A Vermont community bans tobacco use on public property

ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont community has banned tobacco use on public property.

The Caledonian Record reports that the St. Johnsbury Select Board voted unanimously to approve the ban at their meeting Monday night.

The ban prohibits tobacco use on all town-owned property, including parks, buildings, parking lots, shelters, beaches, picnic tables, piers and athletic fields.

The ban includes lighted tobacco-like cigarettes and vaping, as well as smokeless tobacco products like chewing tobacco and snuff.

Town sidewalks and the interior of vehicles on public roads do not fall under the ban.

Tobacco use would also be prohibited in a 25-foot tobacco-free buffer zone around each public property.

The buffers would not apply if public property bordered private property.

Violators will be subject to fines from $50 to $200.

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Information from: The Caledonian-Record, http://www.caledonianrecord.com