Public smoking could be outlawed in T.O.

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers A RARE SIGHT MAY BE GETTING RARER- Thousand Oaks resident Ross Miller puffs on a cigar outside the Cigar Co. on Thousand Oaks Boulevard. He and other consumers of tobacco products may soon face a city ordinance which would ban smoking in public places. Lighting up a cigarette in an outdoor public area in Thousand Oaks may soon become a thing of the past.

The Thousand Oaks City Council recently voted 40 to direct the city's attorney's office and other members of the city staff to research and draft an ordinance banning smoking in outdoor public areas. Mayor Andy Fox wasn't present.

Councilmember Dennis Gillette proposed the smoking ban because secondhand smoke has become a community public health issue, he said.

Gillette requested that the Conejo Recreation and Park District and the Conejo Valley Unified School District be asked for their support for the proposed ordinance.

- Nancy Needham