BLOOMINGTON - Enforcement of the new statewide smoking ban in Illinois' largest county should be low key, said the public health official charged with helping enforce the ban, which takes effect Tuesday.

"Enforcement will have to be as much art as science," said Bob Keller, director of the McLean County Health Department.

The Illinois Department of Public Health, law enforcement agencies and local health departments are designated as enforcement agents under the new Smoke-Free Illinois Act.

"Our job here isn't 'I gotcha.' We want people to comply voluntarily," Keller said.

The act prohibits smoking in enclosed areas of any public places or place of employment and within 15 feet of any entrance, exit, window that opens or ventilation intake that serves a smoke-free area. Public places are anyplace where members of the public may go.

Bloomington-Normal workers and residents may not have as big an adjustment as residents elsewhere because both communities already had smoke-free ordinances, Keller said. McLean County also had an ordinance that affected unincorporated areas of the county. While that ordinance was repealed because it was not as strict as the new state law, the county ordinance still gave unincorporated areas experience with a smoke-free law.

The biggest impact of the new law in McLean County will be on incorporated areas of the county outside of Bloomington-Normal, meaning towns such as LeRoy, Lexington, Chenoa, Heyworth, McLean and Colfax.

Bars, restaurants, barber shops, bowling alleys, car dealerships, fraternal lodges and other gathering places in those towns may be dealing with a smoke-free law for the first time, Keller said.

Enforcement of the new law will be handled on a complaint basis, Keller said. Anyone who believes the law is being violated may register a complaint at www.smoke-free.illinois.gov or by calling (866) 973-4646.

The health department will access complaints from McLean County and, with local law enforcement, will follow up to determine whether the complaint is credible and, if it is, the extent of the violation.

"If the complaint is that someone is smoking 13.5 feet from a door, we won't give that a lot of attention," Keller said. "But if an establishment has X number of people inside smoking up a storm, we'll pursue that.

"Initially, we'll use warnings while people are getting used to the law and who it pertains to," he said. So while a person celebrating the New Year at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday with a cigarette in hand will be violating the law, it's unlikely that person will be fined.

Repeat violators will be fined. For an individual, a fine could be $100 to $250 per occurrence, Keller said. A business owner who allows smoking will be fined $250 for the first offense, $500 for the second offense within a year, and $2,500 for the third offense within a year.

Bree Davis, the health department's public health communications specialist, said the department has informed McLean County food permit holders and the McLean County Chamber of Commerce of the law.

Keller said the General Assembly passed and the governor signed the law to protect employees and patrons from secondhand smoke, which he said has been linked to 2,900 deaths in Illinois each year.

"The purpose behind this is the protection of the citizens and workers in Illinois from a category A carcinogen," he said. "This is all about protecting health."

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Where can I smoke?

Exceptions to the Smoke-Free Illinois Act are limited. They include:

- Private residences, except when used as a child care, adult care, health care facility or any other business open to the public.

- Semi-private rooms in nursing homes or long-term care facilities in which residents of the room are smokers and have requested smoking rooms in writing, and provided that the smoke does not infiltrate other areas of the facil-ity.

- Hotel and motel rooms designated as smoking rooms, provided that they are on the same floor, are contiguous and no more than 25 percent of rooms are smoking rooms. These rooms must be permanently designated as smok-ing rooms.

- Retail tobacco stores that derive more than 80 percent of revenue from tobacco sales.

Where can I get help?

For help to quit smoking, call the Illinois Quitline at 1-866-784-8937.

Other sources for quitting include the Freedom From Smoking program at the Center for Healthy Lifestyles at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center at (309) 661-5154 and the following Web sites: www.cancer.org, www.smokefree.gov, www.quitnet.org, and www.lungusa.org.

Health insurers may cover the cost of nicotine patches and prescriptions to aid in smoking cessation.

SOURCES: McLean County Health Department, Bob Keller, Bree Davis