DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Bar owner Lynn Wells originally opposed Iowa's smoking ban, but the Iowa cigarette smoker acknowledged Tuesday 'Äî a day before the ban's one-year anniversary 'Äî that she's softened her stance.

"Actually, it really hasn't hurt my business too bad, and I do enjoy going in places where you're not breathing in all that smoke," said Wells, who owns Lynn's on Broadway in Des Moines. She still questions whether the state should tell her how to run her business, but if she could allow smoking again she's not sure whether she would.

Her acceptance of the ban but uneasiness about government intrusion appears to be a common thread among some residents in a state that last year banned smoking in most workplaces, restaurants and bars.

A coalition of bar owners challenged the ban in court but later dropped their lawsuit. Others have called for lawmakers to revise the law, but Democratic leaders who hold majorities in the Legislature have been adamant that no changes will be made in the near future.

Iowa is among 22 states that prohibit smoking in bars and restaurants, though its law exempts casinos, fairgrounds and veterans organizations. Bans will take effect in four other states this year, and three states ban smoking in restaurants, but not bars.

Despite vocal complaints from some bar owners, compliance with the law has been high, said Lynn Walding, the administrator for the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division.

Walding said complaints have been filed against about 1 percent of bars and restaurants with liquor licenses. The number of licenses in Iowa has dropped, but Walding blamed that on the recession rather than the smoking ban.

"We're further along than we would have anticipated a year ago," Walding said. "It hasn't been without a certain amount of pain, but it was better than anticipated."

Since the ban took effect, the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division, which has the power to revoke licenses, has taken administrative action against 50 businesses. Of those, 18 have settled for or been given a seven-day liquor license ban and a $1,000 fine. Six bars with proposed license bans of 21 days or longer have appealed their cases to an administrator.

The smoking ban applies to more than 82,000 Iowa businesses, not only bars and restaurants. State health officials said valid complaints were filed against about 1 percent of that total.

The state has sent notices of potential violations to 1,015 businesses, with 53 percent of those issued to bars and restaurants. Retail stores and service-based businesses had the second-highest figure, making up 20 percent of complaints, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Larry Duncan, who owns a West Burlington bar called Otis Campbell's, was among three owners who filed a court challenge against the ban. The state later revoked his bar's liquor license for repeatedly violating the anti-smoking law.

Duncan has fought the state action against his license, arguing the ban is unconstitutional because it allows smoking in some businesses and not in others.

"It is not a constitutional law. It will not hold up. I don't care how you test it," Duncan said. "We are going to win this. We're the state's worst nightmare."

After lawmakers approved the ban, some bar owners claimed it would force many of them out of business, but American Cancer Society spokeswoman Peggy Huppert said those predictions proved false.

"There's no doubt that the smoke-free law has made Iowa a healthier state," Huppert said. "We're not seeing droves of businesses go out of business as a result of the law."

Huppert said her organization also has heard from a number of servers and musicians who work in bars and are grateful to work amid cleaner air.

"No smoke, no smells, no cleaning up dirty ashtrays, no picking up cigarette butts and burnt carpets," said Ceri Phillips, a bartender for The Royal Mile bar in downtown Des Moines.

Some smokers, like Samantha Bunn of Des Moines, still question the ban in bars.

"If you don't want to be in the bar around smoke, then don't go," Bunn said. "Even my nonsmoking friends share my thoughts."

But others, such as Ron Wheeler, said they see the point.

"From time to time it irritates me. Like right now, I'm sitting here in front of a coffee house. I might want to prefer to be inside smoking. But I understand that nonsmokers have their rights," said Wheeler, smoking outside Java Joe's in Des Moines. "All in all, I'm pretty comfortable with it."

Mark Olson, a manager at the Merle Hay Lanes bowling alley in Des Moines, said it's tough to say how the smoking ban has affected business because the recession has coincided with the new law.

Olson said the alley's 24 bowling lanes have been filled up and he's seen more "new faces," including more families. He expects that when the economy turns around, the smoking ban will turn out to be good for the business.

Ultimately, the ban could draw more customers "because of some people that just absolutely wouldn't have come before, that were nonsmokers," Olson said.

"I think once we get through the first 24 months of this, everybody's going to adjust to it," he said.