Brent Mallory is fed up with the Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health. First, Mallory was told his customers could no longer smoke - starting July 1 - inside his St. Albans bar.

So he did what smart businessmen do: He improvised. He started building a large open-air pavilion outside Crumbpecker's Bar on a hillside above the Coal River.

Now, he finds out that the Health Department won't allow his bartenders or waiters to serve patrons drinks or food under the 30-by-60-foot pavilion.

"It's called the clean indoor air act, but now they're trying to govern outside air, too," Mallory said last week, while hammering nails into the wood frame for the pavilion's roof. "This is getting personal here."

Eight days from today, Kanawha County's new expanded smoking ban takes effect.

Smoking will no longer be allowed in bars, gambling parlors and Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming Center.

In recent weeks, business owners have flooded the Health Department with questions about how they can comply with the ban and still accommodate smokers. Many bars are building decks or pavilions.

"People are trying to get creative," said Anita Ray, the department's environmental director. "They're coming up with all these different scenarios."

The outside smoking section must be at least 15 feet from the nearest door. A deck or pavilion must have at least one wall open, and a screen can't cover it. 

Health Department officials also have warned bar owners that patrons can't be served drinks or food in the outside smoking areas, though that stipulation isn't clearly spelled out in the anti-smoking regulations.

"If the language is not specific, it is implied," Ray said. "The reason the Board of Health decided to ban smoking in bars is because they were concerned about employees' health. We want to protect as many people as we can. It would defeat the whole purpose if we didn't keep employees in a smoke-free environment."

Mallory opened his bar three years ago.

He named it after his father's nickname - "Crumbpecker." (He's not sure how his father picked up the nickname). 

Brent Mallory is fed up with the Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health. First, Mallory was told his customers could no longer smoke - starting July 1 - inside his St. Albans bar.

So he did what smart businessmen do: He improvised. He started building a large open-air pavilion outside Crumbpecker's Bar on a hillside above the Coal River.

Now, he finds out that the Health Department won't allow his bartenders or waiters to serve patrons drinks or food under the 30-by-60-foot pavilion.

"It's called the clean indoor air act, but now they're trying to govern outside air, too," Mallory said last week, while hammering nails into the wood frame for the pavilion's roof. "This is getting personal here."

Eight days from today, Kanawha County's new expanded smoking ban takes effect.

Smoking will no longer be allowed in bars, gambling parlors and Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming Center.

In recent weeks, business owners have flooded the Health Department with questions about how they can comply with the ban and still accommodate smokers. Many bars are building decks or pavilions.

"People are trying to get creative," said Anita Ray, the department's environmental director. "They're coming up with all these different scenarios."

The outside smoking section must be at least 15 feet from the nearest door. A deck or pavilion must have at least one wall open, and a screen can't cover it. 

Health Department officials also have warned bar owners that patrons can't be served drinks or food in the outside smoking areas, though that stipulation isn't clearly spelled out in the anti-smoking regulations.

"If the language is not specific, it is implied," Ray said. "The reason the Board of Health decided to ban smoking in bars is because they were concerned about employees' health. We want to protect as many people as we can. It would defeat the whole purpose if we didn't keep employees in a smoke-free environment."

Mallory opened his bar three years ago.

He named it after his father's nickname - "Crumbpecker." (He's not sure how his father picked up the nickname). 

With help from family and friends, Mallory built the bar from the ground up - cinder block by cinder block - on the site of a former mobile home park.

Red oak trees were cut from a nearby lot and fashioned into doors, a fireplace mantle and hand-carved wood bar. Mallory estimates he spent more than $250,000 in materials alone to build the bar.

"We put a lot of heart and soul into this place," Mallory said. "Now, we're being treated like second-class citizens."

Mallory's brother, R.L., who was helping build the pavilion last week, put it more bluntly: "It's pretty a bunch of sh-," he said. "They're trying to destroy all businesses of this nature."

Brent Mallory attended a public hearing on the expanded smoking ban and spoke out against it. He believes health board members made up their minds well before the vote. 

"You've got six people making a decision to disenfranchise thousands [of smokers]," Mallory said. "There's nothing Democratic about it. They don't answer to anyone."

About 95 percent of his customers smoke, Mallory said. All except one of his employees smoke. If people don't like smoke, then they don't have to come to his bar, he said. 

"It's not fair. It's not right," Mallory said. "They're shoving this down our throats."

The Health Department expects to police about 180 bars and gambling parlors for smoking violations. The agency doesn't plan to hire additional staff. Department officials expect resistance when the smoking ban takes effect next week.

The Health Department has mailed out information about the smoking regulations, along with annual health-permit renewal applications.

Mallory plans to comply with the new rules, but he fears business will tail off once his customers find out they can't smoke inside and must fetch their own drinks if they light up outside under the pavilion.

"I've got too much invested to lose my health permit," Mallory said. "And if I lose my health permit, I lose my liquor license. This is going to hurt my business tremendously."

Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com or 348-4869.