Smoking Ban

Regarding the letter to the editor published Dec. 9 in the Open Forum, "Steaming over smoking ban:" I find all of your arguments faulty.  First let me speak to "how would enforcement work?" It's simple, when someone, who is not a smoker, sees a person smoking where they should not be smoking, they simply ask the person to put it out. If the smoker refuses then a call to police is the next step. If the smoker is the only person on the prohibited ground, then I guess there is no problem because the stinky dangerous smoke from your cigarette is not bothering anyone.  Hopefully you would take the butt with you, but more often than not it ends up on the ground.

If you're heading to Camden Yards for today's opener and you want to smoke during the game, you're going to have to leave the stadium to light up. Orioles fans will be able to smoke only in a designated area just outside of Gate E1 on the third base side of the ballpark. On March 4, the Maryland Stadium Authority's smoking ban went into effect at the Camden Yards sports complex, which includes Oriole Park and M&T Bank Stadium. The new code “prohibits smoking or carrying lit tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars and pipes)

Editor: Recently, the county's proposed ban on all forms of tobacco-use on all of its leased and owned properties within the Harford County area, caused me to question whether this proposed ban (and the funds and personnel that it will take to put it into practice) is a wise use of money and manpower. I am reasonably certain that there are other more pressing issues that this money and personnel could better serve. Yes, I am a smoker, and view this as another example of how those of us who have taken up the habit, are again made to feel like a criminal just because we want to take a break at work (when we can)

At Camden Yards on Friday, baseballs, the scent of sizzling hot dogs and a beautiful blue sky were in the air as the Orioles played the Minnesota Twins in their home opener. The smell of cigarette smoke was not, though, as the Maryland Stadium Authority began the enforcement of a smoking ban at the Camden Yards Sports and Entertainment Complex, which includes Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium. Friday's game was the first since the smoking ban was put into effect. It prohibits smoking or carrying lit tobacco products - including cigarettes, cigars and pipes - within 25 feet of the stadium and the Warehouse, as well as in the outdoor space along Eutaw Street between gates A and H. Camden Yards was one of 10 Major League Baseball ballparks that had designated smoking areas within the ballpark last season, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation.

At Camden Yards on Friday, baseballs, the scent of sizzling hot dogs and a beautiful blue sky were in the air as the Orioles played the Minnesota Twins in their home opener. The smell of cigarette smoke was not, though, as the Maryland Stadium Authority began the enforcement of a smoking ban at the Camden Yards Sports and Entertainment Complex, which includes Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium. Friday's game was the first since the smoking ban was put into effect. It prohibits smoking or carrying lit tobacco products - including cigarettes, cigars and pipes - within 25 feet of the stadium and the Warehouse, as well as in the outdoor space along Eutaw Street between gates A and H. Camden Yards was one of 10 Major League Baseball ballparks that had designated smoking areas within the ballpark last season, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation.

If you're heading to Camden Yards for today's opener and you want to smoke during the game, you're going to have to leave the stadium to light up. Orioles fans will be able to smoke only in a designated area just outside of Gate E1 on the third base side of the ballpark. On March 4, the Maryland Stadium Authority's smoking ban went into effect at the Camden Yards sports complex, which includes Oriole Park and M&T Bank Stadium. The new code “prohibits smoking or carrying lit tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars and pipes)

Banning smoking in most workplaces, as Maryland did in 1995, was a major public health advance. So were the decisions by several counties and, in 2008, the state, to extend the ban to bars and restaurants. The ban on smoking in Howard County's parks, which County Executive Ken Ulman plans to announce tomorrow, not so much. Bartenders and waiters faced a real risk of health problems from secondhand smoke as a result of their work conditions, but a family going for a picnic in Centennial Park faces little or no danger from someone taking a puff 100 yards away.

Count me among those who have been absolutely confused by Howard County Executive Charles Ecker's position on a smoking ban in county businesses and work places.I know that initially Mr. Ecker was opposed to enacting a ban here, preferring that the General Assembly enact a statewide ban first. That way, Howard businesses wouldn't face unfair competition from businesses beyond the county's borders. I can understand that position, even though I disagree with it.However, when it seemed the County Council would pass a smoking ban anyway, Mr. Ecker changed his position, insisting that any ban approved must not allow any exemptions.

Anne Arundel Community College students may not have to walk a mile for their Camel, but they may have to go at least 50 feet from the main entrance of any campus building to smoke it.The Anne Arundel Community College board of trustees is considering revisions to the college's smoking policy that would prohibit smoking in all campus buildings and within 50 feet of main entrances, effective Feb. 1.Last night, the trustees deadlocked 3-3 on a vote to approve...

Two club-wielding patients of the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center for the criminally insane attacked four employees last night. The unrest was partially prompted by the hospital's recently imposed smoking ban, authorities said.The patients tore legs off a heavy table in a maximum-security ward and smashed several light fixtures before striking two ward orderlies and two security guards, said Michael Golden, a spokesman for the state health department.Police said the four employees received only minor injuries and the uprising was brought under control within about a half hour.

The Maryland Stadium Authority's decision to prohibit smoking at both Camden Yards and at M&T Bank Stadium is great news for sports fans ("State Authority bans smoking at M&T Stadium, Oriole Park," Feb. 26). Secondhand smoke causes serious disease and premature death among nonsmokers, and there is no safe level of exposure. A study conducted at the University of Maryland Baltimore County found that even outdoors, nonsmokers up to a distance of 23 feet away or more are still exposed to carcinogens.

If the smoking ban on Harford County government properties applies to parks and recreation ball fields, there's no reason why it can't apply to the County Courthouse, official excuses notwithstanding. Beginning Jan. 1, smoking on county property was banned, a move that came as welcome news for anyone - government employees and members of the general public alike - who has been subjected to secondhand smoke while trying to run the siege line of smokers standing outside various county government buildings.

Regarding the letter to the editor published Dec. 9 in the Open Forum, "Steaming over smoking ban:" I find all of your arguments faulty.  First let me speak to "how would enforcement work?" It's simple, when someone, who is not a smoker, sees a person smoking where they should not be smoking, they simply ask the person to put it out. If the smoker refuses then a call to police is the next step. If the smoker is the only person on the prohibited ground, then I guess there is no problem because the stinky dangerous smoke from your cigarette is not bothering anyone.  Hopefully you would take the butt with you, but more often than not it ends up on the ground.

Editor: Recently, the county's proposed ban on all forms of tobacco-use on all of its leased and owned properties within the Harford County area, caused me to question whether this proposed ban (and the funds and personnel that it will take to put it into practice) is a wise use of money and manpower. I am reasonably certain that there are other more pressing issues that this money and personnel could better serve. Yes, I am a smoker, and view this as another example of how those of us who have taken up the habit, are again made to feel like a criminal just because we want to take a break at work (when we can)

The griping about the smoking ban in our public parks falls on deaf ears for me. One complaint I heard was about a smoker being forced to stop if his neighbor could "smell the smoke. " It's not smelling smoke that's bad, it's breathing smoke that's lethal. We deserve the right to breath clean air anywhere, anytime. Carole Fisher Ellicott City

The Sun's argument that an outdoor smoking ban is not the government as nanny is circular and wrong-headed ("Smoking ban: A Howard County nanny state? Hardly," July 12). On one hand The Sun allows that there is little if any possibility of secondhand smoke health problems for nonsmokers in outdoor parks. In the next breath The Sun suggests that it still is in the government's best interest to not even tacitly condone an individual's poor choice. The reasoning here is that government knows best, or what is commonly referred to as government as nanny, despite what The Sun says.

Within the next week or so, the Boare of Education will announce details of its contract negotiations with school employee unions and there will be at least one element worth really cheering about.Come the 1993 school year, smoking by all Harford school employees inside school owned buildings effectively will be banned.If the significance of that is lost on you, then consider this: Harford joins just one other public school district in the state to negotiate a smoking ban among public school employees.

Gov. Martin O'Malley pledged yesterday to sign legislation banning smoking at Maryland restaurants and bars if it reaches his desk, setting the stage for debate in the General Assembly, where intense lobbying campaigns are under way. Legislators in Annapolis will take up a statewide smoking ban after the Baltimore City Council approved a ban Monday, joining several other jurisdictions around the state that have passed similar measures prohibiting smoking...

Banning smoking in most workplaces, as Maryland did in 1995, was a major public health advance. So were the decisions by several counties and, in 2008, the state, to extend the ban to bars and restaurants. The ban on smoking in Howard County's parks, which County Executive Ken Ulman plans to announce tomorrow, not so much. Bartenders and waiters faced a real risk of health problems from secondhand smoke as a result of their work conditions, but a family going for a picnic in Centennial Park faces little or no danger from someone taking a puff 100 yards away.

Baltimore's process for filling City Council vacancies provides no formal, structured or official manner for the voters to have a meaningful influence over the process ( "Candidates for city's 9th District answer questions, tout issues," Dec. 5). The current system on the books erodes the public trust by placing a decision that affects the masses in the hands of a few, and in this case in particular, compromises the perception of impartiality of some of the remaining members of the council.