From: Joe@smokefree.org
Date: Fri, 06/02/06
Sante Fe (NM) Votes 7-0 to Go Smokefree
Law to take effect in 30 days
Parts excerpted from the New Mexican, 6/1/06
On Wednesday, the Santa Fe City Council voted 7-0 in favor of comprehensive
smokefree workplace legislation. Sante Fe, the capital of New Mexico, will
require most workplaces, including bars, restaurants, and the outdoor-dining
areas of restaurants to be smokefree.
"Yahoo," City Councilor Patti Bushee, the bill's primary sponsor, said following
the vote. For years, the councilor said, she has received a steady stream of
messages from entertainers and hospitality workers complaining about secondhand
smoke in bars and restaurants.
Working with a health group called the Santa Fe Tobacco Free Coalition, Bushee
promoted the bill as a matter of worker's rights. The three-term councilor said
she was amazed no one spoke in opposition of the bill Wednesday. "Let's all go
out and dance in a smoke-free environment," she said.
Santa Fe joins Edgewood, Roswell and Doña Ana County as municipalities in New
Mexico that require clean indoor air at most workplaces, including bars and
restaurants. Albuquerque has smokefree restaurants but makes an exception for
stand-alone bars.
Sante Fe's legislation also requires buildings be smokefree within 25 feet of
their entrances.
Prior to the vote, a stream of about two dozen teens, advocates and medical
professionals voiced their support for the proposal. They set the room awash in
statistics and studies. Some also gave heart-rending accounts of their own
battles with tobacco smoking.
Fifty-two-year-old Cindi Quirk told the council how smoking led to throat cancer
that nearly killed her in 2002. She held the mask doctors would place over her
face and bolt to a table while she received daily radiation treatments for two
months. The mask is a reminder of the pain she endured.
"I thought I lost my soul," she told a reporter. She said she is encouraged by
the council's willingness to adopt the law. She said she is also encouraged that
a greater awareness over the dangers of smoking has developed since her youth.
To send a letter in support of smokefree air where you live, go to
www.smokefree.net/alerts.php
Joseph W. Cherner
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the
world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
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