ANDERSON — The smoking ban being considered by Anderson City Council is not strong enough, an Anderson-based advocacy group says.
Karesa Knight-Wilkerson, executive director of Healthy, Tobacco-Free Madison County, said she would like the council to pass a comprehensive smoking ban that considers the health of employees and adults, as well as children.
“Our focus is on health, the health of the employees and the health of everyone,” she said. “Especially in today’s economy, people can’t choose where to work.”
On June 11, Councilman Art Pepelea Jr., R-District 5, presented a draft of a possible smoking ban for Anderson to the city council. The draft was part of a report from the Health Committee. Knight-Wilkerson sits on the committee as well as other health sector representatives from Community Hospital and Saint John’s Health System.
All three, Knight-Wilkerson said, want a more comprehensive smoking ban than the one currently drafted. The version presented allows restaurants to continue a smoking section, as long as it is separated with a solid wall and door.
“You can have a comprehensive ordinance with exemptions, but this with walls and doors is not comprehensive,” she said. “It gives people a false sense of protection. People think that the smoke is contained in a room, but studies have shown that just as many carcinogens, or chemicals from cigarettes, are in the air when there’s smoking a room as when it’s on the other side of a door.”
Pepelea said his focus was on children’s health.
“If people do not want to go there and work, then they can go somewhere else and work,” he said. “What we’re concerned with is kids. They don’t have a choice.”
Businesses still have to operate, Pepelea said.
“I think the ordinance is as good as it’s going to get,” he said. “The exclusions have to be in there. Those businesses have to run. In today’s society, the bottom line is profit.”
Democratic at-large councilmen Rick Muir and Rodney Chamberlain, who are both also on the Health Committee, said they were still weighing the issues.
“I have mixed emotions about it,” Muir said. “I’m still viewing what we have and listening to input and comments.”
Chamberlain said he would vote for what was good for the community.
“As a council person, I have to look and figure out what is best for the city,” he said. “I represent everybody, and I have to be open-minded about the decision I make concerning the smoking ban. There’s some people that’s for the smoking ban, then there’s some that are against it.”
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5:45 p.m.: Group pushes smoking ban
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