Should Lane County ban tobacco in county parks?
EUGENE, Ore. - On Sept. 1, both the University of Oregon and the Oregon State University campuses became tobacco free.
Now the Lane County Department of Health and Human Services is playing with the possibility of making parks and campgrounds tobacco free.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, Lane County has a higher rate of tobacco use than the State of Oregon as a whole.
By banning tobacco from parks and campgrounds they hope to encourage more people to kick the habbit, as well as cut some clean up costs.
Around 15 people attended the town hall meeting and only one, Curtis Everett, admitted to being a smoker. He said it is a bad habit and said he is for making facilities like schools tobacco free. However, he said banning it from parks and campgrounds is going just a little too far.
"I think when you are outdoors like that, you know, its going to get to where you can't walk down the street and have a cigarette," says Everett.
While Everett is opposed to a ban, he said meetings like the one put on by the Lane County Department of Health and Human Services are valuable for smokers and non-smokers alike.
"We're losing rights every day," Everett said. "I mean laws on top of laws, and if people don't get up off their butts and come down here to town hall meetings like this they are going to lose their rights to everything."
There is no policy currently in the works. The Lane County Department of Health and Human Services held Wednesday's town hall meeting as a way to get the conversation about the topic started. They hope to reach out to as many people in the community as possible to hear as much feedback as they can. Additional meetings are being planned for this topic, but specific dates have not yet been set.
Smoking cigarettes is bad for your health, but becoming a police state goes against everything this country stands for. I think the county looks at it this way: more laws = more fines = more money. Goodbye freedom!
Tobacco products should ONLY be available in suppository form. Then those loyal to nicotine can cram an ass-capsule and "enjoy" their moment of Zen anywhere, anytime.Â
 After an expensive dinner? Just wedge in a butt-Camel for pure hands-free satisfaction.
 Just closed a huge deal? Stuff your favorite cigar in capsule form, without the nasty smell offending anyone.
 Nervous about a job evaluation? No need to stain your fingers and teeth just before going in and facing the boss....just cram and go. Your hair never wreaks of an ashtray!!! Oh happy dayÂ
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I find the thought ridiculous and too challenging to enforce at any rate. --signed ex cigarette smoker
Lane County should not ban smoking in county parks or any other open-air setting. Tobacco smoke in the open disperses sufficiently to be no danger to people other than the smoker. Nonsmokers should worry more about vehicle exhaust and industrial vapors than tobacco smoke. Even smokers have the constitutional right to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. The current trend of government bodies to become every citizens nanny is repulsive and disgusting. That kind of behavior by the British led to the Revolutionary War.
NO.
Christ almighty, let people live their lives!
All you read about is this county being broke,cuts to schools,prisoners let out of jail,ect.,ect.,so why is the county wasting time on this non issue,and not doing something to create more jobs within the county? Regulation on top of more regulation isn't going to attract anything. The county could save alot of money by doing away with this department,if they've got time to come up with something like this,then they are really not needed. Oregon is hurting now because they are not taking in enough money from gas taxes to cover the expense of road repair,so why risk eliminating what little tax base remains off of tobacco? Jesus Christ a little tobacco smoke outdoors isn't going to harm anything.
This is absurd, I'm not a smoker but have grown up around them my whole life. I was all for cutting smoking from restaurants but this is getting out of hand. People have been smoking cigarettes since before America was a country. There is no doubt that cigarette smoking is bad for your health, and 2nd hand smoke is bad for others...but this is out in the open air with plenty of ventilation. People have gotten so scared by the media sensationalizing the dangers of cigarettes that they have forgotten about the other crap in the air that is just as bad for us. There are pollutants and toxins in everything we do from breathing the air to washing in the shower, but we can't make it illegal for the air pollutants to hang out in county parks can we? Leave smokers alone! if they want to smoke let them smoke! We need to stop being treated like infants, the warning label is on the pack and if someone in the park doesn't want the smell of smoke wafting towards them then they can move up-wind.
I am not a smoker, but this would be wrong. Smoking is legal in Oregon and taxes are collected on the sale of tobacco products. Is Lane County part of the State of Oregon or have they seceded from the State of Oregon. I believe that somewhere in the convoluted budgetary process Lane County receives funds from the Department of Revenue. Parks are usually large enough that a person can avoid cigarette or tobacco smoke. If some of you folks want to step on other peoples lawful activity, and rights, then I would suggest you live in the wrong country. What are you going to do if someone comes after something you do that is legal and within your rights? Perhaps you think that your rights trump someone else's rights, and if you think that way you are still in the wrong country.
@souptonuts absolutety I to am no longer a smoker but i to am not so prissy
I have been referring to Portland for a long time now as the People's Republic of Portland, apparently Lane county joined them
land of the free home of the weak and cowardly,we should do like australia no one under the age of X may buy cigarettes ever,and just end this game
@Iam1woody: Your comment doesn't make any sense. The article asks: "Should Lane County ban tobacco in county parks?" Do support a ban on smoking in county parks or not?
@mackenzie0158 your right i must write so that even children can understand what i am saying,I do not support bans on legal products.like new yorks soda ban,I do Not think we should have a government that says what we can and can not do with legal products in all facist of our lives
@mackenzie0158 your welcome and the tundra in alaska released more co2 this year than all the cars in the world and all the smokers minus my friend steve,he smokes a lot
Thank you @Iam1woody.