Opinion: Wildwood Crest Asking for Trouble With Smoking Sections

The new law that bans smoking on New Jersey beaches is a good one, and it came with a provision that if a town wants to it can designate no more than 15% of its beach as a smoking section.

Wildwood Crest is doing that. So far, every other town is not. I'd say every other town is smarter. Wildwood Crest is trying to be welcoming. I get that. But they're just making a burden for themselves. Enforcement is going to be difficult enough as is with this new smoking ban. There will be selfish idiots who disregard it the first few seasons. Town's reaction to those incidents will set the tone and make or break this new law.

To have some areas where you can smoke and most areas where you cannot is bound to lead to more confusion, more arguments, and more nitpicking between town officials and police and the tourists who go there. Also the smell and carcinogens of tobacco smoke travel. The air will refuse to recognize where Wildwood Crest's smoking section ends. Remember how well smoking and non-smoking sections worked in restaurants before the ban? (Sarcasm. They didn't work well at all.)

Even Wildwood Crest's mayor is doubtful. “We’re also a wellness town,” Mayor Don Cabrera said. “It’s a difficult balance. I would rather it be smoke free.”

I wish them luck with this. But I smell a difficult road for them as clearly as I smell those Marlboros.