Smoking ban divides residents at King Veterans Home

KING - Only days until the statewide smoking ban goes into full effect, some residents at the King Veterans Home are upset about the ban applying to the place they live.

"The issued you cigarettes every month (in the military)," said Michael Stanz, who served in the Korean War. "Now they want to take it away from you."

Some residents feel they have a right to smoke in their rooms, but the King home is working to make arrangements for those who want to smoke.

"It would be irresponsible of us to pretend that the negative feedback isn't there," said Sara Stinski of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. "That's our job. We're a veterans home. We take care of our residents."

According to a memo from the Department of Justice, the law exempts some rooms in assisted living facilities. However, the veterans home isn't necessarily considered assisted living. Instead, the vets home specifically is on the list that prohibits smoking.

The home will create outdoor smoking areas with benches and shelter from the elements, Stinski said.

She believes after some time, residents will get used to the ban.

"There tends to be kind of a peak in frustration right around the time that the changes are made," said Stinski. "Then as people kind of get used to the new way of doing things, you'll find hopefully that kind of ramps back down."

Some other residents think smokers will just end up breaking the rules.

"Some of them may end up sneaking into the bathroom to smoke, maybe even trying to smoke in their own room," said Conrad Scheuerman.

FOX 11's Ryan Dietz will have more on this story on FOX 11 News at Five.