INDIANAPOLIS — Former WRTV reporter Rick Sallinger earned a reputation for holding people accountable during his journalism career.
Sallinger filed one such report 40 years ago when he caught Indianapolis City-County counselor breaking an ordinance they also passed.
Sec. 12-126 regulated smoking in Indianapolis. The ordinance identified locations where Hoosiers were prohibited from lighting up, which included retail establishments, educational facilities, and public assemblies.
But the ordinance went up in smoke inside the very room in which it was adopted.
Sallinger found lawmakers puffing away during a meeting inside the Public Assembly Room of the City-County Building. Sallinger questioned the smoking counselors and received a wide range of responses.
When one counselor was asked if he believed in upholding the ordinances of the City of Indianapolis, he replied, “I certainly do or I wouldn’t have run for office. There are ashtrays here and I’ve always found that where there are ashtrays, people smoke.”
Another counselor simply said, “I don’t agree with it.”
A third council member added, “If that’s the law, then we must adhere to it.”
Sallinger discovered that the City-County Council was given an exemption by the Fire Prevention Chief. However, the exception was given verbally and not in writing which drew the ire of Marion County Municipal Court Judge Roy Jones.
“I feel that anytime that we have a city agency that is responsible for making certain designations under an ordinance, that designation should be done in writing,” Jones said. “I think probably if there is ever a requirement in the law for any public area to be approved, it should be reviewed by the appropriate agency, in this case a member of the fire department, for some written designation be given about the approval.”
Smoking inside the Public Assembly Room continued well into the 1980s. Another smoking ban was adopted by the council in 1987.
