AREA BARS ADJUST TO SMOKING BAN; PATRONS' OPINIONS RANGE FROM FUMING TO FATALISTIC.

Byline: Romy Jacobson Daily News Staff Writer

Schooners in Lancaster still looked the same - sawdust on the floor, customers laughing and drinking at the bar, couples two-stepping to country music.

What was missing was the thick cloud of cigarette smoke.

``It's against our constitutional rights,'' said Jerry Obbarts of Littlerock as he puffed a cigarette out on the covered patio - now Schooner's designated smoking area. ``You can't do nothing no more. Restaurants I can see (as being no-smoking areas). Bars I cannot.''

Obbarts was talking about a no-smoking law that took effect Jan. 1, the second phase of California's Smoke-free Workplace Act, which bans smoking in bars and all other indoor workplaces.

The bill - sponsored by Assemblyman Terry Friedman, D-Sherman Oaks, and signed in 1994 by Gov. Pete Wilson - makes California the first state to ban smoking in bars and casinos.

Employers who violate the law and permit smoking can be fined $100 for the first offense, $200 for a second violation in a year and $500 for each subsequent violation.

After a third violation in a year, the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration can pursue penalties of up to $7,000 per violation.

So far, one complaint has come in from Lancaster and one from Palmdale about people smoking in bars, said Ruth Negron, policy specialist for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Tobacco Control Policy and Program.

Many bar owners say they've seen a decline in business, which they attribute to the ban, although others say they have seen an actual increase in nonsmoking customers.

And nonsmokers are certainly pleased to have the bars free of clouds of smoke.

``I'm glad that there's no smoke allowed so I don't get a headache anymore,'' said Schooners' customer Virginia Chamberlain. ``All my friends smoke, so I feel bad for them. Everybody has their own vice.''

``I won't smoke again,'' said Chamberlain's friend, Joe Morales, who quit smoking a little more than a week ago. ``It was a detriment to my health. This smoking ban accentuates the positive. I kind of like it because I go home at night and my clothes don't stink.''

At Snooky's, 3 miles away, customers are still lighting up inside the bar.

For Chico resident Phyllis Scott, having an occasional cigarette and a drink is an escape - one of the only ones for the middle-aged woman who is raising five children on her own.

``I'm not a heavy smoker, but I do enjoy it,'' said Scott, who came to the Antelope Valley for her mother's funeral. ``Smokers have rights too. I'd like to quit smoking for me - not because someone wants me to.''

Snooky's owner John Tarry said he has posted signs alerting customers to the no-smoking ban but isn't actively enforcing it.

``I'm not going to throw my customers out,'' said Tarry, 58. ``I'm too old to fight young kids and guys that weigh 280 pounds, and I can't afford to throw my customers out.''

Smoking a cigarette at a corner table, Chris Hammet says he believes anything that goes into law in this country should be voted on by the citizenry.

``I hope somebody comes up and says something to me,'' said Hammet, who says he fought in Vietnam for people's right to vote. ``We've lost touch with what the American way is all about.''

Across the valley in Palmdale, Louisiana Hots was packed with patrons for karaoke night. A table, chairs and ashtrays were set outside the entrance. An empty pack of Camels lay on a brick planter.

Yul Gevargis, owner of Louisiana Hots, sees the new ban on smoking as a way to generate more business. He believes that people who would avoid bars because of second-hand smoke will start going out more often.

``I see a big increase in clientele,'' said Gevargis. ``It's very, very fresh in there. It's nice and clean and my performers are happy. They can sing a lot easier.''

``I'm standing 100 percent behind it,'' c`ontinued Gevargis, who admitted he enjoys a good cigar, a pipe and sometimes even cigarettes.

Outside the front door, Ann Lynn was wearing a brown leather jacket and smoking a cigarette. Though she would prefer to be inside smoking, she sympathizes with bar employees.

``If I didn't smoke and I was a waitress . . . I see their point of view,'' said Lynn, who was next to her friend, Angela Kelso, a manager at J-Bones/Dos Amigos, a bar down the street from Louisiana Hots in Palmdale.

``Our regular customers complain, but they smoke outside,'' said Kelso, seated in a chair, bundled up in faux fur and smoking a cigarette. ``We've picked up more customers since we've become a nonsmoking bar - and we smoke less.''

``I think it's going to be OK.''