In an attempt to enforce smoking laws, Mary Baker, a security guard in the library at Sinclair Community College, has been patrolling the grounds of Sinclair and handing out cards that are marked with the 16 approved smoking locations on campus.
“Every time I see someone smoking in the non-designated smoking areas, I say hey you, Stevie Wonder,” Baker said. “And they say, why did you call me Stevie Wonder?’ I say, because Stevie Wonder couldn’t have seen those signs.”
Once the joke is over, Baker said she then hands the card to the students and sends them to a smoking area.
“Ohio state laws hold that businesses are held responsible for people who are smoking in certain areas and some of those areas are adjacent to doors or vents that go into buildings,” Chief of Police Charles Gift said.
But some smokers, during the cold months, huddle near the entrance ways of buildings and dispose of their cigarette butts on the grounds, and Baker said that it is her duty to tell those people to go to the designated smoking areas.
“It is about respect. I want to have an area that is clear where people who are non-smokers can walk through, and not have to breathe in the smoke, because the smoke really does stink,” Baker said. “And it is not fair for us to impose what we do, because we know that physically it is not healthy for us to be smoking. When I say us –it is because I am a smoker. So, it is definitely not good for people who are non-smokers to have to walk through the smoke.”
Students who were asked to move have never created a commotion, but Gift said that students who are repeatedly told to move will be referred to Student Judicial Affairs for violating Sinclair policies or can be cited for disorderly conduct “if they get loud and disorderly and refuse to move.”
In the past, Sinclair has had an issue with students smoking in non-designated areas and putting their cigarettes out in the mulch, according to Lieutenant Scott Fowler.
“In the past there was a certain time of year, when one little cigarette would light the mulch up like a match,” he said.
For Baker, she will continue handing out the cards because she said it is her duty.
“When I am walking around passing out the cards, I am not condemning,” she said. “I told people I am not condemning you because you are smoking – because I smoke. But at the same time, I have respect for those people who do not smoke, and I am going to make sure that you do the same thing.”