Bar owners organize against smoking ban

By Linda Cook | Sunday, May 04, 2008

About 200 proprietors of Iowa taverns took one more step Sunday to stop a state smoking ban scheduled to go into effect July 1.

The group met at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 1111  W. 35th St., Davenport. The group’s spokesman was Brian Froehlich, owner of Fro’s Pub and Grub in Wilton, Iowa. He has organized a group called the Iowa Bar Owners Coalition, or IBOC.

“I started the idea of lobbying against (the new law),” Froehlich said after the meeting. “What they’re trying to do is an infringement on our rights — our property rights,” he said. The new law will jeopardize businesses, he said.

IBOC is supported by the Clinton Organized Bar and Restaurant Association, or COBRA, Froehlich said.

Froehlich said that the next step will be to compile bylaws and officially organize.

“This is not ‘me,’ this is ‘we,’ ” Froehlich said. “Like I told the legislators, you’ve woken up a sleeping giant.”

IBOC wants to connect with other groups to raise money to hire an attorney. The attorney then could seek an injunction that will stop the state from enforcing the new law, he said.

In addition, Froehlich said, IBOC could bring liquor license holders together to purchase health care insurance.

The new law will ban smoking in Iowa bars, restaurants and most workplaces, with the exception of casino gaming floors and the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown.

The city desk can be contacted at (563) 383-2450 or newsroom@qctimes.com.