Bullard May Prohibit Smoking in City Park

Another East Texas city may soon ban smoking. Tyler was the first East Texas city to establish a partial smoking ban in 1987 for workplace environments and many public locations. Since then, other cities across the area have followed, adapting bans to locations that suit them. Now, Bullard may ban smoking in its public park. Mayor Pam Frederick says families have complained that there are cigarette butts littering the park where their kids play. Families worry smoking and cigarette butts lying around pose a health risk for their kids. Frederick also says the city is spending taxpayer money to clean up those cigarettes. Bullard has no city-wide ban, but over the years, Bullard schools, and many businesses have cut out smoking. Frederick says, "So the employees that are smokers are finding somewhere to go during their lunch break." She just wishes the most popular break spot wasn't such a family environment - the city park. She says, "It's becoming an issue and families that want to spend time there during the day, are having to tolerate smoking." It's not just the smoke. It's also the litter left behind. "We're finding a lot of littler because they throw their cigarette butts on the ground or even empty their ashtrays there," Frederick says. That causes a mess for the city to clean up, and a concern for area parents. Bullard resident Luke Derr says, "You don't want your babies crawling around and playing with cigarette butts. It's just nasty." Derr hopes the city bans smoking in the park, where he takes his child to play. "I smoke cigarettes," he says, "but I have a 3-year-old and we don't smoke around our child. I'd prefer her not to be around them period." Bullard resident Roger Leach is an ex-smoker. "I smoked for 27 years." He's all for banning smoking inside buildings, but says expanding that to outdoor areas is taking it too far. "As long as smoking is legal, they need a place to go," Leach says. However, he does agree that the butts should get the boot. "People have to clean up after themselves. There's no question about that." Mayor Frederick points out that littering cigarettes during the extreme drought creates another danger. "There is a serious fire concern in Texas." She reminds her community that many of the East Texas wildfires started from cigarettes. She says, "This could be a safety issue for the surrounding neighborhood." Mayor Frederick says smoking in restaurants or other public places in Bullard does not seem to be a concern. She says as the city of Bullard grows, she assumes smoking in restaurants and other public places will become more of a concern, and that the city will look into more bans if that time comes. The smoking ban proposal will be on the city council's December agenda. That meeting is scheduled for the second Tuesday in December.