Get your butts off the beach, Volusia County leaders say.

The County Council on Thursday proposed a smoking ban in county parks and along the 40 miles of beach under county jurisdiction. That would include Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach and other popular shores.

 The ban may not be legal, cautioned County Attorney Dan Eckert, who is researching the issue.

Others found the idea laughable.

No smoking "on the world's biggest ashtray?" laughed Deborah Boyd, executive director of the New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors Bureau. "It would kind of give us the reputation of being the nanny beach."

"I don't like smoking and would try to talk anyone out of it," said Boyd, a former smoker and lung-cancer survivor. "But I don't think it's anyone's business to tell someone not to smoke."

Nevertheless, the ban has county leaders fired up.

"You're walking barefoot and the tide's rolling up cigarette butts -- that's not a pretty picture," said Volusia County Councilman Carl Persis. "I know someone is [going to] say the beach is a highway, the beach is a street. It's not just that. It's a recreational area, like a park would be."

"A lot of people visit our beach," County Manager Jim Dinneen said. "When I had little kids it was something I hated, when my kid's digging in the sand and what does he dig up? Cigarette butts."

The county manager said he would discuss the issue with city and tourism leaders to see what they think.

It's not the first time a government has proposed a ban on public smoking.

Cocoa Beach proposed a smoking ban, but voters rejected it in a 2006 referendum. In Delray Beach, officials have created smoke-free zones along the shore. Pompano Beach is working on seaside smoking restrictions, too.

Coastal areas in other states and around the world also have moved to limit or halt smoking on beaches.

In 2005, the state's future governor weighed in against local governments' ability to regulate smoking.

In a letter to the city of Margate, then-Attorney General Charlie Crist wrote that "the Legislature has directed that the state, not local governments, regulates smoking wherever it may occur," under Florida's Clean Indoor Air Act.

Eckert, the county attorney, said that opinion could affect any proposed ban, although he would continue to research the issue. Dinneen said he hoped to have a follow-up report to the council at its next meeting March 15.

The ban idea came up unexpectedly Thursday, inspired by a resident who complained about smoking in county parks.

"I am a frequent visitor to Gemini Springs Park, and often I see parents smoking on the playgrounds," said DeBary resident Amy Rippel Connolly, reading from a statement. "Often, these parents and guardians smoke within inches of my own children."

Connolly -- a former Orlando Sentinel reporter -- appeared before the council during a time set aside for public comments about issues not on the agenda. She asked the council for a smoking ban in county parks or at least around playgrounds.

Hours later, at the end of the meeting, council member Pat Northey brought up the request, saying, "I would support we make a no-smoking policy in parks."

"What we don't want to do is put something in that's unenforceable, and then nobody pays attention to it," Dinneen said. "If we do it, we want to have some teeth in it."

"I support nonsmoking," Persis said. "I would like us to have a nonsmoking beach."

 Councilman Jack Hayman suggested extending the ban to all county-owned spaces.

Dinneen cautioned that cities and tourism officials need to be consulted.

"Let me do this much and see what I can report back," Dinneen said. "I'm really curious to see the stance of other governments and tourism and business leaders."

Cigarettes lead the list of debris on beaches, according to The Ocean Conservancy, which holds an annual beach cleanup. Volunteers picked up 135,551 cigarette butts on Florida beaches in 2005, the group reported, along with 5,358 tobacco packages and wrappers and 5,518 lighters.

One Volusia official worries about enforcing a ban on smoking.

"I would really need some clarification on what the parameters are, whether it's zero tolerance or enforced based on complaints," said Volusia Beach Patrol Capt. Scott Petersohn.

While the county mulls it over, Boyd is still laughing.

"I guess I just find this funny," Boyd said. "Because we've got other problems, like the reputation of being the shark capital of the world, and with beach erosion. I think cigarettes are the last thing we should be worried about."

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