City that campaigns to ban smoking in public parks forgets to check if a ban was already in place (it was)

Tuesday, October 14, 2014, 3:02 PM - A California city that spent months debating a smoking ban in public parks found out that one had already been in place for more than a decade.

In August, a troop of Girl Scouts from Turlock, California approached city council about establishing a smoking ban in public parks, sparking months of debate.

Last week, Turlock's Parks, Recreation & Public Facilities Superintendent Erick Schulze put an end to the matter by informing a crowd that smoking is already banned in Turlock's public parks, and it has been for more than a decade.

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“In our research over the last month we were trying to figure out why our sports complex—the soccer fields—had a no smoking ban but none of our other parks did. Due to our research we came across a council resolution from back in 2003 and within that council resolution there was a banning of smoking in parks and parking lots—all parks and parking lots....For whatever reason after the council took action on that item there was never any enforcement, never any signs posted," he said, according to the Turlock Journal.

The ban may have fell through the cracks due to council changing members "multiple times" since 2003, making it difficult to decipher why signs were never erected, according to Schulze.