For Culpepper, smoking ban is personal

Publication Date: 2005-05-19

• Author:LYNN BONNER, ANDREA WEIGL AND J. ANDREW CURLISS
• Publication:Raleigh (NC) News & Observer

A bill that would ban smoking in restaurants in North Carolina appeared to be on shaky legs last week, but the proposal may be getting its second wind.

The bill has been transferred from a House judiciary committee, where it didn't appear to have enough votes to pass, to the House Rules Committee run by Rep. Bill Culpepper.

Culpepper, an Edenton Democrat, can empathize with parents who want to keep their children away from secondhand cigarette smoke.

He carries an inhaler in his jacket pocket to relieve what he calls the "touch of asthma" he's had since childhood.