In its first week as the official enforcement agency for a ban on smoking in bars, the Stanislaus County Environmental Services Department received no complaints and issued no citations.

Environmental health officers believe they'll see some pockets of resistance to the year-old ban when they start visiting bars and taverns. The county agency has been designated to enforce the law in the county and all cities except Hughson and Ceres.

"In November and December, we surveyed 50 stand-alone bars throughout the county and 78 percent, or 39 of them, were not in compliance," said Heather Duvall, program coordinator.

One bar county officials probably won't hear complaints about is The Junction in Empire.

When bar manager Terry McDaniel opened The Junction at 10 a.m. Monday, she put the ashtrays away and told customers they weren't allowed to smoke.

She got a lot of grief from her customers.

About two dozen of them picketed the bar Monday evening and then went home. She joined them briefly on the picket line, because there was no one inside for her to serve.

McDaniel ended up closing at 8:30 p.m. Monday because she had no customers and closed by 9 o'clock each night through the week because there were no patrons. McDaniel said she has already laid off one bartender.

There were only five people in the bar at about 6 p.m. Friday, and three of those were McDaniel's relatives.

McDaniel said she is worried about whether the business will survive, but will still enforce the ban.

"We're sticking by it because that's the law," McDaniel said.

Reprinted by permission of Modesto Bee.