Greenwood Goes Smoke-Free

Cheers erupted from the standing-room-only crowd in the City Hall boardroom this afternoon after members of the Greenwood City Council voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance prohibiting smoking in public places and in places of employment.

The ordinance, adopted after a public hearing held the previous day, takes effect 30 days from today and specifically defines where smoking is prohibited in the city, requirements for posting “no smoking” signs, responsibilities of business owners, enforcement and violations.

The resolution adopting the ordinance was moved for a Coucil vote by Councilman Johnny Jennings of Ward 1.

As the Councilperson who first initiated the discussion that led to the passing of the ordinance, Jennings stated, "Life will begin after the smoking ordinance." Clearly a pun was intended. Jennings also said he asked for anyone to bring him evidence of a positive health effect of smoking. "I received nothing," Jennings said.

The ordinance was drafted closely after one that was previously passed by the City of Starkville.

The capacity crowd was largely in favor of the ban, with many of the attendees sporting flourescent yellow stickers that stated, "I support clean indoor air." I was one of those supporters. In fact, I am wearing my sticker even as I type this. For what reason, I don't know.

Also, in light of what my colleage wrote in opposition to the ban, you will see that I have made a few rebuttals to her argument below. I think they make sense. The great thing about co-writing a blog is the opportunity to respectfully disagree with each other with the hopes of stirring up conversation about important issues.

As such, I invite the readers of the Dirt to leave your comments in the comment section at the bottom of either this or either of mine or Amy's opinion posts. We hope, afterall, that this blog will be an open forum for discussion and debate to those who read regularly.