CATTARAUGUS COUNTY
Work session to be held on smoking ban
LITTLE VALLEY—Cattaraugus County lawmakers say they will hold a work session to take a closer look at enforcement and privacy issues related to a proposal to outlaw smoking in cars carrying children.
William E. Sprague, R-Yorkshire, who drafted the law, which is designed to protect children from secondhand smoke while in cars, hopes to have an in-depth review in committee sessions after more fact-finding. The measure succeeded in obtaining the support of the Human Services Committee last week, when county Health Department officials urged that an educational component be included in any changes to the law.
The proposal stumbled in the Public Safety Committee, receiving three votes from the five members in attendance and was tabled, along with a companion resolution, for a June 10 public hearing.
Health officials say not all tobacco-cessation programs are effective but encourage non-confrontational programs that could change the behavior of some smokers. They point to the success of a Salamanca ordinance aimed at teens, in which officers confiscate tobacco products and educating youth and parents.
Some lawmakers object to anti-smoking legislation.
Dick Giardini, D-Allegany, argued last week that it is impossible to reason with smokers, and Bucky McClune, D-Salamanca, said the government is already intruding on people’s privacy.
“We can’t even enforce cell phone use; how are we going to enforce smoking in somebody’s own car?” said Norman Marsh, R-Little Valley, insisting he will vote against the proposal.
Katrina O’Stricker, of the Southern Tier Wellness Partnership, has promised to provide legislators with information about other cessation programs in the state and evidence that secondhand smoke has a proven connection to ear infections and asthma—illnesses that drive up the county’s Medicaid payments.
In other county business, the Development and Agriculture Committee will hold a special work session at 3 p. m. Wednesday to discuss the sale of 437 acres on Route 98 in Farmersville, a former proposed landfill site that the county obtained in a tax foreclosure.
Committee Chairman Jerry Burrell, RFranklinville, said new survey boundaries have been mapped and committee members will receive information in advance of an auction of some of the lands in September.
During Wednesday’s formal meeting, the Legislature is expected to introduce legislation for immediate vote expressing support for Quaker Millwork & Lumber’s bid to obtain three manufacturing properties seized in 2008 by the federal government during a drug bust.
Company owner Robert J. Raber is eyeing two warehouse and manufacturing buildings and a vacant three-acre property, all located on Mill Street, for an expansion of his woodworking and door-manufacturing business in Orchard Park. He has told the mayor and Cattaraugus Local Development Corporation he will pay $25,000 for it and hire 25 local residents. He and community leaders fear that federal authorities could sell the property to more irresponsible owners and hasten the community’s decline.
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