LANSING (AP) -- Michigan bar owners upset with the effect the state's new smoking ban is having on their cash registers are planning a New Year's Eve protest designed to send state lawmakers a message: Butt out.
Steve Mace, spokesman for the protest organized by Bloomfield Hills-based Protect Private Property Rights in Michigan, tells the Lansing State Journal that organizers are not saying which bars will participate.
Mace says 60 percent of the businesses owners who have contacted indicate that since the ban took effect May 1 "they're barely able to survive."
The ban prohibits smoking in workplaces, public buildings, bars and restaurants. Businesses found in violation face fines up to $500.
Mace said protesters won't prevent people from lighting up after 9 p.m. EST Friday.
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