Foley Update
Smoking ban approved in Foley
August 09, 2006
GUY BUSBY
GUY BUSBY
In less than three months, Foley will ban tobacco use in most buildings open to the general public. It will be the first such municipal prohibition in Baldwin County.
The City Council voted unanimously — with Wayne Trawick absent — to approve the ordinance Monday evening. The only buildings exempted are bars and private clubs at which patrons must be 18 or older to enter.
The law also prohibits smoking at stadiums and ball fields and within 15 feet of the main entrance of a building accessible to the public. It does not apply to other outside areas of private commercial buildings, such as parking lots.
The law takes effect Nov. 5, according to a timetable provided by Mayor Tim Russell. The city leadership began discussing such a ban in the spring, holding the first public hearing on the issue May 15.
“I have had a lot of calls, a lot of e-mails and a lot of letters, and the overwhelming majority are extremely supportive,” Russell said. “We do have those who are opposed to it and I’m sorry, but the council has listened to the overwhelming turnout of people, of course in the public hearings, but also e-mails, letters and calls supporting the ordinance. I think the people have spoken.”
But Lisa Newberry of Bon Secour expressed opposition in comments to council members Monday. “In reading the ordinance, it feels to me that you’re stepping on the Constitutional rights of some of your citizens and the tourists and the people who shop in the city and the business owners,” she said. “That’s our freedom of choice; you’re taking away our freedom of choice.”
The plan will allow residents to go out in public without having to worry about cancer and other smoking-related illnesses, said Tina Findley, tobacco prevention and control coordinator for the Alabama Department of Public Health Area 9, which includes Baldwin County.
Findley said in an interview that Foley was setting a precedent for other cities to follow.
“The recent surgeon general’s report about second-hand smoke lays to rest any debate regarding the safe level. There’s no safe level of second-hand smoke,” Findley said. “It endangers everyone’s health. We’re not trying to tell people that they can’t smoke. We just don’t want them to do so around others in public.”
Fairhope and Orange Beach officials have also discussed smoking restrictions for public-access buildings. Eight cities in Alabama, including Citronelle and Flomaton, have enacted some form of smoking limitations, according to reports.
Foley’s ordinance sets a $100 fine for a business owner for a first violation, $200 for a second violation and $500 for each violation after that. Smokers who run afoul of the ordinate could be fined up to $50.
Foley OKs ban on smoking
July 19, 2006
GUY BUSBY
GUY BUSBY
The first ordinance in Baldwin County banning smoking in almost all public-access buildings including businesses should go into effect in Foley in about three months, according to municipal officials.
City Council members voted unanimously Monday to approve the first reading of a smoking ban ordinance. The measure will come up for a final vote at the next council meeting Aug. 7. After the ordinance is posted in legal advertisements, almost all businesses that now allow smoking will have 90 days to stop the practice by patrons and employees.
Eight Alabama cities, including Citronelle and Flomaton, have passed some form of tobacco restriction, according to reports. Fairhope City Council members are also discussing an ordinance banning smoking in public-access buildings.
Under the new Foley ordinance, a business owner would be fined $100 for the first violation, $200 for the second offense and $500 for each additional violation. Smokers who light up in a building open to the public could be fined up to $50.
Smoking would be allowed in bars that are not located within establishments that do other business, such as restaurants, the ordinance states.
Smoking would also be allowed in private clubs, a provision that would allow locations such as the American Legion Post and local Elks Club to be exempted from the restriction most of the time, said Casey Pipes, city attorney.
Hotel and motel owners will be able to set aside up to 20 percent of their rooms for smokers, if those units are situated where smoke would not affect guests in other parts of the building, according to the ordinance.
Nursing homes could also designate smoking rooms if all residents in those units smoke and sign statements saying they agree to the designation, the ordinance said.
The ordinance also restricts smoking within 15 feet of the main entrance of a business.
