Councilman will seek tighter ban on smoking
7/13/2008 10:47 PM   0 comment(s) on this story E-mail this story to a friend



By HALEY HUGHES

Staff writer

Aiken County Councilman Chuck Smith said he plans to encourage the governing body to tighten the smoking ordinance it passed last year.

In May, Smith asked Council's Judicial and Public Safety Committee to look at the current ban and consider addressing the fact that smoking is still permitted in private rooms in restaurants and bars. Smith said the provision does not protect the workforce in those establishments from secondhand smoke.

The committee is scheduled to look at the smoking ordinance Tuesday. If they choose to amend it, they will pass it along to Council as a whole for first reading.

If approved, Smith said the amended ordinance would bring the County on the same page as the cities of Aiken and North Augusta, which are considering similar bans. Smith led the initial charge for the smoking ordinance last year.

"This is an attempt to re-evaluate where we are and where we're going," Smith said Saturday. "I think Council wants to see this applied consistently throughout the County. I know that's the direction I am going to ask them to go in."

The County's ordinance prohibits smoking in enclosed spaces including restaurants and shopping malls. However, smoking is allowed in "private rooms in restaurants and bars if such rooms are enclosed and have an air handling system independent (from the main one) ..."

The City of Aiken's proposed ban would allow smoking in private clubs that have no employees.

North Augusta Councilman Carolyn Baggott noted in a recent meeting it would be "incumbent" upon the body not to expose employees of an establishment to secondhand smoke.

According to the American Lung Association, secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700 to 69,600 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year.

Aiken County Council Meets Tuesday at 7 p.m. in chambers at 736 Richland Ave.

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