OCEANSIDE -- While lying in the sun at Buccaneer Beach on Friday, Oceanside resident Teena Miller enjoyed a quick smoke and put the cigarette butt in her back pocket. A few feet away from Miller was a pile of nearly a dozen discarded cigarette butts tangled in dry seaweed.

The litter from the butts and the harmful effects of secondhand smoke has led Oceanside to consider banning smoking at its beaches, parks and pier. Councilwoman Shari Mackin has proposed a ban similar to those in place in Del Mar and Solana Beach.

"Being a smoker, I would not be thrilled about it," Miller said Friday. "But I think it's a good idea because all those butts are nasty."

Miller said she didn't think secondhand smoke is dangerous outdoors, and the issue is debated by opponent and proponents of smoking.

Carol Pennant-Jones, who has lived in Oceanside for 18 years and was reading a book at the beach off Cassidy Street on Friday, said she didn't see the need to ban smoking.

"I couldn't imagine anyone suffering from secondhand smoke at the beach or in a park, and I don't see too many cigarette butts," said Pennant-Jones, who added that she is not a smoker. "Where are smokers suppose to go?"

After Mackin raised the issue of a ban, Oceanside formed a six-person citizens committee in March to review existing laws and to gather ban-related comments from residents. After surveying nearly 9,000 Oceanside residents, the committee has recommended that the city allow smoking only in the parking lots of beaches, parks and the pier.

The Oceanside Parks and Recreation Commission voted 6-1 on Nov. 9 in a favor of the idea, but city staffers have yet to iron out such details as how the law would be enforced, said Michelle Skaggs-Lawrence, assistant to the city manager.

She said the proposed ban would be reviewed by several other advisory groups in the next couple of months before going before the City Council in about six months for a vote.

"This would be a huge change," Skaggs-Lawrence said Thursday. "We are at the very beginning stages of looking at it, and the public will have a lot of time to weigh in."

Smoking survey

Mackin, a former smoker, said the results of a recent survey "speak volumes" about the support for a smoking ban. Oceanside, which has about 175,000 residents, sent out 42,000 surveys on the proposed ban with July water bills. About 8,943 people mailed back the surveys.

Nearly 80 percent of respondents said they would support a policy that prohibits smoking at the parks, beaches and pier, and less than 30 percent said people have the right to smoke at these locations. When asked if secondhand smoke is dangerous, nearly 90 percent said yes, and about the same number of people said they were bothered by tobacco-related litter.

"The results are pretty impressive," said Mackin, who added that the smoking survey had a much better response than a survey several years ago about what the city should do with the 465-acre city-owned El Corazon property in central Oceanside.

A report on the survey created by the Vista Community Clinic, however, notes that people who don't pay water bills, such as those in apartments, didn't receive the survey.

The report states that "while it is hoped that the survey data describes information about pubic opinions in general … it is not known if these opinions reflect the opinions of all Oceanside residents."

Officials with several smoking rights groups said Friday that only people passionately against smoking would take the time and effort to fill out the survey and mail it back to the city, while those who don't have a problem would not bother.

Skaggs-Lawrence said Oceanside's existing laws allow smoking at all parks and beaches except right next to children's playgrounds.

Oceanside Unified School District banned smoking on all of its properties in 1992, and Solana Beach, Del Mar, and the city and county of San Diego have banned smoking at parks or beaches.

"I don't want Oceanside to become the ashtray of North County," Mackin said. "We don't want to miss the boat on this."

Existing smoking bans

Solana Beach became the first city in the continental United States to ban smoking on its beaches in 2003, said Solana Beach Councilman Joe Kellejian.

He said Solana Beach decided to ban smoking at its beaches and parks after a group of high school students made a presentation to the council about picking up more than 6,000 cigarette butts at the beach in one hour.

The students urged the council to impose the ban on smoking because cigarettes are dangerous for the environment and residents.

Kellejian said there was tremendous support for the ban in the community and no organized opposition.

"The decision was easy for me because, as a city council member, I'm suppose to protect the health, safety and welfare of our citizens," said Kellejian. "We have had very good results with the ban."

Kellejian said Solana Beach staffers have told him there has been a "dramatic decrease" in the number of cigarette butts on the beaches in the last three years.

The improvements are all due to residents and visitors making sure their peers comply with the rules, said Kellejian.

He said the city has put up signs saying smoking is banned, but not one ticket has been issued since the law went into effect and sheriff's deputies don't go out of their way to look for smokers.

"This is something that hasn't cost one dime more for the city," Kellejian said. "It's a matter of people policing themselves."

Kellejian has urged neighboring cities to pass similar ordinances, and nine of 18 cities in San Diego have such laws. The Encinitas City Council voted 3-2 against banning smoking at beaches in 2004, with those in opposition saying that it would be too restrictive.

Debating smoking

Banning smoking at beaches and parks is discrimination, said Robert Best, the California state coordinator for a worldwide, volunteer-based smoking advocacy group called The Smokers Club.

"We pay taxes to keep these beaches and parks, and city politicians tell us we are not wanted here," said Best, who lives in Ventura. "Smoking is just unpopular now."

Best said most smokers go out of their way not to smoke next to someone and make extra effort to avoid smoking near children. He said secondhand smoke in outdoor areas is not a major health issue.

When smoking bans are put to voters, they usually fail, but not many smokers don't go to council meetings to defend their rights, he said.

"My best advice to Oceanside residents is to get out to the meeting, " Best said. "Tell the council you don't want to be persecuted anymore."

But Mackin said that, on the other hand, smokers "don't have special rights guaranteed to them and smoking is not a civil right."

Mackin said smoking needs to be banned because children burn themselves on lit butts left around the beach and suffer from asthma attacks during sporting events because of secondhand smoke.

Several studies released this last year by organizations such as the surgeon general indicate that secondhand smoke in outdoors areas is dangerous, said Gena Knutson, the tobacco control program manager for Vista Community Clinic.

She said the nonprofit clinic supports the proposed ban because secondhand smoke can be harmful to children or residents with health problems.

Mackin said enforcing the law won't be difficult because residents would police themselves.

The city needs to put ashtrays in the parking lots for smokers so they don't have to litter, said Tanessa D'Oporto, an Oceanside parks and recreation commissioner who was also on the smoking ban committee.

"I want to make sure smokers aren't banned all over Oceanside," said D'Oporto who supports the ban. "Instead of just telling them they can't smoke, I want to tell them the areas they can enjoy smoking.

"But this isn't going to happen overnight."

Contact staff writer David Sterrett at (760) 901-4067 or dsterrett@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.