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Parks smoking ban passes – sort of
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OSWELL – The Roswell City Council wrestled once more Nov. 9 with the final reading of an ordinance to limit or ban tobacco use in public parks, but the final results are still a little smoky as the council members could not agree to an acceptable compromise.
The latest incarnation of the ordinance returned with a recommendation from the Roswell Recreation Commission to ban all smoking. That solved the problem of where to allow some limited smoking by park patrons, which had been a sticking point when the council deferred the ordinance two weeks ago. But that solutions soon disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Ex-nicotine fiend and Councilwoman Lori Henry noted smoking is legal after all, and if patrons wanted to smoke in the open air they should be allowed to within reason.
She said she has no problem with an ordinance limiting areas of smoking. Henry said she and her still-inhaling husband have come to an amicable arrangement. He may smoke on their deck whenever he wishes and whatever the weather.
Parking lots seemed to have a spark of a chance as a compromise, but that was snuffed out quickly for the same reasons it was stamped out in previous debates. It would still create secondhand smoke in an area where patrons and their children must ultimately return.
"We defeat the purpose of the ordinance," Councilman Kent Igleheart said. "After the game, everybody heads to the parking lot, and the first thing smokers will do is light up there."
Should smokers be banished to their cars? That had been suggested, but they could always roll down their windows. Also in the back of council's collective mind was a need to easily define where designated smoking areas would be, since Magistrate Judge Maurice Hilliard is well-known for tossing out ordinances that are hazy in their intent.
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The council then decided on the Solomonic solution of banning all smoking except in designated areas that would be decided by the Recreation Commission – which has already stated it supported no designated areas.
Council seemed happy with the solution until Henry flicked ashes on it.
"The City Council is charged with the decision-making duties of this city. I don't think we should be handing off that responsibility to the Recreation Commission," Henry said. "If we want to design reasonable areas [for smokers], then it is we who should do it."
Igleheart offered a compromise allowing the Recreation Commission to come up with a plan for designated areas that would then require council approval. This seemed to satisfy everybody – at least until Dec. 7, when they must agree on the Recreation Commission's choice of smoking areas.
Meanwhile, there is no smoking in any Roswell park. The ban does not cover smoking outside public buildings such as City Hall or the historic homes owned by the city.
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