Secondhand Smoke

Howard County, which led the way in prohibiting smoking indoors, plans to extend the ban outdoors to all county parks, a move that would be the first of its kind in the state. "It's something we've been looking at for some time," County Executive Ken Ulman said in an interview, adding that it's another goal toward making "Howard County the healthiest county it can be. " Smoking, he said, "is not in keeping with that. It's a dirty, filthy habit. " Ulman plans on issuing an executive order that applies to all 57 park properties, but does not include open space and parks owned by the Columbia Association.

ROCKVILLE -- The Montgomery County Council approved yesterday the toughest anti-smoking law in the state, but gave businesses almost three years to comply.The legislation to prohibit all smoking in restaurants and bars goes beyond Howard County's law, which allows smoking in sections that are closed off from nonsmoking areas and ventilated by a separate system.The 5-4 vote followed weeks of intense lobbying and a verbal sparring match Friday between Gov. Parris N. Glendening, who favored the ban, and County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, who supported a watered-down version.

Come next January, Baltimore will be the only large city between Washington and Boston to allow smoking in bars. Even now, you could hit every saloon between Seaford, Del., and Newburyport, Mass., and there'd be no chance that smoke gets in your eyes. In fact, if you could hold your breath on the way through Denton, in Caroline County, and through Portsmouth and its outlying towns in New Hampshire, you could make your smoke-free odyssey all the way from Tilghman Island to Campbellton, way up in Restigouche County, New Brunswick.

Leaders must move toward smoking ban Kudos to Jean Marbella for cutting through the rhetoric and calling city and state officials out for their failure to make Baltimore and Maryland smoke-free ("Leadership on smoking ban evaded by city, state," Jan. 2). The irony is that all of this hemming and hawing goes on even as Del. Peter A. Hammen, chairman of the House and Government Operations Committee, is being heralded for his proposal to extend health care coverage to 250,000 Maryland residents, and as the General Assembly appears poised to move Maryland closer to some form of universal health care coverage ("Health care options in works," Jan. 1)

ALONE AMONG workers in Maryland, restaurant and bar employees are exposed to hazardous secondhand smoke at work. During this session, the General Assembly can end this second-class treatment by adopting the smoke-free restaurant bill. The Montgomery County Council ended this unfair treatment of restaurant workers by an 8-1 vote in July. Montgomery's smoke-free restaurant law took effect Oct. 9, after county Circuit Court Judge Patrick L. Woodward decisively rejected an attempt by a few restaurants to block this essential public health measure, concluding that the law will be upheld.

Time for Howard to be smoke-free Once again, the Howard County Council faces the issue of when to provide all workers with protection from secondhand smoke. The Smoke Free Howard County Tobacco Coalition expects action now. For over four years, meetings have been held and testimonies delivered. The public has made its voice known. The facts are out there for all to see. Long gone are the days when people could deny the health effects of secondhand smoke. The myth that smoke-free bars will hurt business has been shattered as well, with countless communities around the country prospering with smoke-free workplaces.