Tobacco Facts.

Kanawha-Charleston health officials want city police or sheriff’s deputies to accompany health inspectors on smoking inspections to keep potential conflicts with bar owners or patrons from raging out of control.

Kanawha-Charleston Health Department director Dr. Rahul Gupta told members of the county health board Tuesday that health officials recently stepped up enforcement efforts for the countywide smoking ban by sending health inspectors to bars and other establishments at night and on weekends.

But the change has not been without problems.

Health Department Sanitarian Maryanne Kraynanski told health board members that she and another sanitarian went to 12 different places on the evening of April 13 looking for violations of the smoking ban, and felt unsafe in two of them.

At one bar, she said three people were smoking when she walked in. Although the three left, Kraynanski said the bartender told her to “be careful in the parking lot” when she left.

Once outside, she and the other sanitarian were tailed by a pickup truck for two blocks when they drove away.

At another bar, the owner got so angry that Kraynanski said she was forced to leave. “It got to the point where I had to walk out of there,” she said. “I was afraid.

“These people are drinking,” she said, “They’re angry at us, and it’s a very unsafe situation.”

Source:  Wvgazette

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