Proposed NC Smoking Ban Means the End of an Era But Healthier Surroundings

It's another big example of how much my native North Carolina has changed.

The General Assembly has approved a smoking ban, and Governor Beverly Perdue says she will sign it into law.

That's right. A smoking ban in the state where tobacco has been king for generations.

The ban applies to most restaurants and bars. Private clubs and cigar bars are excluded.

If you're smoking and refuse to stop, you can be fined up to fifty dollars.

The ban would take effect January 2, 2010.

That's going to be a historic day for the Tar Heel State.

I was raised on a tobacco farm in Hillsborough, North Carolina. My family usually had around five acres of the crop. My uncle, whose farm was about a mile away, farmed nearly twenty acres each year. Working for him was my summer pocket money job for many years. Working my dad's crop put food on the table, clothes on our backs and a roof over our heads. The crop paid very well. For many families, it was the primary source of income. A bad crop meant lean times for the next year.

My father also worked in a cigarette factory in nearby Durham. When I was a boy, my dad would often bring paper from the factory for me to use for drawing. It was the same paper used to make cigarette cartons.

I was never a smoker. It was rough at times growing up in a household where my dad and older brother smoked (and still do). Since I have been an adult, smoking is strictly forbidden in my home.

I was raised during an era when smoking was very common, and the health issues surrounding it were just beginning to gain traction.

Tobacco work was the hardest I ever did, probably the hardest I'll ever do. It was back-breaking, hot, tiring, dirty. You worked rain or shine because if the crop was ready, it couldn't wait for better weather. My hands and arms would turn black from the tobacco gum. Only lye soap or straight Clorox would take it off.

As my arms would brush against the wet tobacco leaves, my body absorbed nicotine. Since I was not a smoker, I had no tolerance to it, and at least once per season I would get violently sick. It was the worst sickness I've ever felt. Fortunately it didn't last long, but I was usually no good for a day or two afterward.

I learned to drive in tobacco fields. I learned to hoe in tobacco fields. I learned responsibility in tobacco fields. To a very large degree, I got to know my family, including my extended family, working shoulder to shoulder with them in tobacco fields.

But we understand tobacco better now. It causes potentially deadly health problems.

And smoke in restaurants is not a pleasant part of the meal. The people sitting near a smoker cannot escape the cloud. They lost their right, their choice, to breathe clean air.

January 2nd, they get it back.

It will be the end of one era in the Carolinas and the beginning of another.