Following a county, state and national trend to curb smoking and the use of tobacco and related products in public areas, especially around children, Mountain View Park, effective January 1, 2017, will become a tobacco free facility.

The executive committee of the park board, meeting last Thursday, October 27 with five of its six members present, opted to ban smoking at the park on a 4-0 vote with one abstention.

The committee took the vote on the issue following a presentation from Clinton County Middle School student Loren Little, who basically requested the park become tobacco free and listed her reasons why the park needed the policy.

Little noted primarily health concerns, which involved other people’s health from second-hand smoke, especially those with medical conditions like asthma, etc. She added there was also the danger of cigarette butts causing an accidental fire and the littering aspect, noting how hard it was to keep the park clean when having to pick up cigarette butts.

The student said she felt smoking had an adverse impact on children, citing that allowing smoking in public areas gave the impression it was alright to do so, but, not allowing smoking in public areas, especially around a lot of people and children, it would send a positive health message to the community.

Although she mentioned it may be hard to enforce, it would be better for the park and public if such a policy was passed.

Following Little’s presentation, and with no further discussion, board member Leland Hicks made the motion to make Mountain View Park a tobacco free facility. The motion was seconded by Gina Poore, with Paula Little and Carol Parrgin also voting yes. Board member Gary Guffey abstained.

The board also discussed other issues pertaining to the park, most importantly the lack of operating funds and high expenses–such as utility bills–at the park.

The board approved the treasurer’s report presented by Poore, with that end of balance showing less than $1,000 after pending bills.

In relation to finances, Little made a motion to send the city and county quarterly invoices for their $2,500 per quarter input to the park, with the motion passing by unanimous vote.

The board also agreed to have most of the lights and all non-essential electricity shut off at the park during the late fall and winter months when the park is not used as much by the public and during non-sports seasons.

Finally, the board also voted unanimously to get assistance from the Healthy Hometown Coalition and hire someone to keep the park cleaned and maintained during the illness of Park Director Bobby Reneau.

The next meeting of the park board, which will be a special call meeting, will be held sometime in December.