HANCOCK COUNTY — As Hancock County officials consider changes to smoking rules sparked by a Fortville cigar shop owner, town leaders are showing support for what’s already in place.
Town councils in Cumberland, Fortville, McCordsville and New Palestine recently passed resolutions backing the Hancock County smoking ordinance, which has been on the books for a decade.
Larry Harnish, who owns Maduro on Main at 11 S. Main St. in Fortville, prompted the changes county officials are mulling, which would allow him to build a smoking room with its own ventilation system onto his cigar shop.
Harnish found little support from Fortville Town Council members, who passed a resolution 4-1 earlier this week supporting existing countywide smoking rules.
Fortville town councilman Tim Hexamer voted in favor of the resolution, which doesn’t carry any legal weight, but rather expresses support for the current county ordinance.
“I don’t think we should take a step back from it,” Hexamer told the Daily Reporter.
Michael Frischkorn, also a Fortville town councilman, voted in favor of the resolution as well and pointed to Indiana’s smoking rate, which the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation tallies at 16 percent for adults.
“This is a small effort to reduce the amount of smoking,” Frischkorn said.
Councilmen Robert Holland and Lenzy Hendrix also voted in favor of the resolution, while Fritz Fentz voted against.
Fentz told the Daily Reporter that he doesn’t oppose Hancock County’s current smoking rules but couldn’t support the resolution backing them because of the ash receptacles he has seen outside many government-owned buildings across the county. He referred to a copy of the smoking ordinance first introduced in 2008, which requires proprietors to ensure ashtrays are not provided in areas where smoking is prohibited. That includes within 25 feet of a government-owned building’s entrance. He said Harnish’s plans show more concern for secondhand smoke than county government.
The county commissioners added an amendment to the smoking ordinance in 2009, however, allowing devices “to dispose of smoking materials located directly outside of” entrances.
Harnish said he was disappointed with the Fortville Town Council’s decision, adding it didn’t align with feedback he’s received from the public.
McCordsville Town Council passed a resolution backing the county’s current smoking rules 3-2 earlier this month.
Bryan Burney, a McCordsville town councilman, weighed his experience as a retired physician against his belief in personal choice at the meeting.
“I have seen untold suffering caused by tobacco products, and as a result of that I can’t be in favor of anything that promotes their sale or use in any regard,” Burney said. “…As a physician, what I’ve seen outweighs any perception in my mind of individual freedoms.”
Tom Strayer, also a McCordsville town councilman, voted in favor of the resolution supporting the county’s existing smoking ordinance as well.
“I wouldn’t mind sending a signal that I would like to keep it the way it is,” he said.
Councilman Larry Longman also supported the resolution while Branden Williams and Barry Wood opposed.
The council considered the resolution before Hancock County leaders finished preparing the proposed changes to smoking regulations. Williams said while he had yet to see the proposed language, he didn’t have a problem with an isolated business hosting someone who wanted to smoke a cigar.
Brandee Bastin, coordinator of the Hancock County Tobacco Free Coalition, recalled how Fortville officials sought her insight as they were considering smoking rules stricter than the county’s last summer.
That discussion on smoking rules burned out, but then heated back up again as Harnish sought the changes that would permit his idea for his cigar shop, Bastin continued. Leaders in Fortville sought her counsel once more.
“The American Lung Association is actually our statewide expert on smoke-free air policy,” Bastin said. “And it really was the opinion that if communities are wanting to look at their support of the current county law and… they want to make some sort of statement of support, that a resolution” would be the way to do that.
Other towns became interested, with whom Bastin shared a model resolution from the American Lung Association.
“It was up to them how they wanted to handle it,” Bastin said. “…I think it’s great that the local communities who chose to just make a statement that they support comprehensive smoke-free air in Hancock County.”
Bastin, who also serves on the New Palestine Town Council, abstained from introducing, discussing and voting on its resolution, which passed 2-0 earlier this week.
Cumberland Town Council passed its resolution earlier this week 4-0.
Dan Riley, president of the Greenfield City Council, told the council last week that if Hancock County amends its smoke-free ordinance to loosen restrictions on tobacco-related businesses, he would ask the city council to update Greenfield’s current smoking ordinance to be as strict as the county’s original ordinance.
“This is something that’s important for the employees of this county and for industry,” Riley said. “We need to consider the employees that have to suffer with secondhand smoke or choose not to work. It’s an employment issue.”
Riley said he hopes the commissioners will listen to the county’s municipalities, and their residents, that have chosen to voice their support for the current ordinance. Greenfield prohibits smoking in public places, workplaces and restaurants — a less restrictive ban on smoking than in the county.
