Tobacco Ban in effect in Huntington

HUNTINGTON, IND. (WANE) - Another county in northeast Indiana has adopted a public smoking and tobacco ban. It took effect January 1st primarily for four buildings in Huntington County.

It will directly impact smokers when they visit some agencies in Huntington County.

"We passed an ordinance to ban smoking in any county owned buildings or county owned vehicles," said Huntington County Commissioner Kathy Branham.

That was passed during the early summer of 2009 and applies to buildings operated by the County, primarily including the Huntington County Courthouse, The Courthouse Annex, the Huntington County Sheriff's Department and Jail , and the Huntington County Highway Department.

The tobacco ban doesn't just apply to inside the actual buildings in the County, but also the outside areas, like the steps and even the sidewalks. Several signs – both permanent and temporary – are posted all around to let everyone know the new rules.

"Prior to this we had a ban on smoking inside of the courthouse, but we had a real problem with people having to walk through it and then some of the offices in the summertime if the windows were open they were having a lot of smoke come into their rooms,” Branham said.

Huntington County resident and 30 year smoker Denny Okuly actually says he approves of the new ordinance.

"I can understand the reasoning for it because it does endanger other people's health, and yes, I am a smoker but I'm also trying to quit," Okuly told NewsChannel 15’s Matt McCutcheon.

Meanwhile, others hope this is a sign of things to come.

"I think it should be statewide. I don't smoke, I've never smoked, so I'm prejudice, but I just think there should be a statewide ban on smoking," said Jim Gordon.

That’s something that's been talked about on a statewide level by some health groups, but only time will tell if that comes up in the 2010 Legislative Session.

That begins on Tuesday, January 5 and goes through mid-March. Many lawmakers say that the state’s money woes will likely be the biggest issue to be addressed during the session.