A proposal that would have banned smoking on all county property in Northampton County, Pa. failed on Thursday night as the nine-member council was split 4-4 with one member simply voting “present.”

The ban has been in discussion since July and would have applied to all county property, including parks, but an amendment submitted by Councilman Seth Vaughn would have removed parks and the county’s nursing home from the ban according to LehighValleyLive.com. Still, it wasn’t enough to win the vote.

Northampton County has nearly 300,000 residents, and its county seat of Easton sits approximately 70 miles north of Philadelphia.

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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 MLB.com, 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.