BAY MINETTE, Ala. — Visitors to Baldwin County’s three courthouses will no longer be allowed to enter with matches or lighters as a result of maintenance workers discovering people smoking in restroom facilities.

Presiding Baldwin County Circuit Judge James Reid ordered the addition in security guidelines earlier this month prior to the start of the jury term. Security personnel have been screening for weapons for about four years.

“Our maintenance people said they would catch people smoking in the bathrooms,” Reid said Monday. “Matches and lighters could cause a fire and this is an old building,” Reid said, referring to the Baldwin County Courhouse in Bay Minette.

Security guards were instructed to ask people lining up for entrance if they have a knife, firearm, matches or cigarette lighters. They have a choice of returning the items to their cars or leaving them in the hands of deputies.

Reid’s order extends to satellite courthouses in Fairhope and Foley.

More than 1 million people have passed through metal detectors at Baldwin County’s three courthouses and thousands of weapons have been discovered during the last 4 years.

The Baldwin County Courthouse in Bay Minette by far surpasses sister courthouses in Fairhope and Foley in the number of guns, knives and other potential weapons confiscated by court security officers.

The county seat facility is the only courthouse in the county which hosts jury trials and the pool of jurors is selected from throughout the county.

There has been no instance of a person intentionally attempting to bring a gun or weapon into the secure zones. All have a pistol toting permit and forgot they had the weapon, according to a Sheriff’s spokesman.

The knives are generally pocket knives, which people also forget they have. Any person with a weapon is told to return them to their car and re-enter the courthouse.

The Bay Minette Courthouse also is the only facility used exclusively for judicial functions, while Foley and Fairhope courthouses also house probate, revenue and other state and county offices.

Violent outbreaks are not infrequent and may be prompted by anger over a judge’s ruling in a domestic case, probation violations, public intoxication and many other factors, Sheriff’s Maj. Anthony Lowery said.