20 for 20: No Smoking Beltrami County (2005)

To celebrate our 20th anniversary of Lakeland News, we’re taking a look back at some of the memorable local stories we’ve covered over the years. It’s called 20 For 20: 20 stories in all, one for each of the 20 years we’ve been on the air with Lakeland News.

This time, we flash back to the year 2005, a time when smoking was allowed in most bars and restaurants in Minnesota. But Beltrami County passed an ordinance banning smoking in public places, and it went into effect on the first of the year. Reporter Rebecca Trylch covered that story for us soon after the ban had started.

Beltrami County proved to be well ahead of the times: on October 1st of 2007, the entire state of Minnesota became smoke-free when Governor Tim Pawlenty signed a statewide smoking ban into law.