Tobacco Documents Online

Nabbing Smokers Is Elasy-czs Nottin~ By JOSE SARIEGO n...1e wru<. in the three years since Metro . passed its ordinance banning smok- ing ing in elevators, supermarkets and ' department stores, there has been exactly one arrest - a policeman. I And he wasn•t successfully pros- ecuted. The officer was charged In 1974 with smoking In a department store, county court records show, ' but the Judge threw the case out of co~uy ruling that the policeman w~oking In his security office, not ... the store proper. Scofflaws can be prosecuted by cilizens, but the procedure Is, to say the least, cumbersome. Il re- quires a complainant to get the name and address of the offender, enlist at least one witness, careful- ly note the time and place of nf- fense, secure evidence such as a cigaret butt, and file an affidavit at the state attorney's office, ac- cording to spokesmen from that of- fice. , "WE PLAN-TO contact the state attorney's offlce to request speedi- er attlon on any cornplaints that are made," said GASP member "WE'VE TAKEN ALL the action ' Charles Freefleld. "We also are we can take," lamented Keith drafting letters to law enforcement Lewls, president of the local non- offtciats to get them to listen to the snokers' ' group GASP (Group - complaints about plople who are Against Smokers Pollution), "and violating the law." "51R,1bU ARF VTNi3J `A1V WOH'jMIIO , A F'iJp6, lC 15MdfE ANBE'!F-fb ntcotJ5tuEFArE pEA7TI, w_ut. v0u 7 CLOD; the answers we've gotten back are The chief prosecutor for the nificant as battery, prostitution all to the effect that they've got to . counly court, Ted Masos, agreed ob.scenity." he said. 1973 campaign for the ordinance. "We never had any reliance on having to arrest people," he said. "We rely on the willingness of most citizens to obey the law if they know what the law is." A SpOT CfIECK of downtown department stores Indicated he may he right: It turned up no smokers violating the ordinance. Security guards at the stores said, however, smokers sometimes still come In. "It's not as had as it used to be before the ordinance, but it is still a problem," said a security guard at the Biscayne Boulevard Jeffer- son store. "Some of them come in from the street with It In their hand, and the security guards tell them to put it out. Some of them get rude." The law can be enforced, says the mal who helped write It. "I think It Is an enforceable ortfinance If we choose to," said County At- torney Stuart Simon. But he added, or spend their time chasing bad peo- that the ordinance doesn't have as The lack of arrests doesn't par- ple, and they can't spend It on peo. • high a prtority as some of the offlc- r ticuiariy bother Harry Cain, the ple who break the nrdinance."r e's other esses. "It's Just not as sig- Metro commissioner who lead the 9`J MIAMI, FLA. HERALO 0 402.271 --S 502.778 MIAMI MF TROPDIIT AN ARE A AUG 13 197C, I SVI6f:Z.EO r "1 would hate to see large amoun of public funds used to put poli In elevators." Ife said 'the ordinance has help cut down smokiag in public plac because It is enforced by nc smokers. . ONE MIAMI BEACH non-smo er who says she wants to help e force it, a woman with a bronch condition, said she plans to proi cute a man who was smoking in elevator and refused to put it.c when she asked. "I feel angry and I feel very s not only for the smoker, but 1 the Indifference of people genera for other people's feelings." st Mrs. Sabina Shalom. -15. of 54 Collins Ave. She said the man H rude to her when she pointed t to him the No Smoking sign in I elevator. And supporters of the ordinat ~ v v `cA,aa,E=. c v E "u ¢ ya u t E .~.3a'~.m3co P