Letters of Support for Smoke Free Listening

Dear Smoke Free Fans,
Thank you all for your support. I have gotten tons of emails from young and older folks who aren’t going out because of smoke. If club owners only knew how much business they were missing out on…. Anyways I took the names off of these letters but wanted to share just a few of them with you.

I applaud your efforts, and will support you in any way. My husband and I enjoy local music, but have stopped going to local concerts simply because of the smoke. I actually left a concert at the Cain’s ballroom last year because just 3 or 4 smokers in the room ruined the whole atmosphere.

My husband laid out the Tulsa World article about 'Clearing the air'. I am so with you. I am 51 years old, and stopped going out and doing the one thing I most love to do, listen to live music and dance. I am allergic to cigarrette smoke, and I cannot be around it. A few months ago, I went to see Damien Rice at the Cain's ballroom. I really like his music, and the one thing I considered when I purchased tickets, is that Cain's is supposed to be smoke free. Much to my dismay, the doors were left open to the bar where smoking was allowed, thus all the smoking filtered in to Cain's. Furthermore, there was a group of people standing in front of me who were smoking. I complained to a man I thought was a bouncer, and he just told me there wasn't any way to control the crowd. How sad for Cain's because I will not go back.
If there is anything I can do to help in this matter, please contact me. My cell phone is ---------Again, I have considered opening my own bar for people my age, with a smoke free environment. I miss dancing to Marcia Ball, and Johnny Reno and the Sax Maniacs who I used to see in the 80's in at the Coyote Club in Wichita Kansas. I miss Koko Taylor, and I miss dancing. Please, lets get this ball rolling.

I have wanted a smoke-free club for years! I am allergic to cigarette smoke and get horrible migraines when I try to go to a club. Please add my e-mail address to your list for a reminder to write my legislator. Thanks!

I am in total support of Smoke Free Bars. My husband and I enjoy playing pool & darts but do not go out any more because of the cigarette smoke. It gets up in my sinus cavity and I am sick for 2-3 days after a night out. I am also allergic to cigarette smoke.

I have owned several bars around Tulsa and suffered for years. My last bar, I closed due to the cigarette smoke. I just couldn't handle it any more.

I would support banning smoking. But if you put a proposed law on the books. Make it No Smoking within 50 feet of the entrance door. I don't want to walk through a cloud of smoke just to get in the door. That is my gripe with office workers smoking outside an office building also.


Hello, I read your article in the newspaper today and would like you to add our names and address to your efforts to ban smoking. I too, am allergic to cigarette smoke and have 2 daughters (ages 13 and 2-1/2) who are asthmatics. We moved here from San Diego last June and the number of smokers here is appalling to my husband and me. I lived in San Diego the past 20 years but had lived in Tulsa prior to that. In California it is illegal to smoke in any bars, restaurants, etc. even Solana Beach is a non-smoking city.

I took our son to get his haircut at a barber shop off 31st and Garnett and the entire smoke smelled like cigarettes, I thought it was illegal here to smoke in public places such as that. The owner of the barber shop got angry when I mentioned the law and he told me in so many words he could smoke wherever he ‘”….” well pleased. Needless to say, I found another place to have our sons hair cut.

We would also like to see no smoking in front of doorways to any buildings like it is in California. One cannot shop at any store here without smelling and breathing cigarette smoke before entering into the shopping malls, grocery stores, gas stations, etc.

I love my mother-in-law dearly and recently she was diagnosed with emphysema due to her smoking, she is trying to quit as the damage is irreversible and now she has panic attacks because she cannot breathe and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder – all from smoking cigarettes and she is only around 55 years old.

Let us know how we can help and thank you for your efforts in this ban.



I'm very excited about this movement. It's something
my friends and I have talked about extensively. There
are many nights (including tonight) that I just don't
go out because I know the smoke will make me feel ill
the next day. I can't imagine working in a blue haze
every night.

Please contact me via mail as you have information,
and I'll be glad to participate. Thank you!


read the article today in the Tulsa World about your campaign to eliminate smoking in bars and night clubs. Please count me as a supporter of your cause.

I enjoy music and other events around Tulsa clubs but the smoke usually sends me home early. I would definitely go out more often and stay longer if smoke were not present. Of the many friends who share this same regret, some are smokers who also prefer non-smoking venues. They simply go outside if they feel the need to smoke.

The employees and performers in these establishments are victims of irresponsible neglect of the very well documented health risks attributed to second hand smoke. I applaud your leadership in a positive direction for all patrons and staff connected to the entertainment industry


I am with you. I am one of those people who won't go out to hear live music and dance because of the smoke. Put my name on the list to write my congressman. I had no idea that Austin and NYC had smoke free bars and clubs. Thanks for your work in this area!
Saw the article about you in today's Tulsa World. Good job!!

My wife and I like to go out dancing, but we do not like the smoke. Please push this issue and send us a petition to sign. We want the bars and clubs to be smoke free too!


I am a musician here in Tulsa and am friends with your sons.
Thank you for your efforts to raise awareness about smoking in bars! I
applaud you noble woman! I to, HATE being forced into smoky environments
to play and or listen to good music, and I truly appreciate what you
are doing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Yeah for you! I am part of a group of friends that love to go dancing and it is extremely difficult to find somewhere to go that isn't so smokey that we are all sick the next day (yes I am an ex smoker). I have recently been diagnosed with a gastric ulcer that is aggravated by smoke so I am now going to be even more careful. Please keep my email and let me know what I can do to help. I will forward to my friends as well. Out of a group of 20 of us only 3 smoke so most will be supportive.

Readers, I found this today from Ponca City:



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Letter to the Editor - Swalley

Adjust to the Rules

I am a two pack a day smoker and live in Califoria under much stricter rules than these. Here we cannot smoke in any resturant, bar or store. We cannot smoke on hospital or government property except in a designated smoking area either outside or with special ventilation. We can't smoke in a car with a minor inside. We can't smoke within 15 feet of a doorway used to enter or exit a building.

After the first 15 minutes we adjusted and it is an easy lifestyle to accept and follow.

Resturants and bars added outside covered patios and not only the smokers but others like them. It was a cheap way to add more seating space and have more customers. Smokers don't complain because non-smokers are sitting in their area in resturants.

People that don't smoke have as much right to clean air as I have to smoke. Adjust and wait until you are outside the restaurant to light up. The extra few minutes won't kill you.

Clinton Swalley


Opinion Directory | Front Page



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Published Sun, Mar 2, 2008, On Page 4 A