August 7, 2002
Signs of no-smoking resolution showing at Civic Center
Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners approved proposed smoking ban last July
By Kimberly Warren
Special to the Herald
More than one year after a no-smoking resolution was approved for the Grand Traverse County Civic Center, the signs are beginning to show.
One dozen "No Smoking" signs were posted around the grounds on the 45-acre Civic Center early this week. Bonnie Willings of the Grand Traverse County Health Department said she expects few - if any - issues to arise with the new policy.
"We expect that most people will be really compliant," she said. "But, the signs are just now going up, so we don't know for sure."
The new policy is self-enforcing, which means it gives visitors to the Civic Center the right to point out the new rules.
"(The signs) will give those of use who choose not to have the ill effects from smokers the right to say, 'This is non-smoking,'" said Tammi Rodgers, who started the campaign to make the Civic Center smoke-free. "Seventy-five percent of the population doesn't smoke. We've been a silent majority for far too long. I'm choosing not to be silent anymore."
Rodgers stopped being quiet last year after secondhand smoke made her son sick during a baseball game.
"He is extremely allergic to cigarette smoke," she said. "We were in an area where parents were smoking next to the fence. It just became very bothersome to him - and to me because it was bothering him - and I didn't think it was appropriate."
Rodgers circulated a petition - which she said 40 people signed - and submitted it to the county's Parks and Recreation Commission. The commission unanimously approved a no-smoking policy that then went on to the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners for approval.
The board proposed endorsed the no-smoking resolution on July 25, 2001.
Rodgers said she is pleased that there are now being signs posted that recognize a smoking ban.
"I'm so happy," Rodgers said. "I'm just thrilled. We're saving lives and lungs."
Willings said that while she walked around Monday finding places to put the signs, she talked with several people at the Civic Center.
"Everybody was in favor," she said. "I did not have one negative comment at all."
Of the people she spoke with, Willings said moms were the happiest.
"There were two reasons they were in support of it," Willings said. "One, it will be really nice not to have cigarettes butts on the ground. Two, (Kids Kove) is for kids and they don't need to see that as role modeling of good behavior."