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Smoking ban gets
cool reception from county
By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com
A proposal to ban smoking in
public places got nowhere fast during last week’s Fayette County
Commission meeting.
“We’re being compared to California and Massachusetts, which
are two places I don’t want to be compared to,” said Commissioner
Peter Pfeifer.
Last month, the Fayette County Board of Health created a resolution asking
all of the county's governments to prohibit smoking in public buildings
because of health concerns.
The commission made it clear they had no plans to vote on the issue until
far more information was gathered.
“This is a very difficult process for me. Do you tell somebody who
owns a business that they can’t allow smoking? This is still America,”
said Commissioner Greg Dunn.
Commissioner A.G. VanLandingham, who is the board’s representative
on the Board of Health, said the group was only looking to try and preserve
the health of the county’s residents. VanLandingham agreed the issue
needed further study, but said the health board did want a complete ban
on indoor smoking.
“If we’re going to do something, it ought to be whole hog,”
he said.
The commission did not indicate when a vote on the issue might occur.
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