In March, smoking at some parks in Charlotte, N.C. will become illegal, yet, the city of Charlotte is not behind the new rule.

Comissioners in Mecklenburg County, which includes Charlotte, reached a comprise regarding a long-debated tobacco ban regarding parks in the country. In short, County-owned gold courses and 18 “regional parks” will continue to allow smoking and other tobacco products, but some 200 parks within the county will become tobacco-free on March 18, 2015.

At the Tuesday meeting, some raised concerns about the fact cities will now be responsible for an enforcing a law that they were in fact against. 

Violators can be fined $25 if they continue to use tobacco products after being warned they are in violation according to a draft of the proposal.

Mecklenburg County is home to over 1 million residents.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.