Walk your dog in the park? Sure. Toss a Frisbee around in the park? You bet. Conduct catapult-like experiments on a park Teeter Totter? Well . . . I’ll just say it unfortunately isn’t covered under my insurance policy. But what about smoking a cigarette in a Lawrence park? That may become the next interesting question for Lawrence city commissioners to tackle.

Smoking your standard tobacco cigarette in a city park is legal today. But an official with the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department is now suggesting the city ought to debate whether it should remain so. The question is also likely to expand to whether spectators at outdoor sporting events on city-owned property should be allowed to smoke, and whether e-cigarettes also should be banned at city facilities.

Erica Anderson, a new health promotion specialist with the health department, has begun asking about the issue at Lawrence City Hall, and earlier this week talked briefly with the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board about the topic. She hasn’t submitted a specific proposal for the city to consider yet, but said she’s working to develop one.

“For sure we want to get rid of e-cigarettes in recreation centers,” Anderson said. “We really want to look at changing the social norms around tobacco use.”

Anderson said the health department has received a grant related to the e-cigarette issue, and she expects that to be the group’s first area of focus. But she said banning smoking in parks is also on the list of areas she would like considered.

“That probably will be in our long-term plans,” Anderson said. “It would do a lot to help change the social norm.”

Anderson said a primary thought is that if children see fewer adults using tobacco or e-cigarettes, that perhaps they’ll be less likely to take up the smoking habit in the future. That’s why areas such as recreation centers, ball fields, parks and other areas that attract a lot of children are high on the list of places where she wants the city to consider tougher smoking policies.

The city’s current smoking ban, enacted in 2004, doesn’t really address e-cigarettes. Retailers of the devices have said that since the “smoke” emitted by the devices is actually water vapor, that they don’t create the same second-hand smoke type of concerns that cigarettes do. But Anderson, who previously was the program coordinator for Tobacco Free Kansas, said the science and possible health impacts of e-cigarettes aren’t yet very well understood.

As for smoking at an outdoor ball field, such as at soccer games or baseball games sponsored by the city, that currently is allowed, as long as you are not on the field of play, said Ernie Shaw, the leader of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. That means spectators along the sidelines or in the stands can smoke.

Where the issue goes from here will be interesting to watch. Anderson said she’s had a conversation with the city attorney’s office seeking more information about the city’s policies regarding smoking and e-cigarettes.

If any changes are to be made — such as banning smoking in parks — ultimately it will be up to the City Commission to make them. And given the time of year that we’re in, we’re in all likelihood talking about the next City Commission that will be elected at the April 7 elections.