The approaching fall semester will find Ames restaurant and bar owners in a period of adjustment.

The Ames smoke-free ordinance, effective Wednesday, will ban smoking from public bars, hotels and restaurants from 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Campustown business owners and students have mixed reactions to the ordinance.

People’s Bar and Grill owner Tom Zmolek said he is not happy with the ordinance and how it will affect his business. Zmolek said about 50 percent of his customers are smokers.

“It’s going to be difficult to enforce for all of the out-of-town visitors who come for school events and concerts,” Zmolek said. “We’ll have an adjustment period where people won’t know about it, won’t like it and will resist it.”

People should have the freedom of choice and not have some ordinance regulate a legal act, he said.

“We shouldn’t have smokers conform to [non-smoker] standards,” Zmolek said.

Ross Helgevold, junior in electrical engineering, said he felt the ordinance invaded people’s rights, too.

“I don’t think the city of Ames has the right to interfere with a specific demograph that a specific business tries to target,” he said.

Jeremy Schulz, junior in psychology, said he is not affected by the ordinance because he goes to bars after 8:30 p.m.

“I’ll still continue to go to the bars and smoke outside if I have to,” he said.

Santa Fe Expresso owner Dwight Rivera said the smoking ordinance will not affect his business.

“Our busy times are from 9 p.m. to midnight, so it’s not really going to change much,” he said. “Not a lot of our customers smoke.”

The Ames Tobacco Task Force has been planning strategic ways to inform students of this change, Ames Tobacco Task Force co-chair George Belitsos said.

Through a joint effort of the Ames Tobacco Task Force and the Student Wellness Center, students will be informed through fliers posted around campus and in residence halls, table tents in the Memorial Union and ads on KURE and in the Iowa State Daily.

At WelcomeFest, a smoke-free ordinance booth will inform students of the rules and penalties, Belitsos said.

“We were considering a bulk mailing to all students, but the cost was too much,” he said.

Belitsos said he believes the majority of students will cooperate with the 14-hour smoking ban.

Vicky Larsen, junior in graphic design, said she is pleased with the ban.

“As a non-smoker, I appreciate the new ordinance and the cleaner air that will come with it,” she said.