No smoking North Myrtle Beach no problem for some

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH -- Sam Safa of Myrtle Beach says he feels good about North Myrtle Beach’s new smoking ordinance as he holds open the door of King’s at the Beach on the corner of Main Street and Ocean Boulevard and smokes a cigarette.

“I’m trying to quit,” he says outside the business where he works. “I’ve tried everything. I hung upside down from a boat. I jumped off a building. Nothing worked.”

But he’s hoping the ordinance will because it will lodge in his mind as yet another reminder that he doesn’t want to smoke. Quitting, he said, is a mental thing.

For others in North Myrtle Beach, where a smoking ban took effect Wednesday, quitting is a legal thing.

Milford Powell, co-owner of the Pirate’s Cove Bar and Grill on Main Street, said he’s concerned that he may lose some of his younger customers because of the new ordinance that outlaws smoking in bars, restaurants, businesses and other places. He had collected the ashtrays his smoking customers used Tuesday night and stored them in a back room before he opened Wednesday morning.

Return to top