Health News
Councilwoman Peggy Rogers-Everett disagreed, saying smoking is a hazard to everyone, and ?Murder is illegal.? Henson and Councilwoman Ann Cherry and Henson laughed, and "Everett was not amused," Jimenez reports. Everett said, ?I don?t find that funny. I don?t take that lightly.? (Read more)
- Elementary-school Students Prompt Middlesboro Smoking Ban
UPDATE, May 20: The council passed the ban with one member opposing it. Gary Mills said, ?I don?t think it?s the government?s right to intrude on businesses owned by individuals. If the public doesn?t like it, they won?t come. . . . This is too intrusive...
- Owensboro Commissioners Drop Pre-existing Bars From Draft Of Smoking-ban Ordinance
The Owensboro City Commission compromised to gain the support of all five members to vote for a smoking ban, which will come up for a vote on Sept. 2, Steve Vied reports for the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer. The original draft of the ordinance eliminated...
- Leaders In Mayfield, A Town With A Rich Tobacco Heritage, Approve Smoking Ban
UPDATE, July 9: The ban passed 5-4 on second reading. It will take effect in 2014 and "excludes spaces used primarily for sleeping such as hotels, hospices or nursing homes, rooms designated for social functions and separate smoke-proof enclosures with...
- Williamsburg In Line To Pass Smoking Ban Next Month
An ordinance imposing a smoking ban in Williamsburg is ready for a City Council vote. The council listened Monday to the first reading of the ordinance, required before a vote, which could follow the second reading, planned for Feb. 11. If approved,...
- 'cigarette 6' Smoked By Hopkinsville Paper's Editorial
First came the Jackson Five, then the Chicago Seven. Now, straight from Hopkinsville's city council, come the Cigarette Six. So dubbed by the editorial board of the Kentucky New Era, the Six were met with by a incredulous headline on an editorial...
Health News
Hopkinsville council, absent a proponent, narrowly replaces smoking ban idea with plan to require posted smoking policies
The effort to pass a smoking ban in the largest Kentucky town without one may have hit a roadblock Thursday night. The Hopkinsville City Council forwarded a smoking ordinance that would merely require businesses to decide whether to allow smoking and post signs at every entrance announcing its policy. The council's vote as a committee of the whole was 6-5, and the one absent council member favors a typical smoking ban.
Mayor Dan Kemp, who can vote to break council ties and does not sit on the committee of the whole, "said after the meeting that he could not support the proposal because it leaves the current law unchanged," Carla Jimenez reports for the Kentucky New Era. The alternative ordinance is scheduled for first reading Sept. 18; a tie vote would block it, and a tie vote in favor of a smoking ban could be broken by Kemp to pass it.
As first presented to the committee, the ordinance would ban smoking in public places, with exemptions for private clubs, age-restricted establishments and businesses with 12 employees or fewer. The small-business exemption was removed on a vote of 10-1. "That left the ordinance as it originally came before the council for its first reading in June," Jimenez reports. But then the committee voted 6-5 for the alternative ordinance, proposed by Councilman Paul Henson, who argued, ?We?re not abusing anybody?s rights. We?re not the bad guy, and yet we have the smoking ban, a smoking ordinance, on the books.?Mayor Dan Kemp, who can vote to break council ties and does not sit on the committee of the whole, "said after the meeting that he could not support the proposal because it leaves the current law unchanged," Carla Jimenez reports for the Kentucky New Era. The alternative ordinance is scheduled for first reading Sept. 18; a tie vote would block it, and a tie vote in favor of a smoking ban could be broken by Kemp to pass it.
Councilwoman Peggy Rogers-Everett disagreed, saying smoking is a hazard to everyone, and ?Murder is illegal.? Henson and Councilwoman Ann Cherry and Henson laughed, and "Everett was not amused," Jimenez reports. Everett said, ?I don?t find that funny. I don?t take that lightly.? (Read more)
- Elementary-school Students Prompt Middlesboro Smoking Ban
UPDATE, May 20: The council passed the ban with one member opposing it. Gary Mills said, ?I don?t think it?s the government?s right to intrude on businesses owned by individuals. If the public doesn?t like it, they won?t come. . . . This is too intrusive...
- Owensboro Commissioners Drop Pre-existing Bars From Draft Of Smoking-ban Ordinance
The Owensboro City Commission compromised to gain the support of all five members to vote for a smoking ban, which will come up for a vote on Sept. 2, Steve Vied reports for the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer. The original draft of the ordinance eliminated...
- Leaders In Mayfield, A Town With A Rich Tobacco Heritage, Approve Smoking Ban
UPDATE, July 9: The ban passed 5-4 on second reading. It will take effect in 2014 and "excludes spaces used primarily for sleeping such as hotels, hospices or nursing homes, rooms designated for social functions and separate smoke-proof enclosures with...
- Williamsburg In Line To Pass Smoking Ban Next Month
An ordinance imposing a smoking ban in Williamsburg is ready for a City Council vote. The council listened Monday to the first reading of the ordinance, required before a vote, which could follow the second reading, planned for Feb. 11. If approved,...
- 'cigarette 6' Smoked By Hopkinsville Paper's Editorial
First came the Jackson Five, then the Chicago Seven. Now, straight from Hopkinsville's city council, come the Cigarette Six. So dubbed by the editorial board of the Kentucky New Era, the Six were met with by a incredulous headline on an editorial...