By Jay Warren
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: April 2, 2008

Virginia’s leaders can’t seem to agree on a smoking ban for Virginia, but many of its restaurants can.

Two more area restaurants have decided to go partially smoke free.

The owners of Metro in downtown Roanoke say the dining room is now smoke-free and the bar and lounge areas are smoke free until 10pm. They tell me if the transition goes smoothly and doesn’t hurt business they’ll make Metro smoke free all of the time.

Meanwhile, the owner of the Coffee Pot on Brambleton is making his large dining room smoke free during lunch and on Friday and Saturday nights. Smoking will still be allowed in the smaller dining room, bar, and outdoor dining area.

For the last two legislative sessions, our leaders have debated and ultimately defeated proposed smoking bans. After last year’s defeat, House Majority Leader and Salem Delegate Morgan Griffith said Virginia would eventually see a statewide smoking ban, but that it might take two to four years to happen. At the time and again this year after the ban failed Griffith told me he expected restaurants to lead the way. He said if more and more restaurants take it upon themselves to go smoke free, there could be no need for a law banning smoking in restaurants and bars.

Maybe Griffith is right. Many of the new restaurants in downtown Roanoke opened with a no-smoking policy. Now, it appears other established businesses are following suit.