Benton County Judge Bans Smoking, Tobacco Use

BENTONVILLE — Benton County Judge Bob Clinard has banned smoking and tobacco products from county property beginning Thursday.

Clinard said he was acting on behalf of the majority of county employees who don’t smoke or use tobacco and don’t want to be exposed to those products.

He said most of the response he has received has been positive. Smoking wasn’t allowed in county buildings before the policy was adopted, but employees could smoke outside.

At A Glance

Benton County Tobacco Memo

County Judge Bob Clinard issued a memo about the tobacco policy change: “To protect and enhance our air quality and to contribute to the health and well-being of all employees, Benton County buildings and facilities shall be entirely tobacco free effective October 10, 2013. As of this date the use of all tobacco products, including chewing tobacco, is banned from the county workplace. Tobacco Free Workplace applies to all regular full-time and part-time employees, volunteers, visitors, and Jurors.”

Source: Benton County

“I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback, probably 90 percent positive,” Clinard said. “I did have one person who called me a ‘liberal Democrat.’ I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean. We’re not trying to control your lives, but the vast majority of people who work at the county don’t want to deal with secondhand smoke. That’s just the truth. Sometimes you have to listen to what the majority of the people want.” 

Clinard’s office sent an email Monday to employees, elected officials and circuit court judges notifying them of the policy.

Some elected officials said they were receiving mixed responses. “I have some employees who have smoked for a long time,” said Bear Chaney, assessor. “They’re not excited about the policy. They wish they could have had more input. But they have all told me that if that’s what the county judge decides, they’ll abide by it.”

County Clerk Tena O’Brien, who is a smoker and supervises a number of employees who smoke, said she would have preferred a less-restrictive policy that accommodated both smokers and nonsmokers.

At A Glance

Secondhand Smoke

Secondhand smoke is classified as a “known human carcinogen” (cancer-causing agent) by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the federal National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization.

Source: American Cancer Society

“I would have liked to have seen the county give us a designated area, out of view of the public, where we could smoke,” O’Brien said.

That sort of designated smoking area for the use of electronic cigarettes was already in effect at the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, said Sheriff Kelley Cradduck. Cradduck said his office will now adopt the more comprehensive policy.

“We adopted our no-smoking policy on June 1,” Cradduck said. “There were no exceptions for tobacco use, but we have an area they can go use the e-cigarettes. It’s out of the view of the public.”

Cradduck said his office implemented the no-smoking policy with “little to no push back” from employees. He said he allowed the use of the electronic cigarettes by employees who used them as smoking cessation tools and will try to work out a new arrangement to continue to encourage employees to quit.

“What we’ll have to do is try to find a reasonable alternative,” Cradduck said.

Barb Ludwig, human resources director, said the county’s health insurance does have provisions for smoking-cessation programs. Cradduck said several of the Sheriff’s Office employees made use of those programs after he implemented the smoking ban.

“I had HR come over to our building twice,” Cradduck said. “The insurance helps provide for patches, for some prescription medication and other things. There were several people here who took advantage of it. They’re trying and I’ve been very pleased with their attitudes.”

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