Don't Just Blow Smoke
Originally published in The Northwest Indiana Times
The issue: The Calumet City City Council’s efforts to ban teen smoking.
Our opinion: The council shouldn’t exempt itself from its anti-smoking fervor.
Where there’s smoke, there’s usually a nicotine addict getting a fix. And that’s as likely to be true inside Calumet City’s City Council chambers as it is outside TF North High School or popular teen hangouts such as Friar Tuck’s video arcade.
City Council members have the admirable goal of banning the use of tobacco by anyone under the age of 18. They have proposed a tough new ordinance that would do just that, as well a strengthen penalties against retailers who sell cigarettes to minors.
The teenage smokers are doing more than cultivating an unhealthy habit, council members say. “They congregate in front of the high school and on sidewalks and just create a nuisance,” complains 2nd Ward Alderman Magdalena “Leni” Wosczynski, a nonsmoker.
But the council’s concerns about errant smokers shouldn’t end there.
City Hall itself has become a veritable smokers’ den. Its hallways are choked with blue-gray cigarette fumes as city officials and residents puff away, before, during and after City Council meetings. Anyone who wants to attend a meeting must pass through a cloud of cigarette smoke simply to get to the council chambers.
Aldermen even light up inside their main meeting room during committee meetings, seemingly oblivious to a state law that requires public officials to set aside certain areas in most public buildings for smokers — and declare the rest of the property smoke-free.
In fact, the council does know better. Several years ago, the council voted to ban smoking inside the council chambers. Two weeks later, those good intentions went the way of a crushed cigarette butt when the council decided to allow smoking on the east side of the room. The move was made to accommodate the addiction of the late 4th Ward Alderman Joseph Petrucci, who was known for his affinity for smoking as much as for the Italian sausage at his annual Holy Saturday brunch.
Petrucci died several years later after battling emphysema.
“Kids should know there is a time and a place for smoking and that is not on the street corner,” said Wosczynski. “They must understand that what they’re doing is against the law and they’ll have to pay for it.”
Perhaps there is a time and a place for smoking, but it certainly isn’t the council chambers or the City Hall foyer during a public meeting.
The aldermen, it seems, would do well to listen to their own advice. The council members might have a little more credibility with the younger set — and a few more years to legislate — if they did so.
© 1995 Lee Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.
The issue: The Calumet City City Council’s efforts to ban teen smoking.
Our opinion: The council shouldn’t exempt itself from its anti-smoking fervor.
Where there’s smoke, there’s usually a nicotine addict getting a fix. And that’s as likely to be true inside Calumet City’s City Council chambers as it is outside TF North High School or popular teen hangouts such as Friar Tuck’s video arcade.
City Council members have the admirable goal of banning the use of tobacco by anyone under the age of 18. They have proposed a tough new ordinance that would do just that, as well a strengthen penalties against retailers who sell cigarettes to minors.
The teenage smokers are doing more than cultivating an unhealthy habit, council members say. “They congregate in front of the high school and on sidewalks and just create a nuisance,” complains 2nd Ward Alderman Magdalena “Leni” Wosczynski, a nonsmoker.
But the council’s concerns about errant smokers shouldn’t end there.
City Hall itself has become a veritable smokers’ den. Its hallways are choked with blue-gray cigarette fumes as city officials and residents puff away, before, during and after City Council meetings. Anyone who wants to attend a meeting must pass through a cloud of cigarette smoke simply to get to the council chambers.
Aldermen even light up inside their main meeting room during committee meetings, seemingly oblivious to a state law that requires public officials to set aside certain areas in most public buildings for smokers — and declare the rest of the property smoke-free.
In fact, the council does know better. Several years ago, the council voted to ban smoking inside the council chambers. Two weeks later, those good intentions went the way of a crushed cigarette butt when the council decided to allow smoking on the east side of the room. The move was made to accommodate the addiction of the late 4th Ward Alderman Joseph Petrucci, who was known for his affinity for smoking as much as for the Italian sausage at his annual Holy Saturday brunch.
Petrucci died several years later after battling emphysema.
“Kids should know there is a time and a place for smoking and that is not on the street corner,” said Wosczynski. “They must understand that what they’re doing is against the law and they’ll have to pay for it.”
Perhaps there is a time and a place for smoking, but it certainly isn’t the council chambers or the City Hall foyer during a public meeting.
The aldermen, it seems, would do well to listen to their own advice. The council members might have a little more credibility with the younger set — and a few more years to legislate — if they did so.
© 1995 Lee Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.