Matthew J. Doherty

Borough debates stronger smoking law for beaches, boardwalk

February 21, 2009

CHRISTINA VEGA
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

If smokers want to protect their right to light up a cigarette on the borough beaches and boardwalk, they need to pick up their butts.

The Borough Council is considering a smoking ban proposed by its environmental commission largely due to the high amounts of cigarette litter in the dunes, on the boardwalk and beaches.

“Go by any bench on the boardwalk, any bench, and count the butts. If you don’t see any, just nudge the sand with your toe and I guarantee you will find cigarette butts. It is virtually every single place and it’s unsightly,” Mayor Kenneth E. Pringle said at a special public hearing this afternoon.

Carol Davies, chairwoman for the environmental commission, presented the main concerns of the commission and offered facts from several resources about secondhand smoke and the effects of litter.

“Exposure to secondhand smoke within a few feet of someone smoking outdoors can be as high as exposure to secondhand smoke in an enclosed space,” she said. “Studies have shown that in beach cleanups that cigarette butts are the number one form of litter.”

Pringle added cigarette butts are one of two items that the beachraker does not pick up - the other being plastic straws.

In 2001, Belmar was the first Shore town to enforce a partial smoking ban on the beaches. The borough now has designated areas every 400 feet on the beach for smoking. Beachgoers are permitted to smoke within a 50-foot radius of the signs or face a $25 fine. Litterers can face a fine of $100 and two days of community service.

Changes to the smoking law that the council is considering include banning smoking on the beaches and boardwalk, limiting smoking to only certain beaches or just the boardwalk or amending the designated smoking areas.

“The issue is trying to balance rights. The hard part of this job is trying to strike the right balance between what’s fair and right and what’s not,” Pringle said. “I’m looking for some interim way to improve upon what we have and not an outright ban.”

Some 50 residents gathered in the municipal courtroom for the meeting to voice concerns regarding the ban. Most residents agreed a complete ban of smoking on the beaches is unrealistic and would be an infringement on the rights of smokers.

“The purpose of this smoking ban is not to protect the public from the fictional harms of secondhand smoke in open spaces. Rather, it supports smokers to comply with the nonsmoking majority’s view of the ideal citizen,” said Eileen Thiede, of Tenth Avenue, who added she doesn’t smoke anymore.

On the other hand, nonsmoker Bart Yarnold of Inlet Terrace said he lost his father to lung cancer, mostly from secondhand smoke, and thinks smoking on the beaches should be banned completely.

“We have to educate the smokers that their butts are litter. I don’t think they understand,” Yarnold said. “I believe in people’s rights, but when it infringes on me, my children and my children’s children, then I have a problem.”