By JASON MICHAEL WHITE, Daily Journal of Johnson County staff writer

No one will be allowed to smoke within 25 feet of most Greenwood businesses once a smoking ban takes effect in April.

But no one seems clear about how the distance limit will work, especially for areas along Madison Avenue and Main Street, where businesses are close to each other. Most buildings are less than 25 feet apart. Several even share a wall.

Employees downtown who want smoke breaks have few places to light up, aside from standing in the middle of the street, city council member Ron Deer said.

If people are dumb enough to walk into the middle of a street to smoke, they have other problems, council member Keith Hardin said.

Employees might have to walk to a parking lot to smoke, but they will not have to go into the street, he said.

Hardin and a council majority voted 5 to 1 to give the smoking ban final approval. They approved the distance limit in an effort to keep secondhand smoke out of businesses’ ventilation systems.

Deer voted against the smoking ban because, he said, he does not believe government should take businesses’ rights away.

For example, Greenwood resident Elmer James plans to take ownership of a downtown business within 60 days. He thinks the ordinance is ridiculous since few people know exactly how far away 25 feet is, or how that limit will be enforced.

He said jokingly he would have to draw a chalk line around his business to indicate the 25-foot point.

Residents may walk past businesses or along the street while smoking, not knowing they are violating a city ordinance by lighting up tobacco to close to businesses.

Greenwood resident Donna Camp sometimes walks through downtown in the spring and smokes along her way.

She said she understands why the city is banning smoking in restaurants but didn’t realize that the smoking ban would keep her from lighting up while walking in areas of the city where she would be too close to businesses.

Also, she said she has a poor concept of distance and is concerned that other people who may not know exactly how far away 25 feet is might stumble too close to businesses while smoking and get cited.

“Do I have to take a measuring stick everywhere with me when I walk, I mean, come on,” she said.
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