SAM Magazine--Rumford, Me., Aug. 30, 2004--Black Mountain has banned use of all tobacco products at the resort, indoors and out. The policy may soon spread to other community-oriented areas owned by the Maine Winter Sports Center, in Mars Hill, Fort Kent and Presque Isle.

The Black ban is total: it covers cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and chewing tobacco, and both employees and guests. It encompasses all indoor areas plus the lifts, slopes, and parking lots. The ban follows from the goals of the Maine Winter Sports Center, a non-profit organization whose goal is to create "healthier communities in the state," primarily through encouraging a skiing lifestyle among Maine locals, said MWSC president Andy Shepard.