Smoking ban up for vote in Glasgow

Freddie Norris said he doesn’t know if there is enough support for it to pass, but on Monday the Glasgow city councilman will present an ordinance to limit smoking in the city. Norris said it doesn’t completely outlaw smoking in the city. “You can still smoke outside; in your cars and in your homes, but this would eliminate it in public buildings and businesses,” he said. The push comes just a few weeks after the city of Danville joined the growing list of Kentucky cities enacting such a ban. “I think there are 16 towns in Kentucky now that are smoke free,” Norris said. While such an effort failed in Bowling Green in 2007, health officials here continue to push the need. There have been numerous restaurants that voluntarily went smoke free, most of which are listed on the Barren River District Health Department’s Web site. A recent full-page advertisement in the Daily News from the Smoke Free Communities Coalition says that 20,000 American workers die each year from toxins, with the Surgeon General identifying secondhand smoke as the cause of most of them. “Our goals include preventing youth initiation, promoting tobacco cessation programs, eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke ... and building capacity for the implementation of tobacco control initiatives,” the advertisement said. The organization has members in Warren, Simpson, Hart, Metcalfe, Barren, Butler, Logan and Edmonson counties. It says that OSHA is not doing its job because it doesn’t protect workers from secondhand smoke. It has outlined information about what it says is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s failure to act on a Web site - www.makeoshadoitsjob.org. Coalition member and Bowling Green pediatrician Rick Voakes said the group won’t bring the issue up in Bowling Green this year. “But we are going to try hard to get candidates elected who are supportive,” Voakes said. So far, they are leaning toward supporting newcomer commission candidate Robin Baldwin and current Commissioner Brian “Slim” Nash, he said. “We are getting ready to talk to the others,” he said. As far as mayoral candidates go, Voakes said “Elaine Walker has been very supportive, so she will probably be our candidate.” Mayoral candidate Jerry Wells has given some limited support “but he is not in favor of a full ban,” Voakes said. At a candidates’ forum, Wells said that non-smokers’ rights do need protection. Commissioner and mayoral candidate Brian Strow said at a recent forum that he is against a ban. Late last month, Bowling Green issued an administrative decision that smoking would be banned in most city parks. “Anything that prohibits harming others with smoke is OK with us,” Voakes said. Glasgow’s proposed ordinance cites several health studies as reasons for the ban. If approved, it would prohibit smoking in public places and places of employment. The exceptions are outdoor places of employment, tobacco retail stores and designated smoking rooms at hotels. Norris said he’s not sure how much support it has. “A month or two ago I would say it had no chance, but now after people have had time to think about it, I’m not sure,” he said. “Back then eight of the 12 wouldn’t have gotten on board,” he said. “Now some may agree with some parts of it or all of it.” As a pharmacist for years who has seen the ill effects of smoking - both firsthand and secondhand - and an advocate for children, Norris said he decided to sponsor the legislation when local surgeon Melissa Walton-Shirley started public meetings about the need for an ordinance. Growing up with a chain smoker as a father, Norris said he knows the impact smoking can have on children. Long-time councilman William Webb said the issue has been talked about for several months, and at a council meeting last month the council passed a resolution asking businesses to voluntarily put up signs to go smoke free. As for whether Webb will support Norris’ proposal, he wouldn’t say. Norris said he feels that a neighborhood survey on his street is likely representative of the city’s general population. Fifteen residents favored it and three did not. Norris said he’s only received one negative phone call and very few e-mails against it. If approved after two readings, Glasgow’s ordinance would be enforced by the city’s code enforcement officer, city police and fire departments, Barren County Health Department (subject to receiving enforcement responsibilities) and any other city officials designated by the mayor. Any person smoking where they are not supposed to is subject to a $50 fine. A person who owns or operates a business that fails to comply with the ordinance would be subject to $50 fine for the first violation; $100 for the second violation within a year; and $250 to the third violation. — For more information, go to barrenriver health.org or www.makeoshadoitsjob.org.
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