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ISSUE 13 SHAWNEE MISSION EAST PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KS MARCH 29, 2010
New ban restricts smoking across Kansas, ignites reactions among students and local business owners
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his summer, lighting up in a public place could cost you. On March 12, Governor Mark Parkinson signed the Kansas Indoor Clean Air Act into law, eliminating indoor smoking in all restaurants, bars and workplaces throughout the state. Offenders will be charged fines of up to $100 for a first offense and as much as $500 for multiple offenses once the ban goes into effect on July 1. The only public places exempt from the smoking ban will be state-run casinos, tobacco stores, 20 percent of hotel rooms in the state and private clubs such as Veterans of Foreign Wars posts. Thirty-two states, as well as Puerto Rico
and the District of Columbia, currently have comprehensive public smoking bans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. State Rep. Barbara Bollier of Mission Hills, an anesthesiologist doctor, voted for the ban and was on the floor of the House when it passed. She said she couldn’t be happier. “I was elated, I actually got tears in my eyes,” Bollier said. “To be able to help improve the health of thousands upon thousands of people was just a phenomenal experience.” Senior Jake Fleming feels that it should be up to the individual business owner, rather than the government, to decide if their establishment will permit smoking or not. However, Fleming believes the ban will make going out to
eat more pleasant for people that don’t smoke, like himself. “You just don’t want to go to eat dinner in a restaurant and smell smoke that you don’t want to smell and you can almost taste it, too,” Fleming said. Former state Sen. David Wysong, a Mission Hills resident, wrote the bill and steered it through its nearly four year journey to the Governor’s desk. Wysong has lost five members of his family to tobacco-related diseases, including his sister-in-law during his first year in the Senate. Dr. Mark Allen, a friend of Wysong and parent of three East alumni, believes the bill will be a good legacy for the retired state senator.
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NEWS: Quick Guide to Current Events (pg. 4) FEATURES: Senior Dedicated to Writing (pg. 18) A&E: Entertainment Calendar (pg. 28)