Wood County court complex to be smoke-free

5/14/2004

BOWLING GREEN - The Wood County Courthouse soon will be smoke-free inside and out.

Wood County Administrator Andrew Kalmar said yesterday commissioners have decided that to comply with the city's public smoking ban, they will not allow smoking in the soon-to-open atrium, which will connect the courthouse, county office building, and county records center, nor on the front lawn or in the parking lot.

Whether employees, jurors, or visitors, all smokers will be permitted to light up only on city sidewalks around the perimeter of the courthouse complex once the new atrium opens around June 1.

"We discussed it with the elected officials a couple of times, and the only concern at all was with regard to jurors," Mr. Kalmar said. "We talked about having a designated smoking area, but we decided the city sidewalk was as close or closer than any area we could have designated."