Document text
Plan has smokers fired up Photo by Steve Johnson James Cunningham enjoys a cigarette with his coffee at a Central Point restaurant Monday. A proposal would ban smoking in most public places in Central Point. Puts most Central Point public spaces off limits By BILL KETTLER CENTRAL POINT -- Puffers were fuming Monday over a city council proposal that would ban smoking in nearly all public places. "It's just somebody deciding they want to make some more rules," said James Cunningham as he lingered over coffee and a cigarette at the Purple Parrot on East Pine Street. "It's politically correct, I guess." The City Council has drafted an ordinance that would prohibit smoking in "all enclosed public places," including restaurants, retail stores, laundries, banks, bowling lanes and workplaces. Smoking would be allowed in bars, retail tobacco stores, private residences and rented rooms designated for smoking. If the council approves the proposal at its Jan. 13 meeting, Central Point would have one of the toughest anti-smoking ordinances in Oregon. Only the city of Corvallis, Benton County and Multnomah County have passed similar restrictions on smokers, said Brady Webb of Jackson County's tobacco prevention and education program. Mayor Bill Walton said taking smoking out of public places would make it less socially acceptable and ultimately dissuade some people from smoking. Meeting Jan. 13 The Central Point City Council will meet at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 13, at Crater High School in the student center to hear public opinion on a proposal to ban smoking in most public places. The proposed ordinance also sets fines for stores that sell tobacco to minors. A draft of the proposed city ordinance can be read on the city's Web site: www.ci.central-point.or.us "When the community says we don't think this is acceptable, it influences attitudes," said Walton, who lost both his parents to smoking-related diseases. Walton's reasoning didn't fly at the Purple Parrot, which sells food, beer, cigarettes, coffee and lottery tickets. Cashier Colleen Reinhart said many people smoke while they play the establishment's video poker machines. "It would be a bad thing if our customers couldn't smoke," said Reinhart. "We might go out of business." "It should be up to the establishment itself to make those rules," said Bill Hastings, as he nursed a cigarette over a video poker machine. "The government should stay out of it." Some smokers said the proposal doesn't bother them. "They ought to just get rid of (smoking) altogether in public places," said Bill Quigley of Central Point. Walton said the Central Point ordinance is modeled after a 1998 California law that bans smoking in all public places, including bars. He said Central Point's law excluded bars to give smokers a place to congregate. The Central Point proposal would set standards far tougher than state laws that regulate smoking in public places. Webb, of Jackson County's tobacco education program, said Oregon's Clean Indoor Air Act requires restaurants to designate non-smoking areas if they provide seating for more than 30 people. Smaller restaurants are not required to provide non-smoking areas. Oregon law does not address smoking in workplaces. Webb said many employers ask their workers not to smoke on the job as a courtesy to nonsmokers. Central Point's proposal also would impose stiff fines on stores that sell tobacco to minors. All stores that sell tobacco would be required to buy a $10 license. First-time violators would be fined $200. The fine for a second violation would be $350 and a 45-day license suspension. A third violation would bring a $500 fine and a two-year license suspension. City councilman Bill Stults said the proposal could prevent some young people from taking up the tobacco habit -- and might make quitting easier for some longtime smokers. "When people aren't allowed to smoke in the workplace, some actually quit," he said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA