Sampson County, N.C. Enacts Ban On Tobacco Use On County Property
A county wide ban has come to tobacco country, as this week the Board of Commissioners in Sampson County, North Carolina unanimously passed a sweeping tobacco use ban when on county property.
According to a report on ClintonNC.com, it took almost a year to go from proposal to law and will prohibit smoking in county buildings with limited exceptions for designated areas and in individually assigned county vehicles. The article states that the ordinance reads, in part, that “smoking and the use of tobacco products are prohibited in any building owned, leased, or occupied by the county; (and) on county grounds surrounding county buildings, with the exception that smoking and the use of tobacco products is permissible on county grounds in areas designated by the county manager.”
For the Sampson County Health Department and Department of Social Services buildings, the no-smoking zone will extend 50 feet from both structures, with no designated areas for smoking or the use of tobacco products within those boundaries. The county has also been instructed to remove all ashtrays and similar receptacles from its buildings and grounds, except for in the designated smoking areas.
While the move does not radically change the existing policies throughout the county, it does create a formal county-wide directive, which Sampson County had been lacking. Sampson County will now join 81 other counties throughout North Carolina as having written regulations that make county buildings and property smoke-free.
One group of county employees who were somewhat spared from the ban’s effects were county law enforcement who will still be allowed to smoke in their patrol cars, provided the vehicles are individually assigned.
The Sampson County website has not posted the full ordinance, nor minutes of the meeting where the decision was made. The ordinance is expected to go into effect in February 2014, allowing for a period of education for affected county workers.
Sampson County is home to approximately 63,000 residents and is the state’s second largest county by land area.
Patrick Lagreid
I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.
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