Smoking ordinance headed for Bangor council

BANGOR – After a series of persuasive arguments from local medical, public health and business leaders, as well as the father of a Bangor toddler, city officials agreed a proposed ordinance aimed at protecting children from secondhand smoke was worth consideration

During a meeting Tuesday night at City Hall, members of the City Council’s government operations committee voted 2-0 to send the ordinance on to the full nine-member council for a vote.

“This is an opportunity for us to have a say and really make a statement,” said Cary Weston, the father of a 3-year-old, who came to the meeting to support the measure.

“It’s kind of common sense,” said council Chairman Richard Greene, a smoker with children.

“Smoking is not good. I choose to not smoke with them in the car,” he said. “I choose to not do it because I value the health of my children.”

Though parents like Greene are aware of the dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke – which contains more than 250 chemicals known to be toxic or cancer-causing – many others are not, noted Jonathan Shenkin, the Bangor pediatric dentist and child health advocate who is leading the charge, along with Paul Shapero, a Bangor allergist, and family physician Peter Millard.

“That’s the population I am concerned about,” Shenkin said.

While Maine and other states go to great lengths to protect adults from secondhand smoke in bars, at work and in most public places, nothing has been done to protect children from smoke in cars, Shenkin said.

“This is the next step that needs to be done to address this behavior,” he said.

The proposed ordinance will undergo a first reading during the council’s Dec. 27 meeting. A second reading, and possible adoption, is set for the council’s meeting on Jan. 8, at which time the council will solicit public comment.

As drafted, the ordinance would prohibit anyone from lighting up cigarettes, pipes or cigars in any motor vehicle when any person under age 18 is in the vehicle. Violations could result in a $50 fine, but only as a secondary offense, that is, if the vehicle is stopped for some other reason, such as speeding.

Police officers, however, would have the discretion to issue a warning if, for example, the violation involved a motorist unfamiliar with the proposed city rule.

“The reason for this is that this is a bit of an unusual issue, statewide,” Assistant City Solicitor John Hamer said.

If the ordinance is adopted, Bangor will become the first community in the state to ban smoking in vehicles carrying minors, though not the first place in the nation.

The states of Arkansas and Louisiana adopted similar measures earlier this year.

The concern about exposing children to secondhand smoke is not limited to medical professionals. Even the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce has weighed in on the issue, which Executive Director Candy Guerette pointed out meshed well with the Chamber’s workplace wellness initiatives.

The Chamber’s leadership on the health front won it the distinction of being named the nation’s first “well region” by the national employee wellness organization WELCOA, the Wellness Councils of America.

“This is in line with that [initiative] as far as our board is concerned,” Guerette said.