smoking rights

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Issuees of Smoking

Queen's is last hotel of its kind in province

Grand old dame turns 103

Monday, January 24th, 2005

Bill Redekop

RAPID CITY -- Once upon a time, a King's or Queen's Hotel dotted the countryside at train stops across Manitoba.

Not anymore. The Queen's Hotel in Rapid City, which turns 103 years old this year, is the last one standing. Owners Jim and Lianne Christie were recently presented with a Manitoba Historical Society Centennial Business Award.

"The idea to name a hotel a King's or Queen's was not unusual at all," says Tom Mitchell, University of Brandon archivist. "It was really just a reflection of the fact that in the late 19th century, most people settling here had strong identification as British Imperialists."

Those hotels have vanished one by one. The Queen's Hotel in Dominion City went bankrupt two years ago, and reopened last fall as Stan's Place. Boissevain had a Queen's Hotel, but it burned down ages ago.

Winnipeg still has a King's Motor Hotel on Higgins Avenue, and a Windsor Hotel, now a blues bar. There are also some Royal Hotels, like one in Flin Flon, and both Flin Flon and Brandon have a Victoria Inn. But naming a hotel after monarchy is clearly a thing of the past.

The Queen's in Rapid City, just north of Brandon and 230 kilometres west of Winnipeg, was named for Queen Victoria. It originally opened in 1881. Passengers used to board the Rapid Stagecoach here to transport them to Brandon. It's not known what "Rapid" meant back then in terms of speed, but the trip to Brandon takes about half an hour by motor vehicle today.

The train track came through in 1886. What's the difference between a hotel and a motel? The early hotels were all placed around train stops. The word "motel" was coined from "motorized vehicle" and "hotel," meaning one could drive to the accommodations by car, said Jim Baker, executive director of the Manitoba Hotel Association.

The current Queen's opened in 1902. Someone actually tried to change the hotel's name once, but patrons wouldn't have it.

It's a grand old dame. It's got five white pillars in front, and a white picket palisade off the second floor. The inside has held up well, and the restaurant still posts its daily specials in chalk on a piece of blackboard.

Since 1902, the Queen's has had at least 20 owners, including the local government, which took it over when the Queen's went bankrupt during Prohibition (1918-23).

Jim and Lianne Christie bought it in 1999. They are currently dealing with another government imposition: the ban on smoking.

"I think it's too soon to tell what impact it will have but we've had a bad fall season," said Jim. Bars across Manitoba claim business has dropped 30 per cent since the provincial smoking ban in October, but the downturn in agriculture "with BSE, and poor crops, and late crops" is also a factor, Jim said.

Lianne Christie is more upset about the ban.

"The government says smoking's bad. So VLTs are good?" she said. "You can play the slots, and you can have a lap dancer, but you can't have a cigarette?"

As for the issue of workplace safety, tell that to the people breathing the air at the smelter in Flin Flon, said Jim. "I spent 22 years working for Manitoba Highways smelling fumes from road salts, oils, and hot asphalt. I'm sure that wasn't too healthy."

The Christies say they'll survive regardless of whether a court challenge by some bar owners against the smoking ban is successful.

Owning a rural bar is tough. Nobody gets rich from it. Banks don't even give mortgages for rural hotels, so sellers issue the mortgage themselves.

The Queen's is the focal point of Rapid City, population just over 400. (The town got its name from the Little Saskatchewan River that runs through here. The word Saskatchewan was considered too long, so its aboriginal meaning, "rapid river," was adopted by founding fathers, according to Penny Ham's Place Names of Manitoba.)

The Queen's has a beverage room that seats 50, a coffee shop, and five rooms that go for $20 or $25 a night, depending if you have a room with a bath. Provincial law requires a rural beverage room to keep at least three rooms to let.

"It doesn't matter what you do," said Lianne. "It either starts or ends at the hotel, from weddings to funerals."

www.winnipegfreepress.com

North has best and worst in anti-tobacco list
CBC News Web Posted Jan 24 2005 09:01 AM CST

WHITEHORSE - The Yukon is coming in last in its class in a national review of anti-smoking legislation.

The Provincial Tobacco Control Councils of Canada says the Yukon is the worst jurisdiction in Canada when it comes to anti-smoking measures.

The Yukon didn't earn a passing grade in any category.

The report graded provinces and territories on things like smoking bans, pharmacy sales and rules for retail cigarette displays.

The national report card rated Nunavut as the top jurisdiction in the country overall for tobacco control.

"We received a "C" in our tobacco taxation which just means we're kind of in the middle of all the provinces and territories on how much tax we charge per carton of cigarettes," says Erin Levy, Nunavut's Tobacco Reduction specialist.

"But in every other section of the report card, we got a pass and we were the only province or territory to get a pass in every section."

The Northwest Territories has the highest tax rate in the country for a carton of cigarettes and got an A+ in that category.

Most of its workplaces are smoke-free, but the N.W.T. failed in the other three categories� public areas smoking, display ads, and pharmacy sales.

LINK: Provincial and Territorial report cards

Not taken seriously

Despite rating the worst in the country, Yukon department of Health spokesperson Pat Living says the territorial government isn't losing sleep over the issue.

"We didn't take it too seriously," she says.

Living says the group isn't handing out marks for anti-smoking ad campaigns or programs to help people quit.

Otherwise, she believes the Yukon would have earned better grades.

"The Yukon government has put its focus on cessation programs and awareness programs rather than legislation," she explains.

Living notes the Yukon received a failing grade for smoking legislation even though both Whitehorse and Dawson City have municipal bans in place.

http://north.cbc.ca/regionalnews/caches/smoke-yukon-24012005.html

Store owner bracing for another cigarette ban -NB

CBC News WebPosted Jan 24 2005 08:42 AM AST
MONCTON � A convenience store owner in Moncton has a message for the Lord government � check with retailers before placing a ban on cigarette displays.

Roy Shakibaei says the government has a habit of making decisions without talking to the people affected.

"Business should be consulted about all this," he says. "But as usual, businesses aren't consulted about anything. They know everything, they're all lawyers, they know all the laws and they do whatever they want."

NDP Leader Elizabeth Weir is pushing for a ban on tobacco displays and the Lord government says it will consider the idea.

Weir says young people are more likely to take up the habit if they see a wall of cigarette packages every time they go to the corner store.

But Shakibaei disagrees.

He says the only thing the displays do is inform the customer which brands of cigarettes are available.

"By having cigarettes up here, it's not going to help the teenager start or stop, But the fact of the matter is that when the people come, they can see what kind of cigarette is there and they can tell faster what kind of cigarette they want."

One of the customers at Shakibaei's store says the displays aren't much use to her.

In fact, Emily Landry says she'd rather not see hundreds of cigarette packages every time she goes to the store.

She supports the ban.

"I'm totally for it because I'm a smoker and I'm addicted and I want to stop."

In the past year, New Brunswick has gone from being one of Canada's smokier provinces to one that's earned the praise of the lung association and other health advocates.

A new law went into effect last summer which bans smoking in almost all public places, including school grounds, office buildings, restaurants and bars.

Business people have complained that the ban has driven away some of their best customers, but Health Minister Elvy Robichaud says he has no regrets about imposing it.

http://nb.cbc.ca/regionalnews/caches/nb-20050124.html

Help for older smokers

I am a smoker and when I was growing up everyone and their dog smoked. As children we had the advertisements all around us, in every magazine we read and every show we watched on TV, which weren't many, so we really got into the ads. They even sang songs about smoking cigarettes.

Now with all this non-smoking stuff going on everywhere we the older generation are stuck trying to quit a habit we have had for so long, at our own expense.

The way I look at it is anyone who grew up during the time that smoking was so heavily advertised, while no one warned about the harm of it, should be compensated in our efforts to try to quit. We should have free access to medications, whether it be the patch or pills. When you have a drinking problem or drug problem you get free treatment; why not for us smokers?

Julie Cowie

Winnipeg

Not such an unreasonable request.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/Letters/

Smoking bylaw falls well short -AB
Parklander Editorial Monday January 24, 2005

Hinton Parklander � Come April 1 we can all take a deep long breath. Well, sort of, because the depth of your breath may actually depend on your age.
Hinton town council has passed a smoking bylaw amendment that will prevent smoking in restaurants during the hours children are served.
The amendment in no way states what hours children may be present, or even that children must be served. It is entirely within the right of restaurant owners to now exclude children from their eatery.
The final version of the amendment was compiled with the help of local restaurant owners, the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission and the BLAST committee made up of area high school students.
It�s a kick in the teeth to those students, who worked hard on this amendment, to now face the possibility of not being allowed into the restaurants.
Council must be commended on implementing the amendment, which came about as the result of a non-binding plebiscite in the last municipal election.
But when can the rest of the town experience the same level of protection?
Premier Ralph Klein seems dead set against a province-wide smoking ban, which should fall under his jurisdiction.
Without provincial leadership, the responsibility falls to municipal councils. They have the power and ability to implement laws to ensure their populous and workforce are not harmed.
Even though workplace safety shouldn�t be the responsibility of our town councillors, the duty is theirs by default.
Like all the other responsibilities that have been downloaded to the municipal level, they must face the challenge head on and think about the health of everyone involved.
-B.F.

http://www.hintonparklander.com/story.php?id=139188

April Fool�s Day no joke for Hinton smokers -AB

By Bradley Fehr Monday January 24, 2005

Hinton Parklander � The air in many restaurants may soon be a little fresher when a partial smoking ban takes effect on April 1.
The ban is targeted at restaurants during the hours in which minors may be present. The bylaw doesn�t include which hours the minors may be present and leaves that decision in the hands of the individual business owners.
If the owner wanted to, they could just not allow minors into their establishment and only maintain the current smoking bylaw, which states that 50 per cent of the dining facility must be set aside for non-smokers.
Nowhere in the regulations does it state that the two sections must be significantly separated, although they must be well-marked and distinct.
The no-smoking signs must be conspicuous.
Another possible avenue for restaurant owners is that they could limit the hours minors are allowed in the restaurant and allow 50 per cent of the seating area to smoke during those hours.
�We have an amended smoking bylaw to take care of the interests of children,� said Mayor Glenn Taylor.
He said the new bylaw is a direct result of a non-binding plebiscite held during the last municipal election in which the major of voters, 61.4 per cent, agreed that children need to be protected from second-hand smoke in restaurants.
The mayor said he is disappointed Alberta Premier Ralph Klein does not see workplace safety as a provincial responsibility.
�I believe smoking in the workplace is the issue and it is under the jurisdiction of the province,� he said. �We�re not in the role of protecting workers rights. There is only so much we can do.�
He added that the town has to be careful which responsibilities they take on. Klein recently stated that a province-wide smoking ban won�t happen and it is up to individual business owners to decide if smoking should be allowed. He said this despite the fact that Health Minister Iris Evans was floating the idea of a province-wide workplace smoking ban.
Taylor agreed with the premier on one point.
�The business owner can decide what sort of clientele they attract,� Taylor said.
The bylaw also includes provisions for bars and lounges to establish non-smoking areas, but doesn�t require they do so or what size they need to be. Proscribed penalties for breaking these regulations include $100 fines for first and second offences. Larger fines and even jail time can be issued by judges for summary convictions.

http://www.hintonparklander.com/story.php?id=139185

Evans hopes to have no-smoking draft in 1 month -AB

CBC News Last Updated Jan 24 2005 03:02 PM MST

EDMONTON � Health Minister Iris Evans says she hopes to have no-smoking legislation ready by the end of February.

It would first be seen by a standing policy committee made up of Conservative MLAs.

Evans, who first floated the idea of a province-wide workplace smoking ban 10 days ago, said calls to her Sherwood Park constituency office have been running six to one in favour of some sort of tobacco-reduction initiative.

She couldn't say whether that meant six to one support for a total ban.

"I think it's been very interesting feedback," Evans said. "There's been good points presented."

Evans said she is also hearing from her fellow MLAs "with different views of how we could advance that."

Friday, Premier Ralph Klein backed off his declaration that there won't be a province-wide smoking ban while he's in charge, saying he's now open to having a debate on the issue.

He said Albertans will have a chance to make their positions known.

After Evans suggested looking at a province-wide smoking ban, Klein was quick to reject the idea, calling it "useless" and counter-productive.

Klein did say he favoured banning smoking in any place frequented by children.

Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and PEI have all put province-wide workplace smoking bans in place.

http://calgary.cbc.ca/regionalnews/caches/ca-smoking-evans20050124.html

Sask. health regions work to implement weeks old provincewide smoking ban -SK

Canadian Press January 24, 2005

REGINA (CP) -- It is taking time for most of Saskatchewan's health authorities to begin enforcement of new provincewide no-smoking rules.

While one health region in Saskatchewan has already begun to ticket bar owners and patrons under a weeks-old smoking ban, many others are just getting up to speed on the new law.

In the southeast corner of the province, inspectors for the Sun Country Health Region have handed out several tickets to a bar owner in Weyburn though Premier Lorne Calvert had given businesses until March 1 to comply with the ban.

Nine other health regions contacted Monday have yet to issue a single ticket for the Jan. 1 ban, which calls for all enclosed public places to be entirely smoke-free.

In December, the government announced a 60-day grace period where public health officers would focus on educating businesses and individuals about the ban, rather than ticketing. But last week, Health Minister John Nilson said any establishment or patron in flagrant non-compliance of the law would be fined.

However, most regions aren't quite at that stage; many have only partially completed the initial education process.

Officials from a number of health regions say a shortage of inspectors coupled with large areas to service have kept most regions from reaching all businesses quickly.

In some regions, as few as 10 per cent of businesses have had a personal visit from an inspector.

"We're still in (our) infancy," said Ron Belak from the Heartland Health Region in west central Saskatchewan. "We've got about 46,000 square miles (119,000 square kilometres) to cover. It's a big district for just two people."

Inspectors in most regions say there has been more resistance from establishments that serve alcohol than those that serve food.

Rural areas have so far been more resistant than urban areas, such as Moose Jaw and Saskatoon, that already had municipal bans in place, say officials.

Grant Paulson from the Sun Country Health Region says despite some non-compliance, most businesses in his district appear to be embracing the ban.

"We've been doing compliance checks throughout our region and we have visited, on at least one occasion, just about every place, particularly restaurants," he said.

The response to the ban has been mostly positive in the northern half of the province, according to James Irvine, medical health officer for the three northern health areas.

He said since the north has the highest percentage of smokers, the health concerns have spearheaded compliance.

"I think we've seen so much the effect of tobacco and health issues and we've had a lot of discussion over the last few years about the negative impact of tobacco," he said, adding "some communities have moved into the direction of smoke-free even before the ban."

http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/news/story.html?id=9502c405-51f7-4949-a4b3-930cbf29e5c9

Smoking May Protect Against Parkinson's

Fri Jan 21, 2005 09:26 PM GMT

By Will Boggs, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A study in Swedish twins confirms that smoking is associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease.

"The association in part is explained by genetic influences," Dr. Nancy L. Pedersen from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, told Reuters Health. "Hence, further attempts to study risk factors in general for Parkinson's disease should entertain the possibility that there are complex interactions between genetic mechanisms and putative risk factors."

Pedersen and her colleagues investigated the previously reported link between smoking and a reduced risk for Parkinson's by analyzing data from the Swedish Twin Registry.

The authors found that both current smokers and past smokers were less likely to develop Parkinson's disease than people who had never smoked.

The association was stronger in men than in women and the risk of Parkinson's decreased as the number of cigarettes smoked per week increased, the authors note in the Annals of Neurology.

As to the reason for the association, the researchers note that cigarette smoke may contains chemicals that protect nerve cells from damage.

Further analysis showed that neither alcohol nor coffee was associated with Parkinson's disease risk.

"We have not planned any further studies directly, although we may be exploring whether there is a genetic interaction between smoking and certain genes," Pedersen said.

SOURCE: Annals of Neurology, January 2005.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=7397850

Robust DNA Repair May Lower Breast Cancer Risk

Fri Jan 21, 2005 07:15 PM GMT

By Anthony J. Brown, MD

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The innate capacity to repair damaged DNA seems to affect a woman's chance of developing breast cancer. Deficient DNA repair appears to triple the risk of breast cancer, researchers have found.

"A lot of studies have looked at the link between DNA repair capacity and lung cancer risk, but few studies have evaluated the association with breast cancer risk," Dr. Regina M. Santella, from Columbia University in New York, told Reuters Health.

Santella's group used various lab techniques to compare the DNA repair capacity of cells obtained from 158 women with breast cancer and from their sisters who didn't have cancer.

The average percentage of damaged DNA that could be repaired was significantly lower in the breast cancer patients than in their unaffected siblings, the investigators report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Moreover, as DNA repair capacity diminished, the risk of breast cancer rose, with about a 3-fold difference between those with the highest capacity versus those with the lowest.

Santella said these findings could have implications for breast cancer screening. "The ultimate goal is to understand an individual's risk for cancer development so that you can better target screening and prevention efforts."

She noted that the assay used in the present study looked at just one of many DNA repair mechanisms. "At this point, we're interested in conducting a study using an assay that measures a different DNA repair pathway. Looking at the status of several different pathways may give a better estimate of breast cancer risk."

In a related editorial, Dr. Marianne Berwick, from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and Dr. Paolo Vineis, from Imperial College in London, point out that measuring DNA repair capacity is complicated at present. Once simple and rapid assays are available, it may be possible to develop "interventions to reduce cancer incidence and mortality."

SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, January 19, 2005.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=AVIFIL2LUCW32CRBAEKSFFA?type=healthNews&storyID=7397025

Vioxx, Celebrex Were Overprescribed, Study Says

Fri Jan 21, 2005 11:42 PM GMT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The two popular painkillers Vioxx and Celebrex, heavily marketed as "super-aspirin," were prescribed for millions of patients who did not need them or should not have taken them, researchers said on Friday.

Merck & Co. Inc's Vioxx was recalled in September because a study linked the drug to increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, while Pfizer's Celebrex is under a cloud after data showing a similar heightened risk.

The study by doctors at Stanford University and the University of Chicago found the two COX-2 inhibitors were taken by millions of people who were not at risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, the main reason patients were told to switch from aspirin and other lower-cost painkillers.

COX-2 inhibitors cost 10 to 15 times as much as the drugs they replaced, the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine said.

"We found a rapid, nationwide shift away from older, inexpensive drugs with better established safety and efficacy to newer, costly drugs with no real history," said study author G. Caleb Alexander, a medical ethicist at the University of Chicago.

Within a year of being introduced in 1999, Vioxx and Celebrex were being heavily promoted as "super-aspirin" and bringing in billions of dollars in revenue annually, the study said. Merck spent $161 million in 2000 on direct-to-consumer marketing of Vioxx, it said.

Using data from the National Center for Health Statistics, the study concluded that 73 percent of patients considered at low or very low risk of gastrointestinal problems should not have been considered for the newer drugs. Gastrointestinal bleeding usually affects only at-risk patients who must take aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, for long periods, it said.

By 2002, 17.6 million patients at low risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, or 66 percent of those patients, were taking one of the two COX-2 inhibitors, the study said.

The drugs were also taken by millions of people who should not have been, including 16 million people suffering from congestive heart failure, or liver or kidney dysfunction. These patients might also have been hurt by NSAIDs, it said.

"The findings demonstrate the challenge of limiting innovative therapies to the settings in which they are initially targeted and maximally cost-effective," Alexander wrote.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is convening a panel next month to examine the COX-2 inhibitors, including Pfizer's new entry Bextra, which has also been found to raise the risk of heart attack in people who have had heart bypass surgery.

Spokesmen for Pfizer and Merck could not immediately comment.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=NN4FZA0BM4P1CCRBAELCFFA?type=healthNews&storyID=7398548

Qld councils won't enforce new smoking bans

Saturday, January 22, 2005

The Local Government Association says it is not surprised councils want no part in enforcing Queensland's new smoking laws.

Councils can volunteer to police the smoking bans on patrolled beaches, near children's playgrounds and outside buildings.

But a number of them have this week revealed they have refused.

The association's Tony Good says he expects most of Queensland's 125 councils will decline any enforcement role.

"The majority of the anecdotal feedback we're getting from members would suggest that the majority probably, at this stage, won't be opting in to the enforcement program," he said.

"It is understandable given the amount of resources that is required to administer any form of enforcement."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200501/s1286819.htm

Tobacco exec gives ground in US trial testimony

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - A tobacco company lawyer was forced on Wednesday to retract some earlier testimony in the government's $280 billion racketeering suit -- that Philip Morris had not debated the possible dangers of smoking before 1997.

Philip Morris USA General Counsel Denise Keane conceded it would be "preposterous" to say -- as she did in a 2002 interview in the case -- that until 1997 Philip Morris had been mute on whether smoking was a proven cause of disease.

"These statements do not convey what I intended to convey at that time," Keane told U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler.

The concession came after Justice Department lawyer Andrew Goldfarb pointed out that the Altria Group (MO.N: Quote, Profile, Research) unit had spent decades disputing any proven link between cigarettes and disease.

Philip Morris revised its stance in a 1997 statement to Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch that promised to refrain from debating the issue further and to defer to public health authorities, who had long concluded smoking caused lung cancer, heart disease and other maladies.

In October 2000, the company went further and agreed on its Web site that smoking causes lung cancer and other diseases.

In her 2002 testimony, Keane said the company had made a decision to break out of "isolation" with the Hatch statement.

Keane told the court on Wednesday that her statements in 2002 arose from a misunderstanding between her and Goldfarb during the deposition.

"I take responsibility for any miscommunication between you and I," Keane said, testifying in the fourth month of the tobacco trial.

Filed in 1999, the government suit targets Altria; Loews' Lorillard Tobacco unit, which has a tracking stock, Carolina Group (CG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) ; Vector Group Ltd.'s (VGR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Liggett Group; Reynolds American Inc.'s (RAI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) R.J. Reynolds Tobacco unit and British American Tobacco Plc (BATS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) unit British American Tobacco Investments Ltd.

The Justice Department wants the industry to give up $280 billion in past profits and is seeking tougher rules on marketing, advertising and warnings on tobacco products.

Tobacco companies deny they conspired to promote smoking and say the government has no grounds to pursue them after they drastically changed marketing practices as part of the 1998 settlement with state attorneys general.

Goldfarb said that even though the company acknowledged the dangers of smoking in 2000, it still did not do enough to publicize its change of heart.

Keane disagreed and said Philip Morris had worked hard to draw consumers' attention to its new stance, directing them to the company's Web site through a variety of means, including retail brochures, notices on cigarette packs, television and newspaper ads.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=DZ4WOFP5V55X4CRBAEKSFEY?type=topNews&storyID=7373738

Despite dangers, miners still getting caught smoking underground - KY

PIKEVILLE, Ky. The surgeon general's warning that smoking can be hazardous to your health takes on a whole new meaning inside a coal mine -- where the flick of a cigarette lighter could trigger a deadly methane gas explosion.

Despite the danger, coal companies have recently been finding miners smoking underground, which is illegal.

Most coal companies have taken a hard line against smoking _ frisking miners, even searching lunch boxes in government-ordered pat downs.

The U-S Mine Safety and Health Administration has found cigarette lighters or matches to be the cause of several deadly methane explosions in coal mines. One killed eight miners in Norton, Virginia in 1992.

Miners caught smoking face jail time and fines of up to 25-hundred dollars in Virginia, which strengthened its law after the Norton disaster. Coal miners convicted of smoking underground can get one-to-five years in prison.

Jeff Gillenwater with Richmond-based Massey Energy calls smoking underground "definitely a big no-no." Massey is the largest producer of central Appalachian coal.

He says smoking anywhere on Massey coal property results in immediate dismissal.

http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=2843561

Senate committee passes smoking ban

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A bill to ban smoking in Utah bars survived its first committee hearing.

Touted as a workplace environment issue, the bill passed 4-1 Friday in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee after a lengthy debate on a proposed substitute bill to only make fine-dining clubs smoke-free. The substitute bill did not pass.

Still, supporters of the approved legislation said other hurdles lie ahead.

''This is not a slam dunk by any stretch,'' said lobbyist Dave Spatafore, who is pushing the ban, along with restaurant owner Tom Guinney. ''It's much easier to kill a bill than pass one.''

Utah law now allows bars to choose whether to ban smoking, and some clubs tout themselves as smoke-free. Most of the state's 245 private clubs, though, allow smoking.

The bill faces staunch opposition from the hospitality industry.

Bob Brown, owner of the downtown Salt Lake bar Cheers To You, said those entering bars know they're going somewhere people smoke. He added that almost all his bar employees smoke and didn't want a ban.

''It should be a matter of choice - period,'' Brown said. ''Twelve percent of Utahns smoke. They need a place to go.''

Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, was the lone dissenting vote. He said he worried that the bill was too broad.

''I do not feel, as a conservative, that government should reach into a private club where workers know full well what they're getting into,'' he said.

http://www.casperstartribune.net/apdata/wire_detail.php?wire_num=181832

Good site for sayings

http://www.ofspirit.com/quotations.htm

Minnesota asthma meeting. They are getting funding from pharmacies,

http://www.mnasthma.org/mnasthma/wcrac/WCRACMinutes10022004.pdf

Pubs group to ban smoking -UK

Guy Dresser, This is Money, 25 January 2005

PUBS operator JD Wetherspoon looks set to become the first chain to ban smoking completely in all its outlets at least two years ahead of a Government-imposed restriction.

The company said today that 60 of its pubs will be non-smoking by May this year, some 10% of the total. The remainder will be smoke free by May 2006, two years before the Government ban comes into effect.

Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon admitted that there was a risk customers could go elsewhere if they wanted to have a cigarette with their pint, but described it as a 'calculated risk'. Wetherspoon has had non-smoking areas in all its 650 pubs for the past 12 years.

'Will we lose business? We don't think so. I wouldn't say it's a major risk. Nowadays there are far more non-smokers than smokers and even occasional smokers tell us they'd prefer to be in a less smoky environment.

'The Government's own ban is chaotic and there are too many ways around it. They've said the smoking ban will apply but you can be exempted if you don't serve food. Now there's a debate about what type of food is or is not covered. We would rather be clear and upfront about it. We're telling our customers where we are with regards to smoking.' Shares in the company fell 9�p - nearly 4% - to 250�p in early trading.

The Government has said that smoking will still be permitted in pubs that sell only packaged food such as nuts and crisps rather than freshly made items and prepared meals. The get-out clause for pub operators has been described as 'unworkable' by anti-smoking campaigners.

The British Medical Association last year expressed disappointment that the Government had not opted for a total ban on smoking in enclosed places.

Wetherspoon's announcement puts the group at the forefront of a major change in the licensed trade. The company has frequently set itself apart from its competition. Last week finance director Jim Clarke told This is Money that the company would not be joining any 24 hour opening bandwagon, describing all-day opening as something for which there was insufficient demand.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/business/articles/timid397375?source=

Wetherspoons makes all pubs smoke free -uk

ALAN JONES AND JANE BRADLEY

PUB giant Wetherspoons announced today it was to make all its outlets across the UK smoke free.
The company, which owns 650 pubs, said that smoke bans would be in place in 60 establishments from May this year.
The move comes ahead of the Scottish Executive�s anti-smoking legislation which will make it an offence to light up in public areas including pubs, supermarkets, universities and private clubs from the spring of 2006. Similar legislation for the rest of the UK is expected a year later.
The move by Wetherspoons was welcomed today by unions and health campaigners who urged other pub chains to follow suit. But the announcement saw the company�s share price tumble by 3.9 per cent to 250 pence.
JD Wetherspoon has seven pubs in Edinburgh and the Lothians, including two in the city centre, one in Leith and another two at Edinburgh Airport.
And two of the pubs - Edinburgh�s The Playfair in the Omni Centre, and Wetherspoons on Almondvale Road, Livingston, are set to bring in the smoking ban in only a few weeks.
"Ten per cent of our pubs are bringing in the ban early and these two pubs in Edinburgh and the Lothians will be among them," said a spokesman for Wetherspoons.
Announcing the move, company chairman Tim Martin said: "An increasing percentage of the population are giving up smoking and a significant number of people are staying away from pubs and restaurants because they are too smoky.
"We have pioneered non-smoking areas but we now feel it is the right time to go one step further.
"We believe the Wetherspoon approach of a complete ban after a period of notice is the right one."
Dame Helena Shovelton, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: "We welcome the announcement.
"There are eight million people in the UK living with a lung condition, and for many of them, going into a smoky pub environment runs a real risk of triggering a lung attack, which can result in hospitalisation."
And Campaign group Ash (Action on Smoking and Health) welcomed the announcement as a "significant development" and urged other pub chains and companies to follow suit.
Spokesman Ian Willmore said: "This is great news for Wetherspoons� staff as well as the general public. Wetherspoons are acting in advance of the rest of the industry."
The Government is planning to bring forward legislation banning smoking in all workplaces and most pubs but those which do not sell prepared food will not be covered. The TUC also welcomed the announcement and called on other companies to follow suit.
General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "One of Britain�s biggest pub chains is acting to save its staff from the dangers of second-hand smoke. The bogus arguments that banning smoking is a threat to the pub, club and restaurant business must now fall flat on its face."

http://business.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=88832005

Company Fires Employees for Smoking Test

AP Monday, January 24, 2005 5:48 p.m. ET

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Four employees of a health care company have been fired for refusing to take a test to determine whether they smoke cigarettes.

Weyco Inc., a health benefits administrator based in Okemos, Mich., adopted a policy Jan. 1 that allows employees to be fired if they smoke, even if the smoking happens after business hours or at home.

Company founder Howard Weyers has said the anti-smoking rule was designed to shield the firm from high health care costs. "I don't want to pay for the results of smoking," he said.

The rule led one employee to quit before the policy was adopted. Four others were fired when they balked at the smoking test.

Chief Financial Officer Gary Climes estimated that 18 to 20 of the company's 200 employers were smokers when the policy was announced in 2003. Of those, as many as 14 quit smoking before the policy went into effect. The company offered them help to kick the habit.

"That is absolutely a victory," Climes said.

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=980089&tw=wn_wire_story

Reynolds chairman testifies in RICO trial

The Associated Press Modified: Jan 25, 2005 1:05 AM
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The executive chairman of Reynolds American Inc. testified in federal court that its main operating division, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., does not market cigarettes to children.

Andrew Schindler was questioned Monday by Sharon Eubanks, a Department of Justice attorney in the government's $280 billion racketeering trial against the major tobacco companies.

The government charges that the industry's past and present actions violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, or RICO.

The government is asking the court to compel the companies to return the "ill-gotten gains" they are accused of making over the years - $280 billion.

The tobacco companies deny any wrongdoing and argue that they will go bankrupt if they are forced to pay the money.

Reynolds Tobacco merged with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. last year to form Reynolds American.

One of the key parts of the government's case is its allegation that the tobacco companies intentionally marketed cigarettes to people under the legal smoking age.

Eubanks questioned Schindler about Reynolds Tobacco's Camel "Exotic Blend" flavored cigarettes, which public-health groups and some politicians have criticized, alleging that the cigarettes are aimed at children.

That claim "is absolutely not true," Schindler testified.

The company has been making different Camel "Exotic Blends" for several years, and each is available for a limited time, he said.

Eubanks highlighted a request from Michigan officials for the company to stop marketing Camel "Winter Mocha Mint" and "Warm Winter Toffee" because of allegations that the cigarettes are aimed at enticing children and nonsmokers to smoke.

The letter was dated Jan. 5, 2005, and addressed to Schindler, who testified he couldn't remember seeing the letter but said, "I may have."

http://newsobserver.com/news/ncwire_news/story/2053084p-8438616c.html

Smoking ban, heated bus stops discussed at first Student Government meeting -ne
Crystal R. Reid January 25, 2005

Although the smoking ban issue may not be resolved this semester, Student Government voted to make a statement against the ban in their recent meeting last Thursday.

Student senators agreed that despite the ban not being an issue this semester, they needed this statement as a precursor to any future smoking ban considerations. The student senate felt that such a statement generally represents the students' attitudes about the potential ban.

Students feeling the winter bite while waiting at the shuttle bus stop could be in for some relief in the next couple of years. Discussion started regarding the possibility of funding a way to heat the frigid bus stops in the winter, although there has been no research regarding cost and maintenance.

"This is something that could benefit far more students," Senator Justin Ptacnik said.

Speaker Steve Massara continuously advocated that the senators get out and talk to the students that they represent so the senate can help support them.

"We made a commitment when we were elected to represent the students," Massara said. "Write this down: meet with your students."

This meeting was newly elected President/Regent Elizabeth Kraemer and Vice President Lamarr Womble's first meeting in office. Kraemer's energy and passion bubbled through as she made her first presentation to the senate.

"Feel free to come into my office," she said. "Please contact me, E-mail me or call me."

Womble had the difficult task of correctly moving to appoint, moving to vote, and announcing the necessary appointments. His first time at the podium was a bumpy one, but he soared through it with humble smiles and apologies.

"This is fresh for me, so bear with me," he said, before he began to introduce the new senate appointments.

New appointments are as follows:

Alex Skillman - Student Court Justice

Evan Lee - Graduate Senator

Mujahid Washinton and Jane Splittberger - Students At Large/SABC

There are still several positions to be filled, including Student Court, Traffic Appeals, and six openings on Student Elections Commission.

http://www.unogateway.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/01/25/41f5676dcc572

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Primary might not be needed -KS
As filing deadline looms, choices few in city, school races

By Chad Lawhorn, Journal-World

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Additional candidates for the Lawrence City Commission and Lawrence school board have until noon today to come forward or the city will be without a primary election for the first time in more than 25 years.

In the school board race, at least one more candidate must file or voters won't have a choice at all in that election.

The school board will have three open seats, but as of Monday afternoon only three candidates -- Craig Grant, John Mitchell and incumbent Linda Robinson -- had filed.

"I wish more people were willing, but I think people realize it is a pretty big job to undertake," said Austin Turney, a school board member who after two four-year terms is not seeking re-election. "There is no pay for the position, and you have to raise $5,000 to $6,000 to have a successful campaign."

City commissioners are paid $9,000 per year.

In that race, five candidates have filed for the three at-large positions up for election. That's enough to ensure voters will have a choice at the polls, but unless at least two more candidates file by today's deadline there won't be a primary election.

That's a rarity for Lawrence city government. The last time voters didn't have to whittle the field of City Commission candidates was in 1979. Many political observers are baffled by the small number of candidates thus far.

"I'm a little surprised by it," said City Commissioner David Dunfield, who after six years on the commission will not seek re-election. "Usually we have one or two special-interest candidates, and that hasn't happened yet. I would have expected somebody to make a special-issue campaign out of the smoking ban."

City Commission candidates who had filed by Monday were incumbents Sue Hack and David Schauner, along with downtown barber and former Mayor Mike Amyx, school district administrator Tom Bracciano and attorney Jim Carpenter.

The school board race also must have a total of seven or more candidates to force a primary election. The last time the school board election didn't produce a primary was in 1999.

Should a primary election be necessary, it would be March 1. The general election will be April 5.

Today's filing deadline also applies to city and school district candidates in Baldwin, Eudora and Lecompton. Many of those races don't have enough candidates to fill the number of seats up for election.

The Baldwin City Council has three seats open but only two candidates filed. The Eudora City Council has attracted only one candidate for two seats. The Eudora school board has three seats but only two candidates. In Lecompton, the City Council has two seats but only one candidate.

If enough candidates don't step forward in those races, winners could be determined by write-in votes during the general election, according to officials at the Douglas County Clerk's Office.

Candidates seeking to file for any position other than the Lawrence City Commission can do so at the county clerk's office, which is on the ground floor of the courthouse, 11th and Massachusetts streets. Lawrence City Commission candidates must file at the city clerk's office at City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets.

http://www.ljworld.com/section/citynews/story/194263

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Monday, January 24, 2005

hat I gathered today

Puffing paradox

By RICK BELL -- Calgary Sun Thu, January 20, 2005

Yesterday. Weedless Wednesday. When smokers across the country are encouraged to butt out for at least 24 hours.

Ralph marks the occasion exhaling his strongest emission against any additional encroachment on the convenience of smokers to pursue the most direct route to the cancer ward on our dime.

Ralph's World will eventually stand alone in the nation.

Ralph will resolutely refuse to nix nicotine in public places provincewide, even though his health head honcho wants just such a ban on butts and the premier professes he wants to promote health and save medicare moolah at all costs.

This day, of all days, the smoking premier perceives no problem in his ponderings. In fact, Ralph goes further. He now thinks the public bans in other provinces and even in some Alberta municipalities are utterly and absolutely useless.

"A ban where people my age are involved doesn't do a damn thing. It won't do anything for me, that's for sure. If you have a smoking ban that won't make me quit. I don't know if it's done that much good."

Yes, almost every other individual who has ever looked at the issue agrees snuffing out smoking in public places does reduce the number of existing nicotine addicts as well as curtail converts to the craving, a prescription for better bodies and a better bottom line.

But Ralph has other info. His recent trip down east. Ah...

"I was in Ontario," he begins, as you realize you're in for a classic Ralph rumination.

"I didn't see a healthier person from Ontario than I did in Quebec. In Quebec, I was absolutely amazed to go to a restaurant and see people light up all over the place. You can do your own research."

Actually, Ralph fails to mention even Quebec sees a problem and is butting out in public this year. Or maybe he knows, but he's on a roll and he won't let anything get in his way.

He suggests better than a ban would be putting up signs on every highway saying: If You Smoke, You're Stupid.

Or having newspapers run free ads with the same message. Huh.

You wonder whether any smoke is getting in his eyes.

Ralph is clearly queasy on the issue of second-hand smoke.

He says this is "an unfortunate situation" and "perhaps we'll have a discussion on how we deal with second-hand smoke."

Perhaps. But bars and casinos have to stay open and people who work in those places can work elsewhere.

"You have to weigh the interests of business against the business of health," he says. Guess who wins, guess who wins? Starts with a B.

Ralph just figures folks will finally stop somehow "through evolution and public education."

"Don't concentrate on people like me and soon to be you, Rick. We fully believe the place to start is with young people," insists the premier, believing a ban on smoking where kids are present is sufficient, not realizing kids become adults.

"The problem is to get people to stop smoking ... er ..." Ralph quickly spots his slip. "I'm sorry, is to get people not to start."

The premier lives the contradiction of those who still suck on the coffin nails, knowing it's bad, but still persevering through the ever-present phlegm, not willing to rankle the ranks of those others who puff for pleasure.

Yesterday, Ralph says he'll stick to four smokes.

"I started when everyone thought it was sexy and I'm regretting it today. I'm feeling it, you feel it. I'm not dying or anything, but you wake up and you've got a raspy throat and you cough and you hack and you have a cigarette and you say: Geez, why am I doing this? You want to do it because you're addicted. Smoking is dumb.

"Don't ever start, please." Despite the plea ...

"Although it's Weedless Wednesday and we're supposed to not smoke tobacco, I didn't have any weed I can tell you that, but I did have one cigarette. That was after I ran my three miles. Never before," he chuckles, knowing he's got three more smokes before sleep."

Ralph then adds. "We shouldn't make light of it."

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Calgary/Rick_Bell/2005/01/20/904011.html

Burning question! -AB
JERRY WARD, LEGISLATURE BUREAU Fri, January 21, 2005

Alberta's new Lt.-Gov. Norman Kwong said yesterday - his first official day on the job - he is supportive of a provincewide smoking ban in workplaces. "I hate to jump on people the way they live their lives - I'd hate to have to regulate that," Kwong, a former smoker, said yesterday.

"But if you asked me if I was in favour or not in favour, I think I'd be in favour of a ban."

Kwong, 75, made the remarks at his first official news conference after being sworn in at Government House as Her Majesty the Queen's representative in Alberta.

Premier Ralph Klein, who followed Kwong to the mic, appeared to soften his hardline stance against a provincewide ban of smoking in the workplace, saying he may be amenable to prohibiting smoking where children are present.

"I would entertain a discussion in caucus on this issue - I'm not going to bring it up, but if someone else wants to bring it up ... " Klein said.

"I don't want to be interventionist to the point where we disrupt and hurt businesses ... and I would be fully supportive of a ban on all establishments, public and otherwise, that accommodate children.

"Let's not be so overboard on this issue."

Klein, a smoker, said he will not ban someone from lighting up in places like taverns, casinos and bingo halls. "I'm not a dinosaur on it, but I'm not an interventionist as well. How do you implement those clean air regulations and at the same time not close down businesses?"

Cancer-stricken Steven O'Hearn, 42, of Cochrane - who started smoking at age 12 - was at the legislature yesterday calling on Klein to immediately legislate a smoking ban in workplaces.

However, he admitted the root of the problem is the federal government, which permits the sale of tobacco in Canada even though countless studies show the harm it can do to human health.

"The tobacco companies over the years have been given permission to put toxins in the tobacco to make it addictive," O'Hearn said. "There's over 4,000 ingredients in a cigarette that make it so highly addictive, which is regulated by the federal government.

"If they're going to be doing that and continue to do that then they should tell their tobacco companies to get out of the business because you're killing Canadians."

Liberal health critic Laurie Blakeman feels tobacco is not illegal because of the revenues it generates. "There's a lot of money involved in it. I think that's always a big factor."

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/News/2005/01/21/905481-sun.html

Smoking 'raid' irks hotelier -SK

Police escort health inspectors to Weyburn bar
Veronica Rhodes January 21, 2005

Saskatchewan News Network; with files from The StarPhoenix; Regina Leader-Post

REGINA -- A team of health inspectors with a police escort pounced on a Weyburn bar Wednesday night, blowing a whistle and writing up tickets for the business, the bar owner and a patron.

"This is like the gestapo, a raid. How ridiculous is this getting?" said Rob Joyal, owner of the Royal Hotel in Weyburn.

Grant Paulson, senior public health inspector with the Sun Country Regional Health Authority, said four health inspectors entered the bar with two police officers and used a whistle to get the attention of the patrons and the staff.

Two inspectors returned to the bar Thursday at lunchtime to hand out four more tickets to smoking patrons. All the fines were for not complying with the Tobacco Control Amendment Act, which came into effect Jan. 1 and calls for all enclosed public places to be entirely smoke-free.

Joyal received six tickets worth $540 each. He was fined for providing ashtrays, failing to post required "no smoking" signs and failing to ask patrons to stop smoking or holding lighted tobacco.

"Three of them are under my personal name, then three of them, exact duplicates, are under my company name," said Joyal.

Paulson could say little about the ticketing because it is an on-going investigation, but said under the act, both the proprietor and the business can be fined. He defended the manner inspectors used in handing out fines Wednesday night.

"We have a protocol to follow and it's a legal process. We just wanted to make sure we were following our protocol and doing things properly," said Paulson.

Weyburn police Chief Rod Horsman confirmed uniformed officers accompanied inspectors at their request, but couldn't say how many officers were involved.

Joyal said there were three police officers and five health inspectors, with two of them coming into the bar undercover before the rest arrived 30 minutes later.

"Judging by the tickets and judging by the duplicated tickets, obviously the word from the top is, 'let's hit them, let's hit them hard, let's shut them up and put this to sleep.' I'll tell you right now, that's not going to be the case," said Joyal.

In December, the government announced a 60-day grace period, where public health officers would focus on educating businesses and individuals about the ban, rather than ticketing. But earlier this week, Health Minister John Nilson said any establishment or patron in flagrant non-compliance of the law would be fined.

Since the smoking ban came into effect, Joyal has made customers aware that he disagrees with the ban and will continue to allow patrons to smoke in the bar. Joyal contends no level playing field exists if First Nations-run casinos can allow smoking while he can't have a ventilated smoking room.

SMOKERS, NON-SMOKERS UNITE

"I'm calling on smokers, non-smokers, anyone who believes in equal rights, to make some noise over this, to back me up on this. Phone your MLAs. This issue has gone beyond smoking, it's more about equality now," said Joyal.

Meanwhile, the owner of the Vanscoy Motor Hotel hadn't yet been ticketed under the act on Wednesday evening. However, Barry Gumulcak said he expected the public health inspectors to charge him any day now.

"I'm waiting for them," said Gumulcak. "They told me they were coming back this week."

He says there are no ashtrays, just "fancy coasters," in his bar and he never serves customers who are smoking.

"If somebody is smoking in here, I walk over and tell them that they can't smoke in here. That's what they tell me that I gotta do. If they continue to smoke, I can't give them any service until they extinguish their cigarettes. So, they extinguish their cigarettes and they ask me for a beer and they get a beer and then they light up again. That's what I gotta do."

Even Gumulcak's non-smoking customers aren't happy with the provincial law, he says.

On Jan. 14, the last time the public health inspectors visited his bar, about half a dozen non-smoking old-time hockey players "were tying into them" about the law, Gumulcak said.

Tom Mullin, executive vice-president of the Hotels Association of Saskatchewan, said he is still hoping the province will consider amending the law to allow ventilated smoking rooms. The association has sent a letter to Nilson, Industry and Resources Minister Eric Cline and Deputy Premier Clay Serby asking to meet with government.

"We haven't strayed from our point that the ventilated rooms will work. All we want is the option to do that," said Mullin.

Paulson said ticketing will happen whenever the offence occurs and inspectors may be putting in longer hours until the region has full compliance with the ban.

"We are very committed to this. It is really one of the most effective pieces of legislation that we will come across in our lifetime, as in our careers. I can't think of any other piece of legislation that could have a wider, more beneficial effect to the population," said Paulson.

For now, Joyal is keeping ashtrays out on the tables and will keep letting patrons smoke. He said he will fight the tickets in a Weyburn courtroom on Feb. 21.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/news/story.html?id=57efcc8a-b108-4d38-8b90-40ad7efa7a7a

Socialist utopia

Re: No place for tobacco (Murray Gibson Letter of the Day, Jan. 20).

Sure, get the government to stick its nose into yet another business. Maybe government should just run all businesses in this country, so that profits can soar and everyone can be treated the same. Oh, that was tried, but didn't seem to work -- in the former U.S.S.R.

R. Berg

Winnipeg

But the dream lives on.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/Letters/

Not just politics

As columnist Frank Landry indicates (Reserve smoke ban not in cards, Jan. 19), politics is one reason why Manitoba will not extend a smoking ban to native casinos.

The other reason is that natives continue to get treated as second-class citizens. When the rest of us, for lack of a better term, decried the smoking ban in public places the government simply pointed out that smoking was harmful and second-hand smoke adversely affects the health of non-smokers. Argument ended. Apparently second-hand smoke either does not adversely affect natives due to some undiscovered super gene making them impervious or the government views them as second-class citizens not worthy of protection.

The only other option is that perhaps there was never a sound reason, other than political correctness, to effect a smoking ban anywhere. So, what is it then?

Barry Banek

Winnipeg

Perhaps a bit of all three.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/Letters/

We need ban on whining
Meddling minority simply can't resist the urge to make noise

By Michael Platt -- Calgary Sun Sun, January 23, 2005

Being a member of the silent majority wouldn't be so bad if the outspoken minority didn't keep making so much damn noise.

Democracy is swell, usually -- but there's a definite downside, and when it comes to government and griping lobby groups, the old adage about the squeaky wheel getting the grease couldn't be more accurate.

Cigarettes and noisy bars are the latest target, and though few people see either as a pressing problem (that's if they think about smoking and nightclubs at all) the meddling few are demanding new laws against both.

Perhaps they don't have jobs, children or friends, but it seems there are people out there with little to do except pester politicians for instant action on their personal pet peeves. The problem is, the politicians often listen.

Take cigarettes, for example.

Only three months after a civic election, where anti-smoking groups failed to make cigarettes an issue, there is renewed pressure for an outright ban on butts. Some politicians, including provincial Health Minister Iris Evans, are suggesting 2008 is too far away.

That's the year when Calgary, as voted by city council, will become smoke-free, and for most Calgarians, 2008 is just dandy -- otherwise, the issue would have been ripe for referendum in the last election.

The anti-smoking groups couldn't get enough people interested to make such a ballot question possible, yet they've never stopped trying to pretend they speak for the majority -- and Iris Evans is playing into their hands.

Thankfully, Premier Ralph Klein has seen beyond the squeaks of the minority, and he is leaving the issue up to municipalities, which have already set a date.

Klein occasionally misjudges the will of the people, but on this, he's bang on.

The premier also disagrees with anti-smoking advocates who claim a province-wide smoking ban would cause more people to quit, and again, Klein is right -- the high price of smokes, both financially and socially, means most of those who still indulge are addicts.

They won't quit, no matter how many "no-smoking" signs appear.

The smokers who would quit simply because of inconvenience already butted out years ago.

The shame is, rabble-rousers and easily-influenced politicians waste their time trying to slay the dragon, when it's the dragon's breath that annoys most people.

Smokers puffing away in bars don't bother anyone, except the odd waitress who whines about the second-hand fumes but fails to switch careers, because the tips aren't as good.

What does bother many people are smokers who crowd doorways outside non-smoking buildings, forcing others to run a gauntlet of stench to get inside.

Equally infuriating are the cigarette fiends who flick their smoldering garbage from car windows, or grind them out on sidewalks.

Why aren't the anti-smokers and politicians taking aim at these nicotine-stained misanthropes, who really do bother Calgarians?

Where are the bylaw officers who should be handing out huge fines to people who smoke near a doorway?

When you only pretend to speak for the majority, as most lobby groups do, you often miss the real issues.

The same situation, where a few complaints are driving the wheels of democracy, now has the City of Calgary considering a crackdown on noisy bars.

In the past decade, inner-city Calgary has gone from lame to lively, with restaurants and nightclubs popping up all through the downtown area.

Instead of a downtown where the tumbleweeds blow in at 6 p.m., Calgary's core is hopping with people. As a result, it's occasionally noisy.

A crackdown on the cacophony, as suggested by the irritated few who want both a trendy downtown address and the silence of the suburbs, could ruin things for the majority -- yet the bureaucrats are heeding their squeaks.

Instead of handing the complainers a copy of the Calgary Sun Homes section with "Cranston" or "Rocky Ridge" circled, the city is actually considering a crackdown on noisy nightclubs.

It's a shame we can't get them to pass a bylaw to silence the meddling few -- it'd be nice to get a little peace and quiet for a change.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Calgary/Michael_Platt/2005/01/23/907273.html

Give me back the way things used to be -AB

By Ian Robinson -- Calgary Sun Sun, January 23, 2005

I just had myself a birthday. Not one of the real bad ones with a zero after the first digit, but if I had a car with as much mileage as I do, I'd be thinking about trading it in.

My wife asked me what I wanted. Bad thing to ask a guy sitting there in an age-inspired funk.

I told her I want Dean Martin, John Lennon, Warren Zevon and Frank Sinatra back.

I want to be able to turn my seven-year-old son loose on the Internet to do research on cougars without having to sit next to him, terrified. Because every time he types the word cougar into a search engine, he keeps coming up with links that will take him to pornographic websites featuring naked 40-year-old women performing natural acts in unnatural poses with supernatural flexibility.

I think it's their flexibility that most offends me. These days I consider myself lucky to still be able to touch my toes.

I want to trade Jude Law and Leonardo DiCaprio for John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart because I miss going to movies where the male roles were played by ... well, guys.

I want to be able to turn on the radio and hear new music that sounds pretty and hopeful again. You know, like the Beach Boys, Beatles, ABBA, Simon and Garfunkel.

I'm tired of bands consisting of jaded 20-year-olds whining about life at top volume when they live in the richest and most successful culture in human history. Longest life expectancy, great wealth, the kind of creature comforts that kings a century ago could only aspire to, and these spoiled brats are whining about everything from existential angst to the re-election of George W. Bush. Even when they're happy, they sound miserable. Shut up and, while you're at it, learn a fourth chord, OK?

I want the health nazis to work themselves into such a frenzy that their blood pressure skyrockets and they just keel over dead.

I was there when this loony health craze started. Most everybody quit smoking and started eating low-fat food because the "experts" told us to. Now we're in an epidemic of obesity, the rate of heart disease has gone through the roof and every second person you meet is on Prozac or Effexor or something like them because they're suffering from clinical depression. A juicy steak and a pack of smokes would probably cheer everybody up.

It probably won't extend our lives, but at least what we have would be worth living. And a note to physicians about the new generation of anti-depressants. They have what you guys call "sexual side-effects." You have unhappy people, so you're giving them drugs that take away one of the few truly reliable sources of human happiness. Good thinking, geniuses.

I want people living in hot countries with lots of oil, but an average standard of living on a par with that of the average Canadian goat, to quit blowing themselves up in the name of their god. No matter what name you apply to Him, God doesn't want you to blow up other people. He probably doesn't mind if you blow yourself up ... just quit taking other people with you.

I saw a Muslim scholar on TV once, who said he thought there was a translation error in the Koran. That martyrs didn't get a few dozen virgins; they got a few dozen pomegranates. That image gives me great comfort when I picture Mohammed Atta appearing before Allah. Allah says: "Here's your fruit basket, moron. Now go to Hell."

I want university grads with a B.A. in English to have spent some time with the Dead White Men, guys like Shakespeare and Milton and Marlowe and Chaucer. You shouldn't be able to earn a degree reading nothing but what academics call "marginalized voices."

There's a reason they're marginalized voices: They suck.

I want to be able to turn my son loose on a weekend morning to play the way my parents did with me, and not worry if I don't know where he is every second because we seem to be growing pedophiles at a greater and greater rate.

How did we come to the point where a parent's biggest worry is somebody committing a crime so heinous not even God thought to put it in the Ten Commandments?

What do I want?

I want things to be the way they used to be.

My wife nodded sagely, the way she does when she tunes out one of my mega-rants.

And for my birthday I got some shirts.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Calgary/Ian_Robinson/2005/01/23/907274.html

Calgary Letters to the editor -AB

Jan23. 2005

This whole smoking issue just boggles my mind. Studies show second-hand smoke kills and 3,000 people die each year in Canada from smoking-related lung cancer.
Approximately 23% of Canadians smoke. Why is everyone worried about 23% having the freedom to subject their lethal habit on the other 77%? Is this not the tail wagging the dog? Do non-smokers not have rights?
Maybe if the 77% stayed away from all establishments that allowed smoking, the business owner, as well as our governments might actually realize where their sales are coming from. I am a highly allergic non-smoker and smoke makes it impossible for me to breathe or talk. I don't need to be in a room full of smoke. Being next to a smoker at the table will have the same effect.
What about my rights?
I would love to be able to go for a drink with my husband, but we can't, due to smoke. Our passion is dancing, but there are precious few venues that have dancing without the smoking. Is your cigarette worth more than my ability to breathe and speak clearly? I can't believe Ralph Klein wants to make Albertans the healthiest people in Canada, but doesn't have the fortitude to deal with the one issue that uses the largest portion of our health-care dollars, and causes the most premature deaths in Albertans.
It is time to take our collective heads out of the sand and protect Albertans' health.
Joyce Kiryk-Clutterbuck
(Smokers will fight it all the way.)

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I own a bar that allows smoking. I quit smoking myself eight years ago after sucking them back for 20 years.
I would love to have my bar smoke-free. Problem is, I wouldn't be able to pay the rent, utilities, taxes or my 15 employees. And I don't have or want any of those life-sucking VLT machines to subsidize my expenses. These "flavour of the day" politicians feeling the need to make decisions for adults shouldn't stop at clearing smoke from all public places. I hear trains, planes and automobiles are a little risky as well. Ban them!
And what about booze? Rumour has it that drinking too much, too often, causes way more health and social problems than cigarettes. Better ban booze! What needs to be banned is "flavour of the day" politicians feeling the need to make decisions for adults.
Better we have ones who recognize most adults, when supplied with all the information regarding their own health, are capable of making their own decisions.
I also wonder why these same politicians aren't going directly to the source. As long as it's legal to make and sell cigarettes, isn't it logical that people will buy them and most likely smoke them. Logic -- maybe that's what's missing in this issue.
Jerry Charlton
(It's an emotionally explosive topic.)

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I was beside a lady and her small baby at an intersection when I noticed a woman had her child in the front seat and was smoking a cigarette. I am a smoker but I also have a seven-month-old daughter. Not once have I smoked around her. We as parents need to make the right decisions for our children who can't. If my parents hadn't smoked around us as much as they did, we probably wouldn't have picked up the habit. I implore parents to do some research about the effects of cigarette smoke on tiny developing lungs and brains, then see how cool they feel having a smoke in the car with their kids.
Racheal Magdy-Clark
(Change the "c" in cool to an "f.")

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Gord Miszaniec asks: "Where is my right to breathe clean air?" (Letters, Jan. 19). He forgets to mention the air in a tavern or pub belongs to the owner, not him.
Thomas Laprade
(We were under the impression the air belongs to all.)

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Kevin Sweets (Letters, Jan. 18) isn't looking as the big picture. As crass as it sounds, there is more at stake here than whether or not public smokers are giving him cancer. If this ban is passed it could have a serious effect on the economy of this city. The nightlife in this city is huge, and a ban like this could have a devastating effect on their business. Why? In general, people who smoke, smoke more when they drink and often even those who are not "smokers" will have a puff or two. People will stay at home and drink. Besides, it's cheaper to drink at home and I don't have to worry about someone telling me I am not welcome!
Veronica Tremblay
(The statistics are mixed.)

http://www.canoe.ca/CalgarySun/editorial.html#letters

More casinos to allow smoking -SK

BN Friday, January 21, 2005

REGINA -- Native-run casinos in Prince Albert and North Battleford have now decided to allow smoking in their establishments.

The move follows a federal decision this week not to interfere in a bylaw on the White Bear First Nation in southeastern Saskatchewan.

That bylaw exempts the reserve's Bear Claw casino from the province's new smoking ban.

The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations says a fourth native-run casino in the province -- the Painted Hand Casino in Yorkton -- is staying smoke-free because the local band agreed to harmonize its laws with Yorkton's.

Federation Chief Alphonse Bird says bands have every right to control their own land.

Bird says he has little sympathy for people who complain that having two sets of laws in the province is not fair.

He says there's still some room for compromise but that would require serious negotiations with the province.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/news/story.html?id=88075377-e364-49d7-a3e5-a4d10a245dad

More Indian-run casinos allowing smoking
CBC News Last Updated Jan 21 2005 01:26 PM CST

REGINA � Two more Indian bands have decided to allow smoking in their casinos � in urban areas where non-reserve bars and restaurants operate under a smoking ban.

Earlier this week, Ottawa said it wouldn't stand in the way of the White Bear First Nation's smoking bylaw that allows people to light up at the Bear Claw casino near Carlyle.

Now, the Peter Ballantyne band in Prince Albert and the Mosquito First Nation near North Battleford have passed resolutions allowing people to smoke at their casinos in those cities.

According to Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Chief Alphonse Bird, people can now light up at three of the province's four Indian-run casinos, but the fourth, the Painted Hand Casino in Yorkton, is staying smoke-free. That's because the Sakimay Band agreed to harmonize its laws with those of the city.

The city casinos are part of urban reserves.

Province starts ticketing

Having two sets of smoking rules has developed into a major headache for the Saskatchewan government, which is promoting a smoke-free province.

Under the ban that went into effect Jan. 1, smoking is prohibited in all bars, restaurants and other enclosed public places.

Health Department inspectors gave out a series of $500 tickets at a Weyburn bar on Wednesday, the first such tickets to be issued. Some bar owners are saying it's unfair that they have to stick to the smoking ban, but Indian casinos don't.

But Bird said bands have every right to control their own land, adding he has little sympathy for those who complain that two sets of laws in one province is not fair.

"Those white folks can come and live on our reserves for a couple of months and see how it is, how difficult it is, the situations we have to deal with," Bird said.

"We know the circumstances that smoking does to our people. We probably have the highest rate of smoking. But we also have the highest rate of poverty in the country."

Federal Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott could still veto the bylaws allowing smoking on the Prince Albert and North Battleford casinos, but that's considered unlikely � he has already said he will respect Indian jurisdiction in the matter.

Meanwhile, Bird said there's still some room for compromise but that would require "serious" negotiations with the province.

http://sask.cbc.ca/regionalnews/caches/casinos050122.html

More aboriginal-run casinos allowing smoking -SK

CBC NewsLast Updated Sat, 22 Jan 2005 17:32:20 EST

REGINA - Two more aboriginal bands in Saskatchewan have decided to allow smoking in their casinos � in urban areas where non-reserve bars and restaurants operate under a smoking ban.

Earlier this week, Ottawa said it wouldn't stand in the way of the White Bear First Nation's smoking bylaw that allows people to light up at the Bear Claw casino near Carlyle.

Now, the Peter Ballantyne band in Prince Albert and the Mosquito First Nation near North Battleford have passed resolutions allowing people to smoke at their casinos in those cities.

According to Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Chief Alphonse Bird, people can now light up at three of the province's four aboriginal-run casinos, but the fourth, the Painted Hand Casino in Yorkton, is staying smoke-free. That's because the Sakimay Band agreed to harmonize its laws with those of the city.

The city casinos are part of urban reserves.

Having two sets of smoking rules has developed into a major headache for the Saskatchewan government, which is promoting a smoke-free province.

Under the ban that went into effect Jan. 1, smoking is prohibited in all bars, restaurants and other enclosed public places.

Health Department inspectors gave out a series of $500 tickets at a Weyburn bar on Wednesday, the first such tickets to be issued. Some bar owners are saying it's unfair that they have to stick to the smoking ban, but aboriginal casinos don't.

But Bird said bands have every right to control their own land, adding he has little sympathy for those who complain that two sets of laws in one province is not fair.

"Those white folks can come and live on our reserves for a couple of months and see how it is, how difficult it is, the situations we have to deal with," Bird said.

"We know the circumstances that smoking does to our people. We probably have the highest rate of smoking. But we also have the highest rate of poverty in the country."

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/01/22/sask-casinos050122.html

Klein says smoking ban will be debated -AB

CBC News Last Updated Jan 21 2005 02:40 PM MST

EDMONTON � Premier Ralph Klein has backed off his declaration that there won't be a provincewide smoking ban while he's in charge, saying he's now open to having a debate on the issue.

"We will have a debate in the policy committees and I will make sure that those are open, and then in the legislature," Klein said Friday. "I'll put it on the agenda and let the people decide.

"If you want to write me a letter � any hospital jurisdiction, any municipal councillor, anyone � I will place it on the agenda and we'll have a public debate on this issue."

After Health Minister Iris Evans suggested looking at a provincewide smoking ban, Klein was quick to reject the idea, calling it "useless" and counter-productive.

The number of people criticizing Klein's no-ban stance has increased over the past week, ranging from municipalities to health officials to at least one dying smoker.

Even new Lt.-Gov. Norman Kwong, who wants to make fitness and amateur sports part of his mandate, says he would be in favour of a ban.

Many argued that his position contravened his promise to make Alberta a healthier province and ease the burden on the health-care system.

Klein, who believes the decision whether to ban smoking in workplaces should be left up to municipalities, says options include the status quo, a partial ban or a complete ban.

"There's an upside and a downside to this whole issue," Klein said. "The upside is that we need to do what we can to discourage young people in particular from smoking. That's the essence.

"And the downside is that we interfere with business."

Klein has said he favours banning smoking in any place frequented by children.

Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and PEI have all put provincewide workplace smoking bans in place.

http://calgary.cbc.ca/regionalnews/caches/ca-smoking-debate20051221.html

Forced-treatment bill questioned
CBC News Last Updated Jan 21 2005 03:08 PM MST

CALGARY � A private member's bill that wants to give parents the power to force drug-addicted teens into treatment could backfire, doctors and legal experts say.

Dr. Robin Reesal, a psychiatrist who works with teenagers, says he understands why parents are desperate to try anything to help their children. But forcing teens to do something against their will often doesn't work, he says.

"One of the issues with using force to treatments is you are taking away from the autonomy of an adolescent and at this stage of their life, they're really trying to separate from their parents and develop their own identity," Reesal said.

Kathleen Mahoney, a law professor at the University of Calgary specializing in human rights, says a law that allows treatment to be imposed on people goes against the principles of a democratic society.

"We don't live in the kind of totalitarian society where people can be forced, even if it's for their own good," Mahoney said. "We believe in liberty and people make bad choices for themselves. It's not against the law to be an alcoholic or it's not against the law to be a drug addict."

Conservative MLA Mary Ann Jablonski plans to introduce the bill next session and says it should pass concerns about it contravening human rights legislation because it's similar to a law that protects children involved in prostitution which withstood challenges.

Jablonski says Bill 202 is needed, because parents aren't otherwise able to get help for youths who won't admit they have a problem. She says parents often hope their child will get arrested, so that something can be mandated.

The bill, if passed, would have parents with proof their child has a drug problem apply to a provincial authority to get them into treatment.

http://calgary.cbc.ca/regionalnews/caches/ca-drug-treatment20050121.html

RE: PROVINCEWIDE smoking ban. I think that the general public does not realize the amount of tax money generated from the sale of tobacco products. Where are those lost tax dollars going to come from when the entire country goes smoke-free and the majority of the Canadian population quits? Guess what? It will come from average taxpayers.

Richard Clarke

(The majority doesn't smoke.)

http://canoe.ca/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/Letters/

Forget tobacco growers � focus on the victims -ON

Jan. 23, 2005. 01:00 AM

Tobacco growers' folly Editorial, Jan. 20.

The idea that tobacco farmers deserve government assistance is just too farcical for words � and not just because they produce a dangerous product.

The U.S. Surgeon General's report statistically linking tobacco and lung cancer was published over 40 years ago. I doubt that any other industry on this planet has had a longer advance warning of its own demise.

So now, after all the damage they caused to people's lives and all the money they cost our health-care system, we're expected to sympathize.

Sympathize instead with their victims.

Stephen H. Langevin, Toronto

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1106435409137&call_pageid=970599119419

Guards claim convicts blowing smoke -

By BILL KAUFMANN, Calgary Sun Fri, January 21, 2005

Federal inmates threatening an uprising over a proposed cigarette ban in their cells are scare-mongering, said the head of the corrections officers' union. Documents accessed by Sun Media show prisoners have vowed "a possible disturbance or uprising" when the tobacco prohibition is implemented.

The inmates are probably bluffing, but guards are ready to deal with any trouble that does arise, said Sylvain Martel of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO).

"The provinces have banned smoking in their jails and there was no such (trouble)," said Martel.

"They may say they'll do this and that but we have the tools to handle it ... the bottom line is who's the boss inside?"

It's imperative federal prisons go smoke-free, considering other civil servants have long enjoyed such an environment, said Martel.

"The service should not be blackmailed," he said.

Union prairie region president Kevin Grabowsky said he takes prisoner threats seriously, but also said a total smoking ban must be implemented.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/CalgarySun/News/2005/01/21/905662-sun.html

Angels Spread Smoking Message
Darren McEwen
Saturday, January 22, 2005

�Operation Black Angel� is underway here in the city. It's a campaign to bring home the message about smoking.

The initiative includes little three-foot angels bearing the number 130. The anti-smoking group, Expose, says 130 Canadians die everyday from smoking-related illnesses.

Geoff Matthews asked "Can anyone come up with one good reason why we continue to sell cigarettes in this country." I presume he knows the answer, but would like to hear it from readers, so I will oblige.
It's called freedom, which we as Canadians can exercise to do whatever we want, providing it does not compromise the ability of others to do the same, or involve fraudulent or otherwise illegal activities.
Our war veterans fought to protect our freedoms, so that we can make our own choices, without being oppressed by government forces dictating what we can choose to do in our day to day lives.
There are many other legal products and activities that are harmful to our health, but we do not want bureaucrats imposing their unsolicited "help" on us by legislating availability of choices.
This smacks of current political attitudes that governments should control our lives and culture through legislation. Instead of imposing our choices on others, we should respect our freedom of choice.
G.Millar
Nepean
(As Geoff pointed out, most of those unhealthy products have their
upsides, whereas tobacco does not)
ottawa sun

Farmers block 401 lanes during protest -ON

Canadian Press Friday, January 21, 2005

TORONTO -- About 600 Ontario farmers braved frigid temperatures Friday to clog a stretch of Canada's busiest highway with more than 200 vehicles, including almost a hundred tractors, to draw attention to what they call a looming farm crisis in the province.

Organizers said slowing traffic for about 20 kilometres from London to Ingersoll was the only way to draw Premier Dalton McGuinty's attention to the plight of Ontario farmers.

They say they are frustrated by a lack of government funding, record low prices for grain and oilseeds, and new greenbelt legislation that's threatening to take land away from rural communities without compensation.

McGuinty has ''declared war'' on tobacco farmers and is bankrupting others with proposed legislation, organizer Randy Hillier said from the protest as the mercury dipped below _20 C.

''The list of injustices that McGuinty is putting out is longer than this convoy,'' Hillier said.

Tobacco farmer Dwayne Van Beesan said producers have been pushed to the limit.

''We've never gone to jail, we don't do nothing wrong,'' he said. ''But if that's what we have to do to get through to McGuinty and the federal government, that's what we have to do, and here we are.''

Traffic on the busy highway, which police say carries 3,600 vehicles an hour, was blocked in one direction at a time after the protest began at 8 a.m. Provincial police said the protest was peaceful with no reports of injuries or collisions, and farmers left a lane open for emergency vehicles. The demonstration ended early in the afternoon.

Agriculture Minister Steve Peters acknowledged the challenges facing the industry, but suggested a protest wasn't the best way to attract attention.

''There is a lot of frustration out there,'' Peters admitted before a cabinet meeting in Toronto. ''We need to sit down as political leaders and as farm leaders, and we need to work together.''

''Those provincial issues, we're prepared to work with farmers, as we have and we will continue to in the future.''

Peters noted that some of the farmers' complaints don't fall under the powers of the provincial government. Some are international market issues, others are trade issues, and other problems such as the mad cow crisis must be addressed by the federal government.

Ontario has put forward $125 million for the cattle industry, $92 million for the grains and oilseeds industry, and other support to help implement nutrient management regulations, Peters said.

The province held its first agriculture summit last year to hear first-hand how the farming community is suffering, and information gathered from that will form the basis of government initiatives, he added.

But for some farmers, it's still not enough.

''We're starting a revolution,'' said farmer Zowie Kunschner. ''There's discontent in this country and it's not isolated to agriculture.''

''It's very personally, seriously important to me, and I'm going to stand out here freezing my butt off supporting my farmers and trying to get the word out there.''

Not all farming groups supported the protest.

Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett had said he was opposed to the demonstration because he believed it would alienate the public and erode support for farmers.

But Hillier warned that other demonstrations will follow, including a protest planned for next week near Prescott in eastern Ontario.

''This is just the start,'' Hillier said. ''And if McGuinty still wants to keep his head down in that hole, well, we'll be over in Prescott and we'll be doing the same thing.''

http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/toronto/story.h