(fair use for educational purposes only)

Residents seek outside smoking ban

New York Times

CHEVY CHASE, Md. - Smoking outdoors will soon be outlawed in a small corner of Maryland, except on private property, if the local Village Council gets its way.

In Friendship Heights, a neighborhood of about 5,000 residents in Chevy Chase, just outside Washington, the council is seeking county approval for a ban on smoking in all public spaces maintained by the village.

Under the ban, smoking on sidewalks, streets, patches of grass or any other area owned by the village would be punished with a $100 fine. Anyone discarding tobacco products in those areas also would be subject to the fine.

If Montgomery County approves the regulation, Friendship Heights will have the most farreaching ban on outdoor smoking in the nation, according to Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, a group that works to limit the exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.

Some 60 jurisdictions nationwide already ban outdoor smoking in some form, but none of the bans extend beyond enclosed public spaces - such as stadiums, beaches or parks - to the sidewalks and streets outside, the group says.

The County Council is expected to vote on the proposal Dec. 12.

The prime mover behind the ban, Dr. Alfred Muller, the mayor of Friendship Heights, said the goal was not only to deter smoking, but also to protect civil rights.

As an example, Muller, a physician, brought up the case of a resident with asthma who often had to cross the street to avoid smokers. Otherwise, Muller said, "he would get smoke in his face. He would start coughing and it might set off an asthma attack"

Opponents of the ban said there was no evidence that smoking outdoors endangered the health of others, and accused Muller and the Village Council of trampling on their freedom.

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), November 26, 2000

Answers

And the remainder of the article gleaned from the Associated Press wire:

"A whiff of smoke in someone's face is not a crime or something we need to worry about," said Cleonice Tavani, the president of the Friendship Heights Village Civic Association. "We do not need to be a police state."

-- Aunt Bee (Aunt__Bee@hotmail.com), November 26, 2000.

Police state..here we come. Maybe us Smokers can start Rallying, eh Bee? We'll stand on the corner in North Carolina and drum up some support...then..we'll take on the nation. Just need a good slogan!

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), November 26, 2000.

WELL I DONT REALLY HAVE A ANSWER ABOUT ANY OF THIS HEHE. BUT WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IS IF YOU GUYS CAN HELP ME OUT A LITTLE BIT IN MY BILL THAT I HAVE DO TO FOR SCHOOL. WHAT I WANTED TO DO WAS "BAN SMOKING IN PUBLIC BUILDINGS" I FEEL STRONG ABOUT THIS TOPIC BECAUSE MY PARENTS USED TO SMOKE, AND NOW THAT THEY DONT THEY REALIZE HOW HORRIBLE IT IS. IM A PERSON THAT LIKES TO DO THINGS INDOORS, AN EXAMPLE IS BOWLING, I GO BOWLING ALL THE TIME AND I HATE GOING THERE BECAUSE WHEN YOU COME OUT YOU SMELL LIKE A CIGERATTE BUT. ITS HORRIBLE I KNOW THAT ALL OF YOU HAVE SAT NEXT TO A PERSON THAT WAS SMOKING A CIGERATTE AND WAS RUDE ABOUT IT. JUST PLEASE LIST SOME INFORMATION WHY YOU THINK THAT SMOKING SHOULD BE BANNED IN PUBLIC AREAS. IM CUROIS TO SEE WHAT OHTER PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS TOPIC.

THANKS, SHAWN BEERS 9TH GRADE

-- Shawn (SnOwBoArDaR1080@aol.com), May 15, 2001.

Hi Shawn.

Just so you'll know in the future, writing in all caps on the Internet means you're yelling. You might want to use upper AND lower case letters next time.

In my opinion, if a person wants to smoke, that is their right. There is a great risk of cancer, but if they are willing to take that risk, it's their choice. Having said that, statistics are now showing second-hand smoke carries a high cancer risk as well. Smokers do NOT have the right to increase the cancer risk in another person. There should definitely be a separation of some kind.

What part of the country do you live in, Shawn? Do you live in a small town? In Houston, smoking is already banned in most buildings. In California, ALL restaurants are smoke free. I guess it's regulated on a State by State basis.

Good luck on your bill.

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), May 15, 2001.

Please recognize also that there is NO credible evidence that second- hand smoke ACTUALLY IS a health hazard.....

World Health Organization studies showing this fact have very deliberately NOT been publicized by those agencies who oppose smoking, but these studies cover many thousand cases, in many different countries.

Be very, very careful where you go when you (as a person who doesn't "like" something that another person decides to do) decide FOR that person what he or she "SHOULD" do.....

We have, at lest for a while yet in this country, a concept called "freedom" where I choose what I can do, how I can worship, and what I can do in private ... and in public. I have CHOSEN never to have smoked in my life. But I will NOT choose for you whether you should.

Smoking outdoors, smoking indoors, (or smoking between doors) is one of those actions that is NOT a health hazard to others. Those who claim this are liars and are lying to force THEIR beliefs on others.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), May 17, 2001.

Um...Robert...a rude fellow once blew smoke in my face. The resulting asthma attack was severe and immediate.

-- helen (h@ck.cough), May 17, 2001.

So, Robert... you're saying second-hand smoke poses no health risks? Do you have any links or articles confirming that?

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), May 19, 2001.

Will get 'em.

Rude? Absolutely.

Smell bad, taste bad? To most people.

But a "severe health risk"? Not according to the WHO research.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), May 21, 2001.

Robert, we're still waiting on those links... smoker.

-- scott (jba34@hotmail.com), August 27, 2001.

OK.

By the way, that "mayor" of Friendship Heights was recently arrested - second-hand reports on the radio included multiple serious (felony) charges involving several children ..... Don't know more details, but he did resign. Hope the kids are okay. Seems to show that interfereing, self-righteous people who dominate others may not all that "truly" helpful.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), August 27, 2001.

Okay, Robert, so you're saying that if I CHOOSE to carry a skunk around and continue to let it spray any and everyone within range, then that's my right and you wouldn't have a problem if you happened to get sprayed by it? It's unpleasant and makes you smell terrible, but I think that's healthier than having smoke blown in your face. It's fine with me if some brainless people out there decide to shorten their lifespan, but I'll be dammed if I'm going to let them shorten mine along with them. Tobacco causes many diseases and illnesses, let alone the people who develop athsma and chronic bronchitis from it (I should know, my parents smoked around me since I was a baby and now, at the age of 20, I have both). Is it really too much to ask smokers to go outside to smoke if doing so can prevent this from happening to someone else? I admit that the situation in Chevy Chase, MD, is overkill, even for my standards, but if people would just be okay with going outside and staying away from main doorways, it would make my bronchitis-and-athsma-filled day.

-- Andrea C. Knight (andreachristine@uswest.net), September 04, 2002.

Hello, I am a senior at Richmond SR. High in North Carolina and I was wondering if you can help me with some information. I am doing a research paper about smoking in public areas besides their car or their on property. My boyfriend has a heart problem so he can not be around smoke, that is the main reason why I picked this topic. If you believe that you could be a help in anyway possible, please try to help me. Thank you, Nikki

-- Shannon "Nikki" Boone (jonjonbuff2@hotmail.com), October 14, 2002.

Yes i think that smoking should be banned because its ruing peoples lifes . I have a mom who smokes, and I really don't like it but she doesnt listen to me or any one else but her self so yes i htink it should for the safety of her

-- Ashley Coats (misspriss20012001@hotmail.com), February 10, 2003.