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BY EMILY BATTLE

Choking on someone else's cigarette smoke while dining out in Virginia should become a thing of the past as of Tuesday.

That's when a state law banning smoking in restaurants takes effect.

The General Assembly passed the law last winter. It bans smoking in all restaurants, unless they have a separately ventilated smoking section that is structurally separate from the rest of the restaurant.

The exceptions are private clubs, mobile outdoor food carts, outdoor dining areas that are not enclosed and restaurants on the premises of cigarette factories.

Statewide, 72 percent of all full-service and fast-food restaurants are already nonsmoking, according to statistics from the Virginia Department of Health.

In most localities in the Fredericksburg area, according to state statistics, between 63 percent and 82 percent of restaurants completely ban smoking.

Louisa County is the exception. According to state statistics, only 29 percent of its restaurants are smoke-free.

However, the numbers are changing rapidly as the start of the ban approaches.

Lisa Hill, environmental health supervisor with the Rappahannock Area Health District, has been contacting restaurants that still allow smoking over the past few months.

Hill said a newsletter she sent in late October to restaurants that needed to come into compliance with the new law went to about 150 establishments. The district includes Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, Stafford, Caroline and King George counties.

In the past month alone, the number has shrunk to closer to 100.

AMF Fredericksburg Lanes bowling alley is one of the establishments that has been knocked off the list as Tuesday approaches.

It's listed on the state Web site as allowing smoking anywhere on the premises, but a manager said the facility banned smoking completely as of Sept. 1, and he hasn't heard many complaints.

Bowling alleys and other recreation-related businesses that sell food count as restaurants under the law, and if they want to continue to allow smoking, they must either cut out all food and beverage service or build a walled-off smoking area.

Hill said the health district plans to contact all affected restaurants by phone by the end of December to determine whether they have put into place an acceptable plan to comply with the law.

Within the first three months the law is in effect, she said, the district plans to send an inspector to each restaurant.

Hill also said customer complaints will play a big role in regulation.

"If people are breaking the law, then customers are going to be complaining to us," she said.

Officials will speak with restaurant owners about any violations, and if they aren't fixed, they'll be turned over to local police for enforcement.

The penalty for breaking the law is a $25 fine, which can be levied against both restaurant owners and individuals who light up in nonsmoking sections.

In Fredericksburg, the Battlefield Restaurant on Lafayette Boulevard is one of only six city restaurants that the state lists as allowing smoking throughout the premises.

Owner Cheryl Thompson said her staff have posted signs alerting customers that no smoking will be allowed as of Dec. 1.

Thompson didn't think the change would be too jolting, though. She said she has only about 10 regular customers who are smokers.

Other restaurants are still working through the details of how the ban will affect them.

At Sammy T's on Caroline Street, manager Jimmy Crisp said the nonsmoking section is ventilated separately from the main restaurant, which allows smoking, but he's still examining whether those two sections would need to switch smoking designations to comply with the law.

Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com