A smoking ban is officially on the legislative radar in Wichita Falls, Texas, as the local health district has been working on a proposal that will come before the city council in early June.

While the Wichita Falls-Wichita County Public Health District has not posted any official proposals on their website, representatives held a meeting on Tuesday with local bar and restaurant owners that had tempers flaring, according to a report from KFDX-TV.

The ordinance would prohibit smoking of tobacco and e-cigarettes in city buildings, restaurants, bars, patios and parks, and would create a 20-foot no smoking area from any doorways or windows of areas where smoking would be prohibited.

According the story, tobacco and e-cigarette retail stores would be exempted from the ban, however. A search of the IPCPR member database returned one store in Wichita Falls, G & R Premium Cigars.

The health department is scheduled to present their proposal to the Wichita Falls City Council on June 3, with a vote possible for as early as June 17.

Wichita Falls has a population of approximately 104,500 people and sits in the north part of Texas near the Oklahoma border, 140 miles northwest of Dallas and 140 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.

 

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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.