By Titan Barksdale Winston Salem Journal [12/09/04]

The age-old tradition of lighting up in the Yadkin County Courthouse and county departments has gone.Yadkin County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to ban smoking in the courthouse and the county's Human Resources Building.

The decision ends years of smoking in both buildings. It was typical to see a commissioner smoke while discussing county business during meetings in the commissioners' chambers.Residents often smoke in the main lobby of the Human Resources Building, which includes the health department, finance office, county manager's office and most of the Department of Social Services.County Manager Cecil Wood said that there was "a lot of discussion" before the decision was made.

"Tobacco has been very important to Yadkin County, and it still is," Wood said. "We're not telling people that they can't smoke. We want (smokers) to be courteous and go to another area."Smoking in the two buildings has caused some debate in the past.In 2003, Steve Messick, a Yadkinville resident, had asked commissioners to ban smoking in the Human Resources Building.

They voted 4-1 against his request, Messick said."I'm overwhelmed," Messick said when he heard the news. "That is the most wonderful thing I have ever heard. I just hate I wasn't there."Former Commissioner Johnny Myers frequently smoked.

Former Commissioner Brent Hunter also had smoked during meetings in 2003.None of the new five-member board smokes cigarettes, Commissioner Kimberly Clark-Phillips said. The decision was made during a work session, the continuation of a meeting that had been recessed Monday.

Very few people attended that meeting, Clark-Phillips said, but a resident who has asthma told commissioners that she supports the decision.Clark-Phillips, who is an epidemiologist at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, knows about the adverse effects of smoking and secondhand smoke.

"Smoking is the No. 1 controllable risk factor for heart disease and cancer," she said. "It's not a vote against tobacco. It's a vote for health."She and Commissioner Allen Sneed have ties to the R.J. Reynolds tobacco legacy.Clark-Phillips said she received a Katherine Smith Reynolds scholarship to help her pay for her undergraduate education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.Sneed retired from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in 1987.Yadkin County was one of the few remaining counties that allowed smoking in the public areas of its government buildings.