Cypress : Mayor Wants Help in Quitting Smoking

Mayor John Kanel is trying to quit smoking, and he wants other smokers in his city to join him, even if it takes a new anti-smoking ordinance to persuade them.

Last week, Kanel asked the City Council to consider a no-smoking ordinance that would apply to public and private establishments. Although the proposal was continued to April 13, Kanel said he expects that the ordinance will be approved.

The four other council members do not smoke, and at least two of them have expressed support for his proposed smoking ordinance, Kanel said.

“I’ve been observing more and more communities doing it, and now I think it should come to our city,” Kanel said. He added that the proposal “sounds a little better coming out of a smoker.”

Kanel said the city would need to research how smoking ordinances in other cities in Orange County have fared should the council consider an ordinance.

“(The ordinance) should not infringe on personal rights. If people want to smoke in their homes and their cars, they can do it. This (ordinance) is for the general public,” Kanel said. He explained that “places like supermarkets, beauty salons or stands where people come to look at athletic events” would be affected.

Kanel said he has cut down his smoking from 2 1/2 packs to just one pack a day. He has always felt guilty smoking around nonsmokers, he said.