Domino effect

Publication Date: 2007-11-23

• Author:ALICIA P.Q. WITTMEYER and SETH FREEDLAND
• Publication:Daily Press - Newport News,VA

Suffolk and Williamsburg are the latest cities in Hampton Roads to contemplate a cigarette ban in restaurants.

If the cities choose to move forward, they would follow in the footsteps of Norfolk, which voted for a ban last month; Virginia Beach, which will petition the General Assembly to put a ban in place; and Newport News, where city officials have scheduled a public hearing on the issue. Some Chesapeake city officials have indicated in news reports that they too might be interested in snuffing it out.

"I think if you all do it hand in hand, it enhances it," said Suffolk City Council member Charles Parr, who this month asked the city attorney to see which steps Suffolk would have to take to enact its own ban...

Along with a handful of Northern Virginia municipalities, Hampton Roads cities are among the first in the state to explore putting in place local restaurant smoking bans in the wake of a failed attempt to enact a statewide ban during this year's legislative session.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's push to end restaurant smoking here in tobacco country was voted down by the House of Delegates 59-40 in April, with those campaigning against it saying a statewide ban could bar smoking at fairs, street festivals and near food carts...