Smoking is what they do in the movies, not in the theater or around it.

Beginning Saturday, Brenden Theatres employees and patrons will ask smokers who light up within 25 feet of the entrance to put out their cigarettes or leave.

The policy will be effective only with the help of theatergoers, however, said Mark Loeser, an official with the county's tobacco education program.

"It's a self-enforced policy, and there's no penalty," Loeser said. "We hope that people will read the signs and follow directions."

The signs, which will be posted outside the downtown Modesto theater, will make it easier for people bothered by smoke to ask smokers to stop, Loeser said.

"They can just point to the signs," he said.

It will be the first smoke-free theater entrance policy in California, Loeser said. "It's part of a statewide campaign to raise awareness of secondhand smoke."

The campaign is focused on eventually creating no-smoking entrances at a variety of places, from university buildings to fairgrounds, Loeser said. California State University's board of trustees are expected to adopt a policy in September that will ban smoking within 20 feet of campus buildings.

Loeser hopes the trend at Brenden will continue with theater buildings around the state.

Other businesses in downtown Modesto's Tenth Street Plaza already prohibit smoking on patios and at entrances. For example, patrons cannot smoke on the patio at Fuzio Universal Pasta restaurant.

"Smoking is offensive to some people, and we don't want to offend anyone," owner Allen Beebe said. "I don't ask to control what people do beyond my property."

Brenden public relations director Jerry Olivarez said the policy will benefit nonsmoking theatergoers and employees.

"For the most part, smokers are conscientious and stand away from the entrance," he said.

Loeser disagreed. "It's like going through a smoke bomb."

Leaning on a pillar about 25 feet from the Brenden entrance, 25-year-old Christina Silva of Modesto took a last drag on her cigarette before going to see "Minority Report."

Silva said she understands why Brenden does not want smokers around the entrance.

"There are more nonsmokers than smokers, so they're catering to the bigger audience, trying to make them feel most welcome," she said.

Only 15 percent of Californians smoke, Loeser said. And 60 percent of those surveyed by the California Department of Health Services in 2001 liked the idea of having smoke-free entrances to buildings.

Theatergoers will be told of the policy from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, as they line up for the new Austin Powers movie, "Goldmember."

Spanish- and English-speaking county tobacco education staff will hand out information about secondhand smoking and kicking the habit.

To promote the policy, county staff will give out more than 300 tickets to "Goldmember" and other prizes from Jamba Juice, Slices and Starbucks -- all businesses in Tenth Street Plaza.

For the next three years, the theater will run advertisements before films asking people to not smoke near the theater. About 1.5 million people buy movie tickets at Brenden Theatres in Modesto every year, which means a lot of people will see the advertisements, Loeser said.

The event and advertisements will be paid for with settlement money California received after a 1998 nationwide lawsuit against tobacco companies.

Bee staff writer Eve Hightower can be reached by calling 578-2318 or at ehightower@modbee.com.

Reprinted by permission of Modesto Bee.