Smoking Ban

The Wilmore City Council discussed Monday how it would vote when it came time to review the proposed smoking ban for Jessamine County in a couple of weeks. The topic has been up for debate in the Jessamine County Fiscal Court, Nicholasville City Commission and Wilmore City Council for more than a year. All three governmental bodies within the county will meet Feb. 22 to discuss the proposal. The plan the governments are looking at initially came from patterns used in Danville and Ashland.

It’s time to clear the air. The possibility that Jessamine County may enact a smoking ban has clouded some thinking, and not with cigarette smoke. “We have no rights whatsoever anymore,” groused Rick Turner in a WKYT interview aired Monday night. “I just think we ought to have some rights and some choices. You either do that or you move to a communist nation where you don’t have any choices.” Reality check. Even if there is an ordinance banning smoking in public places, Mr. Turner will still have choices.

The Clark County Board of Health will support the Bullitt County Board of Health as it appeals a Bullitt Circuit Court decision ruling a county-wide indoor smoking ban unconstitutional. Local board members voted to provide the Bullitt board with $5,000 from money received from the University of Kentucky for consulting services provided by Health Department Director Scott Lockard. “No Clark County tax dollars will be used, but it's funding that's come from other sources,” Lockard said.

An individual-rights issue collided with the issue of public health during the Nicholasville City Commission workshop Monday afternoon. The topic: a proposed smoke-free ordinance Nearly two dozen people voiced their thoughts to the city commission, and the opinions between the two sides were as different as apples and oranges. “Our smoking customers will go to one of the other businesses (that have an outdoor area in which to smoke),” Lynn Congleton, owner of Shakey Ground, a bar on Maple Street, told the commission.

The topic of a smoke-free ordinance in Jessamine County seems to be a taboo subject. Oh, every now and then there will be a brief interest in discussing it, but it seems serious talks continually keep getting put off. In a June 16, 2010, article in this newspaper, it was reported that the smoking debate could likely take a back seat until after the November 2010 general election. In a Nov. 9, 2010, article in The Journal, the three heads of our local governments — Jessamine County Judge-Executive Neal Cassity, Nicholasville Mayor Russ Meyer and Wilmore Mayor Harold Rainwater — said the subject would be discussed at the next joint governmental meeting.

Dear Editor, As an avid breather in Boyle County, I prefer to take in only the freshest air possible. I relish its simple tang of earth gases, horse manure and wildflowers. Unfortunately, breathing can be hindered by the common pollution that a few inconsiderate smokers create. As local citizens and officials examine the proposed public smoking ban, all should remember that smoking kills. Cigarette smoke is not only harmful to the smoker, but also affects others secondhand.

Dear Editor, I am originally from Danville, and I have always felt that the area is a very nosy and political area. The smoking ban beats all. How can you tell a person that they cannot smoke outside in a public area? It offends me and many others to see alcohol being consumed in front of us and our children in restaurants, but the city officials have no problem with that because that would infringe their rights as they are probably drinkers themselves socially. Danville is a city of firsts, all right.

There's another important vote to tally in Clark County, but this one won't take place until Thursday. Members of the Clark County Board of Health will consider the second reading of a local indoor smoking ban that, if approved, could be enforced as soon as Jan. 1, 2009. Thursday's meeting is open to the public, but it will be up to Chairman Brian Andreas to decide whether or not to allow public comments at the meeting. Clark County's regulation bans smoking in "all enclosed public places within Clark County," including businesses, restaurants, bars, galleries, libraries and museums.

The director of the Boyle County Health Department plans to propose a non-smoking ordinance to the Danville City Commission next month. The ban would cover all indoor public places. This is not the first time health department Director Roger Trent has proposed a ban. He said Thursday that he went before the commission in 2003 with a proposal, but not an ordinance. "I proposed they enact such an ordinance and they would be a real City of Firsts," he said. That occurred before the city of Lexington adopted its smoking ban. "It was more or less rejected out of hand," he said.

As Gov. Steve Beshear continues his crusade for a statewide smoking ban in restaurants and other public places, Jessamine lawmakers are not overly supportive of the governor's stance. “I don't think it will pass; I don't think they have the votes, from what I've been told by the lobbyists,” state Rep. Bob Damron, D-Nicholasville, said. “I'm really not for it. I think it (should) be left up to each individual community to decide what kind of smoking bans they want in place. I'm not too much on Frankfort telling Nicholasville what they've got to do.” But last Thursday, Beshear urged state legislators to act quickly on the measure, according to The Associated Press.

It was a year of drawn-out stories in Jessamine County. Nicholasville residents and downtown business owners endured a long year of Main Street renovation; the state's highest court considered a case of firefighter overtime pay; and the nation's oldest Christian-music festival waited to see if it would survive another year. Officials took their time deliberating smoking bans, an animal shelter and residential livestock. An economy still trying to recover forced the closure of a decades-old plant and contributed to the county's highest rate of child poverty, while several governing bodies raised their property taxes.

The Clark County Board of Health is moving forward with plans to assist in a challenge to a Bullitt County court's decision to overturn a smoking ban. According to the Richmond Register, Bullitt Circuit Judge Rodney Burress overturned the ban passed on March 23 after the Bullitt County Fiscal Court and the county's eight cities challenged the health board's authority to enact the ban. The Bullitt County Board of Health is appealing that...

Underestimated allies of freedom are judges who uphold constitutional government and smack down regulatory agencies when they cross the line. In recent months, we've had some stellar rulings by fair-and-balanced judges. We've also witnessed some of the most egregious decisions, including Kenton Circuit Court Judge Gregory Bartlett's refusal to issue an injunction against the printing of November's ballots until County Clerk Gabrielle Summe had followed the proper procedure of verifying signatures on a petition seeking to allow voters decide an unwanted government agency's future.

The Clark County Board of Health will support the Bullitt County Board of Health as it appeals a Bullitt Circuit Court decision ruling a county-wide indoor smoking ban unconstitutional. Local board members voted to provide the Bullitt board with $5,000 from money received from the University of Kentucky for consulting services provided by Health Department Director Scott Lockard. “No Clark County tax dollars will be used, but it's funding that's come from other sources,” Lockard said.

The increasing popularity of electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, has made communities across Kentucky with smoking regulations in place take a hard look at including the devices under their rules. While there are many areas still considering adding e-cigarettes to their smoke-free ordinances, Madison County this week joined Glasgow and Bardstown as the only ones that have banned the devises. Some Clark Countians have expressed concern that the local board of health could soon follow suit, but that doesn’t seem likely at this point.

While debate over a possible smoking ban rages on among its three governing bodies, Jessamine County remained one of Kentucky’s healthiest counties in the nationwide 2011 County Health Rankings, released March 30. Most of the top-ranked counties were near Lexington and Louisville, while most of the low-ranked were in eastern Kentucky. The rankings are divided into two categories: health outcomes, which include data on premature death and days in self-described poor mental or physical health; and health factors, which include health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors and environmental issues.

Jessamine County Fiscal Court magistrates listened to people from around the county and surrounding areas express their feelings about a proposed smoking ban Tuesday night. And of the 20 people in the audience, most of those who spoke to the magistrates were against the ordinance. Several wore stickers that said “Pro Liberty, Anti-BAN,” which voiced the common opinion that a local government mandate against allowing smoking in businesses would violate the residents’ rights.

To the editor: I am a resident of Jessamine County and have the opinion that county officials are not looking at the whole scheme of the smoking ban and the effects of secondhand smoke. There are two aspects of any ban: one is personal rights, and the other is the medical consequence of secondhand smoke and best for society in general. I grew up in a home where everyone smoked. During my career, most of the workplaces allowed smoking. I have never smoked; matter of fact, I have been a runner and exercised in a training fashion for the past 40 years.

To the editor: I am a longtime resident of Jessamine County and a registered nurse who has worked with many patients and their families suffering from the ill effects of tobacco, including exposure to secondhand smoke. I am writing to support passage of comprehensive smoke-free laws in Jessamine County. The recently released air-quality results in Jessamine County are alarming, and as a community we have a opportunity to do something about it. Smoke-free law is a public health issue.