Tobacco Documents Online

F'JHTA GC~RDA, D. Next Tuesday, 10 a.rn. - " Public he'aring on By DON SPROUL ~., Staff Writer It will be another week before proponents of an= ordinance to ban smoking in public places in Charlotte ' County can do their shopping in smoke free atmospheres. County commissioners, while today "conceptually" :I approving the ordinance, ordered it redratted, The, ordinance will be considered next Tuesday at a 10 a.m:. i public hearing at Murdock. -, More than 200 non-smokers were on hand as Charlotte ~ County Commissioners heard lengthy discussion from both ordinance proponents and representatives of those : who oppose it. ". J 3ira I-Iageman, manager of .l. Bryons in Port Charlott~ -~ and led Goldberg of the Port Charlotte Clvic Association ' qu~stioned the form of the ordinance this morning, but not its intent Hageman, a non-smoker, said he was concerned because of cr._i~ina] penalties which would be faced by store managers because of the way the ordinance is written. Hageman said that, as he read the ordinance, it would he the shop managers' responsibility to inform shoppers at his store that they cannot smoke. ", "I'm not against the ordinance," said Hageman v~ho added, "but I can't tell everybody." lie said it would be "an impossibility" to comply with the ordinance. Goldberg, v~ho is a smoker, questioned the reason~ why stores with only eight or more employees would be subject to the ordinance. He pointed out that, in a small st~re, the smoking atmosphere would be worse than in a large store. lie questioned why small s~ores were not also Included in the ordinance. The two men raised .points against "details of the ordinance. Assistant Cotmty Attorney Robert Wolfe indicated that the ordinance needs to be written in light of a recent judicia,1 rulin_g in Collier County. Supp.ort for the ordinance was overwhelming. John W. Read, Right to Breathe Inc~ president, urged commissioners to adop~ the ordinance "not only for health reasons but also because smoking in stores creates undue costs on consumers who are both smok. ers and non-smokers. '-" : smoking ,,ban "It adds'to" tl~e c~st of'doing busine's~?° R~ad said, pointing to the fact that prices have to go up to cover the costs of extra cleaning operations necessitated by smokers. Rea~l also contended that the ordinance will not cause massive numbers of arrests of people who refuse to obey the ordinance. He said that 95 to 98 percent of most smokers would comply. "Smoking is not a right, but a privilege, Read said. Despite support for the ordinance, commissioners appeared not to entirely favor the ordinance. Commissioners Robert Shedd, Steve Bostwick and. Franz Ross each indicated , they personally favor the move, while Commissioners Lee Eure said he was opposed to it. "I am not a smoker," said Eure, "but it's the same as saying that everyone has got to drive pin. k Cadillacs." "It's unconstitutional," said Eure. "People who don't want smoking in their stores should put up no smoking signs," he added. W. Douglas Sessions Jr., state director of the Tobacco Institute, Tallahassee, was present during the discussion. Sessions noted that voters in other a~reas of the state have turned down slmilar ordinances. The ordinance, he said, would initially create a new crime -- one punishable by a $500 fine or and-or six months in cnunty Jail. "Do~s the crime fit the penalty?" he asked. lie ~Iso questioned whether or not the county would want to get Into "nusance ordinances." ' 2,73 T105390416