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People Smoking Outside Bars Warned By Police

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Mar 9, 2008 1:07 pm US/Eastern

People Smoking Outside Bars Warned By Police

BALTIMORE (WJZ/AP) ― Since February 1, all Maryland restaurants and bars have officially been smoke-free.

That means for anyone looking to light up during a night out, that cigarette will have to be puffed outside.

But in Hampden, that's creating confusion between smokers and police.

Bartenders in the Baltimore neighborhood say police are threatening patrons smoking outside their bars with loitering charges.

Tabrina Sherman, a manager at Frazier's in Hampden, says patrons smoking outside were warned by police to move 150 feet from the business or face a fine or arrest.

The head of the Hampden Village Merchants Association, Benn Ray, says loitering by drug addicts and prostitutes has been a problem for years and he wonders why police are only now enforcing the law.

Police Department spokesman Sterling Clifford Clifford says patrols have been told to aggressively enforce the law outside bars where there has been a history of problems. But he says the smoking ban has changed the dynamic.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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