Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Survey says county snubs lighting up
Winona County may soon consider a countywide smoking ban. Nearly three quarters of county residents surveyed say they would support it.
Lynn Theurer, the county’s community health services director, told the Winona County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday that her department’s advisory committee is deliberating over whether to recommend a no-smoking ordinance to the board.
The Community Health Services Advisory Committee has debated the issue since it received survey results in late October that showed broad support for a ban.
The survey, conducted by an outside research group, used a random phone sample of 352 county residents, and had a 5.2 percent margin of error, meaning that somewhere between 66 percent and 76 percent of those surveyed would support a ban.
It would likely take the board six months or more to develop a no-smoking ordinance and hold public hearings.
Smokers may find themselves under the stars even if the county takes no action. With the DFL in control of both chambers of the Minnesota Legislature, a statewide smoking ban is a possibility this year.
Seventeen states have passed smoking bans in various forms that prevent smoking in public places and restaurants, as have hundreds of municipalities.
Of survey respondents, college-educated women were most supportive of a countywide ban. Eighty percent of respondents said they supported the rights of customers and employees over the rights of smokers.
Nearly 90 percent of people said that even with a ban, they would head to their favorite hangouts the same amount or more frequently.
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