Coplay Borough Council has finally agreed to vote on a proposed smoking ban in its parks. The vote will come at the May 14 meeting.

"I'm again asking the borough to approve an ordinance or a resolution or a new policy to make all parks tobacco free," said Tobacco Free Northeast representative Jeanne Fignar at the May 7 council workshop.

Fignar made her case for the first time at the March 5 workshop. Through the program "Young Lungs at Play," Tobacco Free Northeast supplies municipalities with free signs asking people not to smoke at parks where children play.

"Tobacco-free policies are public park policies similar to those prohibiting alcohol use or littering in public parks and are largely self-enforcing," says Young Lungs at Play literature given to council in March, when the matter was referred to committee.

Fignar returned to council in April but Councilman Matthew Recker, chairman of the parks and recreation committee, did not attend that meeting. He did not attend Tuesday's meeting either.

"Let's talk. Let's get it done," said Councilman Bill Leiner Jr.

"We want to make it easy for people to follow. I think the signs do this," Fignar told council Tuesday night. "Most people will see a sign and say, 'oh, OK, I can't smoke here.'"

Although Tobacco Free Northeast offers smoking cessation programs, Young Lungs at Play does not ask people to quit smoking.

"I'm talking about people not smoking in front of the children ... as a role model," Fignar said.

Council President Lou Bodish asked how many local municipalities have enacted the Young Lungs at Play policy.

Fignar said four in the Allentown/Bethlehem area have done so.

"There are very few in Lehigh and Northampton counties," she said. More of the participants are found in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area and the Poconos.

In addition to reducing children's exposure to tobacco, Young Lungs at Play encourages a cleaner, healthier environment, she said.

With today's filters, cigarette butts last more than 99 years and release chemicals into the ground.

Fignar, a Northampton resident, said the members of Northampton Borough Council declined to implement the program when she approached them more than a year ago.

"I have a call into Whitehall," she said. "I intend to go to them as well."

She also plans to approach Allen and East Allen townships within the Northampton Area School District.

In addition to limiting how often children see adults smoking, Fignar said the idea behind the program is to protect people from second hand smoke.

Studies show that second hand smoke is dangerous, even outside, because particulates in the smoke fall downward and stick rather than dissipating.

"The dangers of second hand smoke are not insignificant," she said. "We're trying to minimize the amount of exposure to people who don't smoke to tobacco products and keep it out of kids' hands."

Leiner said he sees the program as a "symbolic" gesture. "We don't want our [police] chief playing cigarette police," he said.

The 30 or 40 municipalities north of the Lehigh Valley that have adopted the policy have not had significant enforcement issues, Fignar said.

"Anything we can do to keep cigarettes and tobacco products out of kids' hands, we should be doing," Leiner said.

Councilman Charles Sodl asked Fignar who pays her salary.

She said Tobacco Free Northeast is funded by legal settlements from tobacco companies.