While the state of Michigan grapples with how to regulate e-cigarettes, the electronic glow of the devices will still be allowed at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center.
The county parks and recreation commission has snuffed out a proposal to ban electronic cigarettes on civic center grounds. Smoking traditional cigarettes and other tobacco products is already prohibited.
But Dan Laubenheimer, who manages an e-cigarette store, applauded the committee’s decision not to ban the devices.
"I'm about giving people a choice and being responsible, whatever that responsibility may be," he says.
Supporters of the ban say, while e-cigarettes are less dangerous than real ones, they're still addictive.
"They're being marketed to kids. They're flavored and they're colorful and it's a new trend," says Lisa Danto, who coordinates the Grand Traverse Bay Area Tobacco Coalition. She says the issue is not going away, that similar requests will pop up in other public places.
The measure was introduced by a father who worries children will see others using the nicotine vaporizers and take up the habit themselves.
Commissioners on both sides said they're willing to revisit the issue later. Some said they don't want to act before the state decides whether to ban sales to minors, or to classify them as tobacco products.