Neighbors of Sioux Falls Hospital Upset about Smoking

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Some neighbors of Avera McKennan in Sioux Falls say the hospital has broken a promise to not use a residential lot it owns across the street from its campus as an employee smoking area.

Neighbors tell the Argus Leader newspaper that workers smoke on the lot and that cigarette butts pile up on the property.

Avera maintains a smoke-free campus and issued a statement last fall saying smoking would not be allowed on the residential lot.

Avera spokesman Jay Gravolt says the policy hasn't changed, but the hospital can't afford to have someone constantly patrol the lot.

The newspaper reports that a cigarette butt receptacle that had been on the lot was removed Tuesday.

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