In 11-1 vote, Somerset passes comprehensive smoking ban

Lighting up in Somerset, once a big tobacco town, will no longer be allowed in all enclosed public places. The city council voted 11-1 Monday evening to pass a smoking-ban ordinance, reports Heather Tomlinson of the Commonwealth Journal. (C-J photo)

The ordinance includes restaurants, bingo halls, gaming facilities, nursing homes and any place of employment. "It's a public health safety issue," said councilor Jerry Girdler, who lost his well-known brother Eddie two weeks ago to throat and lung cancer. "The facts back up that smoking is harmful to the people around them."

The meeting attracted a crowd of more than 50, many of whom voiced their opinions. Business owner Teresa Singleton said, "I am really shocked at the fact that the City of Somerset is considering taking away the rights of businesses to make those decisions on whether we want our place of business to be smoking or non-smoking. For you to take that on your own, I think that's a major step in the wrong direction."

Local podiatrist Pamela Jensen-Stanley disagreed. "I believe the ban is necessary," she said. "I think it's time that Somerset moves up and gets with the program." (Read more)

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Hopkinsville newspaper endorses smoking ban

The Kentucky New Era newspaper in Hopkinsville said in a recent editorial that if the state legislature doesn't enact a smoking ban, the city should.

The General Assembly "should not squander the opportunity or delay action on a law that could protect everyone against the health risks associated with exposure to secondhand smoke," the editorial said. "Legislators should not disregard the overwhelming scientific evidence of the effects of secondhand smoke. . . . Opponents of a smoking ban argue that they want to protect the rights of smokers. We believe those rights to not extend to smoking in places where non-smokers work, shop and eat." (Read more)

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Corbin City Commission enacts smoking ban

The Corbin City Commission passed an ordinance this week to ban smoking in all enclosed public areas and enclosed public buildings. The ordinance will also require smokers to remain at least 25 feet from building entrances. Areas subject to the ban include bingo parlors, restaurants except for outdoor seating, and motels and hotels, "which may not offer more than 20 percent of rooms as smoking," Dean Manning of The News Journal reported. "Once the ordinance is advertised, it will become law," Becky Kilian of The Times-Tribune reports.

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Race for city commission seat puts an end to debate over city's smoking ban, advocate and opponent agree

The Bowling Green City Commission candidate who said he wanted to rewrite the city's smoking ban ran last in the five-way race for an unexpired term on the commission Tuesday, and he and a commissioner in the 3-2 majority that enacted the ban said the result is an indicator of public opinion on the issue.

Candidate Bill Goodwin got only 682 votes, or 8.6 percent of the total. "Commissioner Brian 'Slim' Nash said he believes voters sent a message in Tuesday’s election: Citizens are satisfied with the city’s smoking ban," Andrew Robinson of the Daily News reports. "Goodwin said he spoke to a few citizens who told him the result is a clear sign there’s little support for revisiting the ordinance."

“The people spoke or the people didn’t show up,” Goodwin told the  newspaper. “It’s got to be an issue that’s dead right now. That’s all there is to it.” (Read more)

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Light up at school? Face a $150 fine in Jessamine County

If students at the two Jessamine County high schools are found with cigarettes or any kind of tobacco product while on campus, they can face a fine up to $150.

East Jessamine High started issuing tickets a few years ago, and West Jessamine joined the effort last month, reports Jim Warren of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Since it was implemented, the number of students caught with the contraband items has gone down at East, with 120 incidents in 2009-09 and 149 in 2009-10. "Last year, we only had 39," Principal Janet Granada said. "Once the word spreads that there's a fine involved, it seems to lessen smoking greatly."

The idea came from Billy King, a school resource officer at East Jessamine High. "We recognized we had a problem with minors using tobacco," he said. "I felt that it would prevent them from bringing tobacco to school if they knew they could get a fine. But I also knew that they probably didn't think it would happen. Police generally don't cite juveniles for tobacco possession, even though the law has been on the books forever."

King posted signs around the school warning students of the possibility of a fine. A few weeks later, he started handing out tickets. "The word got around pretty quickly," he said. School resource officers write up the citations, which are referred to juvenile court. Fines are paid to the court, so the schools have no financial incentive to issue the citations.

Though many school districts in Kentucky have adopted tobacco-free policies on their campuses, Lisa Gross, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Education said this is the first she's heard of students being given a fine. (Read more)

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Bullitt County health board will appeal judge's ruling against smoking ban, with financial help from Clark County

The Bullitt County Board of Health will appeal a local judge's ruling that it lacks the authority to impose a smoking ban, and it will get some help from the board in Clark County, one of four where bans have been enacted by health boards instead of county fiscal courts.

The $5,000 will come not from tax dollars, but from "money received from the University of Kentucky for consulting services provided by Health Department Director Scott Lockard," Rachel Parsons of The Winchester Sun reports. UK "contracted with the Clark County Health Department so Lockard could work with the university and other local public health directors on smoke-free issues."

If the Bullitt County ruling is upheld, the decision could invalidate regulations enacted by health departments in Clark, Madison, Woodford and Hopkins counties. At the Court of Appeals, “If they uphold the lower court’s ruling, then we will have an injunction against our ruling until it goes to the Supreme Court, so we will suspend the enforcement of it until we get a final determination,” Lockard said. “We fully anticipate that the ruling will be in favor of the boards of health, because this is just a very narrow interpretation.” (Read more)

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Bullitt judge strikes down health board's smoking ban; could lead to decision with statewide impact, if appealed

A Bullitt County judge has extinguished a countywide smoking ban that was supposed to go into effect Monday, saying the county health board overstepped its authority. The ruling could lead to a decision with statewide impact, determining whether county health boards have such power; a judge in another county approved a ban there and the ruling was not appealed.

Circuit Judge Rodney Burress called the ban void and unlawful, Charlie White of The Courier-Journal reports. "This court does not believe that type of 'Big Brother' conduct was anticipated by the Kentucky state legislature in its grant of power and authority to boards of health," Burress wrote.

"It's a win for business and a win for choice in Bullitt County," said Harlen Compton, one of the founders of Bullitt County Choice, a group of area business owners and residents.

The ban would have prohibited smoking in bars, restaurants and all public places. But even before the Bullitt County Board of Health passed the ban, the county's eight cities and its Fiscal Court sued the board, White reports.

Swannie Jett, the county's health director, said health officials were "very disappointed" and will decide in the coming weeks if they will appeal the decision.

Burress wrote that Bullitt County residents "are entitled to be governed by their elected representatives and should not be subjected to additional laws enacted by an administrative agency without an express grant of authority."

The health board passed the ban under Kentucky Revised Statute 212.230, which says health boards "shall" adopt, implement and enforce regulations necessary to protect public health. Opponents said such a far-reaching regulation as a smoking ban can only be legally passed by city councils or fiscal courts, White reports.

However, the Bullitt County board is not the first in Kentucky to enact such a ban. Health boards in Woodford, Hopkins, Madison and Clark counties have done likewise. The move in Hopkins County did result in a legal battle, but the judge sided with the health department. (Read more)

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Smoke-free campuses are a growing trend; UK volunteers taking action to get compliance with ban enacted nearly two years ago

This summer, Tobacco-free Take Action! volunteers at the University of Kentucky have been circling campus, asking students to put out their cigarettes while on school property. UK is one of about 530 U.S. colleges that have enacted smoke-free policies. (Photo from University of Michigan)

Most of the bans are considered comprehensive, with smoking prohibited on all grounds, including athletic facilities, restaurants and parking lots, reports CNN's Stephanie Steinberg. That is the case at UK, which enacted its ban in November 2009. Then, just 300 college campuses had similar bans in effect. Within the past year, 120 campuses were added to the smoke-free list nationwide. Today, in addition to UK, Bellarmine University, Kentucky Wesleyan College, Morehead State University, Pikeville College, Spalding University, St. Catharine College, Union College and University of Louisville are smoke-free, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports about 46 million Americans age 18 and older smoke cigarettes. A 2010 American College Health Association report found 4.4. percent of the more than 30,000 students surveyed had smoked every day in the past 30 days. In Kentucky, about 26 percent of adult Kentuckians smoke.

Since UK enacted its ban in 2009, a growing number of people have gotten help to quit smoking at the university. "After the policy's first year, enrollment rose to 146 people," up from 33 the year before, Steinberg reports. "The number of nicotine replacement coupons redeemed by students and faculty also increased from 124 to 470 in the same period."

One of the keys to changing mindsets is to avoid being too heavy-handed, Steinberg reports. "We certainly don't have smoking police," said Ellen Hahn, director of UK's Tobacco Policy Research Program. Instead student volunteers gently remind others of the policy while offering smoking cessation information.

Ty Patterson, former vice president of student affairs at Ozarks Technical Community College in Missouri, predicts that in 10 years almost all college campuses in the country will be smoke-free. "We've gone from pushing smoking out of the building . . . to now trying to push smoking totally off campus," said Laura Talbott Forbes, chairwoman of the 2010 American College Health Association's Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Coalition. (Read more)

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Retiring Boyle County health director has played important roles in the community; many of his counterparts do likewise

The man behind Danville's smoke-free ordinance is stepping down from his position as Boyle County's public health director. "I've got a 100-acre farm and I plan to pursue those interests and do some extensive traveling," Roger Trent told The Advocate-Messenger's Mandy Simpson. (Advocate-Messenger photo)

Trent has been at the helm of the health department for 12 years. During his tenure, he "successfully lobbied the Danville City Commission to pass an ordinance banning smoking in all enclosed public places of employment," Simpson reports. He also started smoking cessation classes at the health department, collected food for families in need, and headed efforts during the 2009 ice storm. "He will certainly be missed, and I hope we can find somebody equivalent," said David C. Liebschutz, chairman of the Boyle County Board of Health.

Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and publisher of Kentucky Health News, commented on Trent's impact on his community: "County health directors rarely get noticed except when they create controversy or retire," he said. "They play, or should play, a more important role in the community than local news media might suggest." (Read more)

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E-cig, hookah ban takes effect Monday in Madison County

Electronic cigarettes and water pipes known as hookahs will be banned in enclosed public places in Madison County beginning Monday under an amendment to the county's existing smoking ban.

The ban, which has been in effect since 2007, was amended in April by the Madison County Board of Health. In addition to adding the e-cig and hookah regulations, the amendment also prohibits smoking in retail tobacco stores, reports the Lexington Herald-Leader's Greg Kocher.

Madison County is not the first jurisdiction to ban e-cigs and hookahs. Bardstown and Glasgow prohibit the use of e-cigarettes in their smoking bans. The Bullitt County Board of Health also approved a ban, which takes effects in September, that prohibits them. Effective July 1, a campus-wide tobacco-free policy that includes e-cigarettes and hookahs takes effect at St. Catharine College in Washington County. Lexington's smoking ban does not include e-cigarettes. (Read more)

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Bowling Green American Legion post tests smoking ban, is fined

An American Legion post in Bowling Green has been fined $25 for violating the city's no-smoking ordinance. The Bowling Green Code Enforcement Board decided unanimously Tuesday to uphold the citation that Post 23 received April 28 after two plainclothed police officers went into the facility during bingo night and found people smoking inside, Justin Story of the Bowling Green Daily News reports.

Officers Tammy Britt and Rebecca Robins testified they bought two sheets of bingo cards and a soda at the facility. They said they were not asked at any point if they were members of the Post. The city's smoking ordinance "defines private organizations as establishments that are exempt from federal income taxes, are not profit-oriented, maintain a selective membership that operates the organization and does not sell food, drinks, entertainment or lodging to anyone who is not a member or a member's guest," Story reports.

More members started to smoke after Jim Manley, the Post's chief finance officer, told the crowd they were free to do so. "He said that if a citation were issued it would be to (the post) and not the individual, and after that more people started smoking," Britt said. The citation indicates the facility violated three provisions of the ordinance: allowing smoking in a building/enclosed area; failure to remove ashtrays; and failure of owner or person in control to ensure compliance.

Malcolm Cherry, an officer of Post 23, "said that he wanted it to be cited by allowing smoking during charitable gaming on April 28 in an effort to prove it was exempt," Story reports. "Our whole intention was for the officers to be there and have the citation issue to us personally," Cherry said. City Attorney Gene Harmon argued the post does not meet all the criteria to be considered a private club, in part because it sells bingo cards and refreshments during bingo night. The board agreed. (Read more)

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