Smoking ordinance prompts Parsons bar to go private

? With smoking now banned in Parsons bars, restaurants and other public places from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., the manager of Sweet Willies has decided to transform the bar into a private club.

Art Halloway said business at Sweet Willies has fallen dramatically since a city ordinance restricting smoking took effect Nov. 1. Halloway disagrees with proponents of the ban who said a few weeks are insufficient to determine if a business has been hurt.

“When you run numbers daily, you can tell,” he said.

Sweet Willies’ daytime business has dropped to just two or three people at a time, Halloway said, meaning employees sometimes outnumber customers.

“It was no hard decision. We knew where we had to go because the way they worded it, there was no backing off so we either had to go private club or put a ‘for sale’ sign up,” he said.

Complaints from bar and restaurant owners have led the City Commission to revisit the issue. A discussion on revising the ordinance to make it less restrictive is scheduled for Dec. 4.