EAST LIVERPOOL--A photo of cash aflame is a great way to get people’s attention. This image is on signs posted around campus warning students what will happen to
their college’s money if they violate Ohio’s Smoking Laws. The fines that KSU could face could reach $2,500.The Regional Development Office at the Kent Campus generated the posters and sent them to Henry Trenkelbach, the business manager at both Columbiana County campuses. His position puts him in charge of security, so the responsibility of policing smokers and their potential to violate falls on him. Posting the signs has been effective in getting the word out.
According to the Ohio Department of Health’s Web site, the smoking ban officially began on Dec. 7th 2006, after voters supported the issue last November. The law states that “public places” and “places of employment” must have posted at each entrance signs that are legible and contain a toll-free number for reporting smoking violations.
If someone wants to make a report or complain to Kent State, the number listed on the newly posted signs will put you in direct contact with Trenkelbach, who will take care of the situation.
Before a violation occurs, anyone smoking within twenty feet of a KSU building will receive a warning either from Trenkelbach himself or a security guard. Trenkelbach admitted that both students and staff have complained about infringements on the new ban on smoking near entrances. He said, however, that ta mere verbal warning remedied the problem. “Usually there is cooperation from students,” he said.
Offenders are then asked to move to the closest ashtray; they have been placed at the legal designated areas. If smokers refuse to move, Trenkelbach will write a formal incident report, and a committee will review the citation and decide on possible further action. Every violation is kept on file.
Trenkelbach also stated that, ironically, if a smoker is on the steps of KSU property, he has the right to ask them to move. However, if someone is on the sidewalk, which is on city property, he or she is beyond the reach of university “smoking police.”
According to Trenkelbach, if the state finds out about a breach of our campus’s clean air, “the dean will get a phone call” and our college’s money could go up in smoke.
