.

By going adults only, “I anticipated losing 10 percent of my family food business,” Sachs said. He estimated that at one site on Cheyenne Avenue he does $80,000 a month in food and $8,000 of that is families with kids. He loses maybe $1,000 profit a month by going adults only.

However, his gaming is up about 5 percent, and his drink business is up a few percentage points as well. It’s too early to judge the economic impact of the change in the law, he said. Football season will provide a better comparison.

Steiner’s is designed as an open area, just like the Sierra Gold I visited over the weekend, another operation that is no longer family-friendly.

In a concession to nonsmokers, Steiner’s and Sierra Gold allow smoking at the bar only and not in the eating area, though it’s not walled off. For nonsmokers like me, that’s a plus. I can eat without smoke blowing in my face

Sachs said he hasn’t received one complaint about the smoking now permitted.

“People don’t notice it,” he said. “But I’ve answered 12 emails from longtime guests who are a little hurt by the adults-only policy.”

I don’t think I’m the only Grinch who thinks banning kids from bars with smoking is a positive — for the kids.

I’m just not afraid to say it.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.