HORN LAKE, Miss. (FOX13) – An anti-smoking group has re-ignited a heated debate in DeSoto County and the group is pushing to go smoke free.
But it has been a tougher fight than anticipated for the Mississippi Tobacco Free Coalition of DeSoto and Tate counties.
Horn Lake is the lone holdout where smokers can still light up. Mayor Allen Latimer is a smoker but he claims that doesn’t play into the city’s decision to so far not to adopt a no smoking ordinance.
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Personally, as long as a business has its license and is selling legal products that is a decision that is before the business owner, said Mayor Latimer. I am kind of old-fashioned. I remember words like Constitution and Liberty and you can over regulate some times.
Jill Morris, a volunteer with the Mississippi Tobacco Free Coalition for DeSoto and Tate counties, doesn’t agree with Mayor Latimer. She says it’s not a business decision. It’s a health decision.
If it’s okay to offer toxins that cause cancer that come through second-hand smoke in a restaurant and any public space, then certainly you don’t need an inspection for whatever you might find there, Morris said.
Morris says she and others have been before the city twice to offer up the idea of a smoke free ordinance and have asked the mayor to appear a third time.
I asked him when would be a good time to present to the city council to adopt a smoke-free policy and his response to me was, It will never happen,’ Morris said. My response was, It needs to.’
Mayor Latimer doesn’t deny the comment but says he only offered it as an opinion…
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