Caswell County Board of Health looks to expand smoke-free policy

Smokers in Caswell County may soon face more “no smoking” signs if a proposed measure by the Caswell County Board of Health is approved.
“We have a duty to protect people from secondhand smoke,” Dr. Jack Turner, chairman of the Board of Health, said regarding the motivations behind the proposal, which would prohibit smoking in all county and municipal buildings and vehicles.
The proposal would also prohibit smoking within 50 feet of the Caswell County Health Department, the Caswell County Department of Social Services and any buildings that house components of those departments.
While opponents of the measure will readily admit that smoking is a health concern, they say the Board of Health’s proposal is excessive and threatens to erode the rights of county employees and taxpayers.
“I personally think 50 feet is excessive,” said Dianne Moorefield, director of the Department of Social Services. “It doesn’t need to be all or nothing.”
Moorefield said the staff of the social services department agreed to a voluntary nonsmoking environment policy in 1998 out of respect for their nonsmoking coworkers and clients. Since that time, staff members who choose to smoke do so outside the building, beneath an overhang at a staff-only entrance.
She said her staff would lose that right if the proposal is accepted by the Board of Health. Moorefield is also concerned about the rights of the department’s clients, who will no longer be able to smoke within 50 feet of the building.
She pointed out that the smoking policy of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services only prohibits smoking within 20 feet of main entrances.

‘Smokers have
rights, too’
New state legislation, however, allows local health boards to prohibit smoking on the grounds of health departments and social services buildings, up to 50 feet from the buildings.
“I think if there’s going to be a plan, it needs to be a complete plan, with accommodations,” Moorefield said, speaking of designated, covered smoking areas. “Smokers have rights, too.”
Caswell County Commissioner Hester Vernon has also spoken out against the policy, citing the hypocrisy of a Caswell County entity prohibiting smoking when the county was literally built by tobacco.
“Tobacco is still an important part of this county’s tax base,” Vernon said.
“I have a problem raising the property taxes of people and then taking away their rights,” he added, noting the Health Department’s budget proposal requests $600,000 in county funds for operations.
In addition, Vernon expressed concern over the ability to enforce the new rules if approved.
Turner stated that, if approved, the measure would largely be “self-enforced” with employees being asked to remind violators of the new rules.

Violators could
be fined
The proposal states that second and subsequent violations would be considered misdemeanors and punishable by a fine not to exceed $200 per violation.
Enforcement could prove especially tricky at the Department of Environmental Health, which is housed in a building on Main Street in Yanceyville currently shared with the Caswell County Senior Center and the Yanceyville Post Office.
A prohibition against smoking within 50 feet of that building would encompass most, if not all, of the building’s parking lot and begin encroaching on neighboring businesses. Questions surrounding enforcement of the new nonsmoking rules at that location resulted in a plan to form a committee to look at the issue.
Yanceyville Town Manager David Parrish said that municipal buildings would largely remain unaffected by the new rules as the Town Council already has adopted an administrative policy against smoking inside town buildings.
The Caswell County Sheriff’s Office also is a nonsmoking building.
The proposed rules are expected to be discussed further at the next Board of Health meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. June 24 in the basement of the Health Department.