LAFAYETTE, LA (AP) — A Grammy-winning musician and the Lafayette council chairman are working together to try to ban smoking in the city-parish's bars and clubs.
Led by Council Chairman Kenneth Boudreaux and backed by local musician Chubby Carrier and the nonprofit Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living, the new ordinance is scheduled to go before the city-parish council on May 5, the Advertiser’s Claire Taylor reports.
If approved, the ordinance would ban the smoking of tobacco products as well as electronic cigarettes in bars and clubs.
Carrier, whose father died of smoking when his son was 13, has pushed for the law to protect the musicians, bartenders and waiters who have to breathe secondhand smoke while working.
Boudreaux said he met with Carrier last year and was convinced by the zydeco musician's argument.
"Patrons have a choice," Boudreaux said. "The workers don't."
The New Orleans City Council in January voted to ban smoking in clubs and bars.
