FORT SMITH -- An ordinance amending Sebastian County policy to ban smoking on all outdoor county property is lighting up opposition among some Quorum Court members.
The Quorum Court approved 7-5 the second reading of the ordinance at its monthly meeting Tuesday. The ordinance will become law if the Quorum Court passes it on its third reading next month.
Voting against the ordinance were Danny Aldridge, Tony Crockett, Dane Fulmer, Bob Schwartz and John Spradlin.
The office of County Judge David Hudson has been getting complaints from Quorum Court members, businesses and residents about people smoking at sporting events at county parks and about county employees leaving county property to smoke on neighboring properties.
County officials also have complained about Fort Smith courthouse employees smoking outside their windows or near doors, county Chief of Staff Scott Stubblefield said. He said the courthouse is on a small lot, and it's not unusual for an employee to smoke near a window or door where the smoke will waft into the building.
Stubblefield wrote in a memorandum to Quorum Court members last month that the ordinance was being amended because it hasn't been updated since it was passed in 1991. The current ordinance bars smoking inside all county buildings.
In addition to barring smoking on outdoor county property, the amended ordinance would ban smoking in county vehicles and would add smokeless-tobacco products, e-cigarettes and vapor products to the list of banned products.
Justice of the Peace Linda Willsey Murry, who voted for the amended ordinance, said people's freedom to breathe clean air in a park should overrule a person indulging in an addiction.
She said she's encountered people from other towns at soccer tournaments at the county's Ben Geren Regional Park who have commented that Sebastian County's smoking policy is lagging behind other parts of the state and country.
But opponents of the ordinance say officials don't intend to enforce it if it passes and that the prohibition would infringe on people's rights.
"This is a freedom issue," Fulmer said. "It's not a smoking issue."
He said the ordinance would criminalize smoking, even though smoking remains legal.
Aldridge said a new ordinance is unnecessary because there are already state and federal laws that address smoking in public places.
"This ordinance is a feel-good ordinance that is designed to supersede both the federal and state Clean Air acts," he said.
Stubblefield said Sebastian County's attorneys and those with the Arkansas Association of Counties have reviewed and approved the wording of the proposed amended ordinance.
Aldridge questioned why the Quorum Court was considering amending the ordinance since Hudson and Sheriff Bill Hollenbeck said they would not enforce it.
Hudson said he has told golfers at the Ben Geren golf course that it would not be the intent of the county for staff members at the golf course to police whether people are smoking there.
He said the ban on smoking in the park is intended for areas where people gather in large groups, such as ball fields, soccer fields and playgrounds. One smoker in a crowd can affect many people, he said.
Setting up designated smoking areas within the parks or other outdoor areas would be impractical, Stubblefield said.
He said officials with the Arkansas Association of Counties have told him that it has been a nightmare in counties where officials have tried to set up smoking zones. The prudent thing for counties to do, he was told, was either to ban smoking completely or not at all.
Scott Perkins, spokesman for the association, said the association had no statistics on counties' smoking policies. County officials have discussed among themselves the best policies for their respective counties, and the association leaves counties to make their own policies, he said.
Hollenbeck said he didn't recall an instance in which a deputy has cited someone for smoking. Fines ranging from $25 for the first offense to $250 for four or more offenses have been in effect since the 1991 ordinance was passed.
"I'm not going to direct my people to arrest anyone for smoking," he said.
He said that if the amended ordinance passes, he will instruct deputies to give warnings for violations. If the person continues to offend, the deputy will have the discretion to issue a ticket.
Hollenbeck said most people are sensible and will abide by the law.
Hudson said smoking ban notification signs will be posted around soccer fields and ball fields at parks and in other areas if the ordinance passes.
NW News on 10/26/2015