Most folks OK with partial butt ban at Commons

The Civil War soldier who stands at the top of this monument will now be surveilling much of the demarcation line between smokers and nonsmokers. (Harrison Thorp photo)

ROCHESTER - People we spoke to at the Rochester Commons on Wednesday were in general agreement with the smoking ban enacted by the City Council on Tuesday, but one man said it’s ludicrous to think police will be able to enforce the ordinance when he said they don’t do anything to enforce the leash law already in place.

“How are they going to see someone smoking a cigarette from 50 yards away when they don’t see a 110-pound dog running unleashed,” said the man who didn’t want to be identified.

He said he was a Rochester resident who lives near the Commons and occasionally smokes there. However, he said that it probably should never have come to this and wouldn’t have if smokers had just had a little respect for children playing in the playground on the east end of the Commons.

He also said he felt Rochester Police should have more important things on their plate other than ticketing illegal smokers.

Another smoker told The Lebanon Voice she agreed with the ban, but thought it somewhat of a double standard between smokers and motorists.

“Don’t tell me that when I smoke I’m polluting more than a person by themselves driving around in a Hummer or one of these SUVs,” she said. “Now that’s ridiculous. They’re putting out a heckuva lot more pollution than I am.”

A smoker who was talking to her said the ban was appropriate because of the well-known dangers of secondhand smoke and that the children playing in the playground should be protected.

The woman, meanwhile, wondered aloud if she would be able to smoke on the east side of the Commons outside the white picket fence that surrounds the park.

“If I’m out here I should be able to smoke,” she said standing beside her car.