Murfreesboro Diamond

Tobacco banned from all school property August 29, 2007 - No reporter cited

Heather Grabin
Assistant Editor

There was a time when a football fan could enjoy the game and a cigarette standing on the sidelines while rooting the Rattlers on, but public health awareness and state legislation moved for stiffer anti-tobacco laws and the “sideline smoking” was put to an end.

Over the past few years fans have gathered in the parking lot beside Holloway Field and enjoyed a quick half-time smoke.

All of this will change this football season.

Football fans who use tobacco in any form will have to leave school property this year.

A new state law mandates that smoking or use of tobacco or products containing tobacco in any form in or on any property leased by a public school district, including school buses, is prohibited by students, faculty and visitors.

A Visitor Tobacco Policy was released by Murfreesboro School District last week that states: The Murfreesboro School District and all of its properties shall be tobacco-free 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.

The policy includes the use of cigarettes, dip, snuff, bidis, chew, etc.

Visitors must refrain from tobacco use at all times and all functions of the school.

If the new policy is violated, school personnel will inform the violator of the new policy and ask them to refrain from using tobacco. If the visitor does not comply, they will be asked to leave by the school official. If the visitor still does not stop the use of tobacco, local law enforcement will be notified.
Visitors must leave the school grounds all together in order to use tobacco of any form. It is an infraction of the law to sit in your vehicle and use tobacco if it is parked on school property.

If the visitor does not comply to either quit smoking or leave when asked by school officials, they will be charged with criminal trespass, a class C misdemeanor, with a bond of $175.

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