Powell might be next to ban smoking in parks

Even with one of the lowest smoking rates in the state, “healthiest county” Delaware is pushing for more tobacco prohibitions.

The General Health District in the county wants to ban smoking in all public parks, starting with Powell.

Delaware has been named the healthiest county in Ohio three years in a row by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“Our slogan here at the Delaware General Health District is, ‘We are dedicated to your health,’ and as long as there are situations that are harming people’s health, we’ve got work to do,” said health-district spokesman Jesse Carter.

Powell, where the City Council is being asked to consider the ban next month, has been ahead of the curve before on smoking bans, Carter said. Even before Ohio voters passed the Smoke-Free Workplace Act in November 2006, the city had adopted its own smoke-free indoor-air law.

“Powell’s city leaders have shown repeatedly they want a healthy community,” Carter said.

So has Genoa Township, on the other side of the county, which has banned smoking in its parks and in township buildings and vehicles and on its grounds for years. Ashtrays that used to be outside buildings and parks are gone, said township Administrator Paul Wise.

Preservation Parks of Delaware County has partially signed on to the health district’s plan, asking patrons not to smoke in and around the three park playgrounds. Signs erected last fall read, “Young lungs at play! This is a tobacco-free zone.”

People still may smoke on the trails and in the parks, although it doesn’t appear that many do, said spokeswoman Sue Hagan. Cigarette butts are at a minimum, and during concerts and other outdoor events, smokers light up away from the crowd.

“There were questions about being able to enforce it and whether it made a lot of sense because people were outdoors,” Hagan said. “But we wanted to make a start.”

Neither Metro Parks of Franklin County nor the Columbus parks system bans smoking.

Woody Woodward, executive director of the Ohio Parks and Recreation Association, said he wasn’t aware of any specific parks systems that have banned smoking, but he thinks there are a few.

“I have talked to a couple of folks that looked at that, and it’s pretty difficult to enforce,” Woodward said.

Carter said anything the county can do to reduce secondhand smoke and improve the county’s health is worthwhile.

“When it comes to trying to make sure children don’t pick up the habit, all kinds of support is needed,” he said. “A sign in the park that says ‘No smoking here’ will help along those lines.”