AUBURN - Veteran Frank Thomas wants to know why the Port Byron American Legion has been fined for violating the state's indoor smoking ban when Cayuga County employees are allowed to light up in a $1,000 shelter attached to the County Office Building.
"It's ridiculous what they're doing to us after we went to fight to keep people's rights for this country," said Thomas, the financial officer for the American Legion's John Cool Post.
Port Byron legion commander Dick Potempo and Thomas were coming out of the Genesee Street County Office Building after paying a $250 fine Thursday when they noticed some cigarette smoke trickling out of the shelter's entrance way. They looked inside to find a woman puffing on a cigarette.
On Friday, Thomas filed a formal complaint with the county health department, demanding answers.
"It isn't fair," Thomas said. "Do they make a smoking room for employees using taxpayer money and put a lean-to on our beautiful county office building?"
The shelter has a picnic table with an ashtray sitting on its blue and white-patterned tablecloth. A series of metal smoking receptacles sat near the entrance and there was a thick smell of residual cigarette smoke inside.
As it turns out, the shack is allowed under the state's indoor smoking law passed last year, county health department officials said.
The county can have such a facility, as long as it has a separate entrance and ventilation from the county office building, no employee work is completed inside, and employees aren't required to enter it, said Eileen O'Connor, the county's environmental health director.
County health department officials called the state to verify they were in compliance following Thomas' complaint, said Elane Daly, director of the county health department.
"It would be okay in other places," O'Connor said. "It's not like the county is any different than any other employer."
State Health Department officials couldn't be reached for comment. However, indoor smoking is only permitted in public places "when the enclosed areas are being used for the sole purpose of inviting the public to sample tobacco products," according to the state's guidelines for the Clean Indoor Air Act.
The shelter was built by county public works employees before the state smoking ban went into effect last July, said Cayuga County Legislature Chairman Herb Marshall. It cost about $1,000.
Staff writer Craig Fox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or craig.fox@lee.net
Port Byron legion commander Dick Potempo and Thomas were coming out of the Genesee Street County Office Building after paying a $250 fine Thursday when they noticed some cigarette smoke trickling out of the shelter's entrance way. They looked inside to find a woman puffing on a cigarette.
On Friday, Thomas filed a formal complaint with the county health department, demanding answers.
"It isn't fair," Thomas said. "Do they make a smoking room for employees using taxpayer money and put a lean-to on our beautiful county office building?"
The shelter has a picnic table with an ashtray sitting on its blue and white-patterned tablecloth. A series of metal smoking receptacles sat near the entrance and there was a thick smell of residual cigarette smoke inside.
As it turns out, the shack is allowed under the state's indoor smoking law passed last year, county health department officials said.
The county can have such a facility, as long as it has a separate entrance and ventilation from the county office building, no employee work is completed inside, and employees aren't required to enter it, said Eileen O'Connor, the county's environmental health director.
County health department officials called the state to verify they were in compliance following Thomas' complaint, said Elane Daly, director of the county health department.
"It would be okay in other places," O'Connor said. "It's not like the county is any different than any other employer."
State Health Department officials couldn't be reached for comment. However, indoor smoking is only permitted in public places "when the enclosed areas are being used for the sole purpose of inviting the public to sample tobacco products," according to the state's guidelines for the Clean Indoor Air Act.
The shelter was built by county public works employees before the state smoking ban went into effect last July, said Cayuga County Legislature Chairman Herb Marshall. It cost about $1,000.
Staff writer Craig Fox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or craig.fox@lee.net
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