*This is 19 pages (3 columns) and with many thanks to the author Stanton Glantz, PHD  in Applied Mechanics and the company Repace (the people that said it would take tornado like winds to get rid of cigarette smoke).

Exposure to second-hand smoke:

are we protecting our kids?

A Position Paper by the Ontario Medical Association

http://www.oma.org/phealth/smoke2004.pdf

 

'How many are there?' MB, CA

Smoke shack found at Transit Sat, October 16, 2004

By FRANK LANDRY, LEGISLATURE REPORTER

It's not just provincial government workers who have been breaking the Manitoba-wide butt ban. Winnipeg Transit employees have been puffing inside an enclosed smoke shack located behind the department's administration offices on Osborne Street. That brings to three the number of illegal cigarette huts identified by The Sun in the past two days.

"The question is how many others are there?" said Tory Leader Stuart Murray. "I know we're doing some social re-engineering here, but the point is there is some legislation in place and (Premier Gary) Doer has to decide if he's going to follow through with it or not."

Morley Calahan, spokesman for Winnipeg Transit, said he didn't realize enclosed smoke shacks were now illegal until reading about it in yesterday's Sun.

'MATTER OF INTERPRETATION'

"It's a matter of interpretation," Calahan said. "We assumed we had the correct interpretation (of the provincial anti-smoking legislation)."

The puffing room is actually a "vintage" bus shelter that has been available to employees who smoke for several years, he said.

Calahan said several windows will be knocked out of the unheated structure by next week so it complies with the province's Non-Smokers Health Protection Act, which kicked in more than two weeks ago. For the time being, puffing will continue, he said.

"At this point, people are still smoking in there during their breaks," Calahan said.

The Sun first reported yesterday that Manitoba Lotteries workers were lighting up in cozy smoking shacks located behind the Club Regent and McPhillips Street Station casinos. As a result of the publicity, Lotteries officials pulled the plug on the illegal tobacco huts, which were heated and ventilated.

Jim Drew, manager of the environmental health unit with Manitoba Health, said he doesn't believe there are many more enclosed smoking shelters out there.

"There's not a lot of little shacks outside of businesses," Drew said. "And it wouldn't make sense for people to install them now."

Drew said if any more are uncovered, scofflaws will be "dealt with" by provincial inspectors, who have the authority to issue warnings and fines.

So far no fines have been levied against businesses and workplaces that continue to allow smoking indoors.

Robert Jenkinson, owner of the Creekside Hideaway hotel in Treherne, is one of the scofflaws. He said he knows at least another 22 rural bar owners who still let patrons puff.

"I guess they're going to come at their own discretion," Jenkinson said of the provincial inspectors.

Should the province allow employees to smoke in shacks outside their workplace?

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2004/10/16/671108.html

 

Smoking 'em out

Lotto bosses change rules at casino huts

By FRANK LANDRY, LEGISLATURE REPORTER

Hundreds of provincial government employees who were secretly smoking in heated puffing shacks will be forced to step outside today. Until yesterday, Manitoba Lotteries had been allowing its workers to light up in enclosed shelters tucked behind the Club Regent and McPhillips Street Station casinos.

Lotteries officials had a change of heart after The Winnipeg Sun questioned the legality of the ventilated smoking shacks.

After defending the policy earlier in the day, Lotteries spokeswoman Susan Olynik did a flip-flop and told The Sun no-smoking signs would be posted in the cozy 120-square-foot shelters this morning.

"We've been reviewing the provincial legislation and working our way through it," Olynik said late yesterday afternoon. "We will be asking staff to not smoke in those facilities."

'Perfectly legal'

Earlier Olynik said she didn't believe the policy was in violation of the provincewide smoking ban, which kicked in Oct. 1.

"These are not public facilities," she said in the morning. "They are shelters that were constructed for employees for inclement weather. They are perfectly legal. That's something we checked out."

The Non-Smokers Health Protection Act prohibits smoking in most enclosed public and work places in the province.

There are some exceptions, including First Nations and military bases.

Jonathan Hildebrand, spokesman for Healthy Living Minister Theresa Oswald, said Lotteries was still following Winnipeg's smoking bylaw, which allowed for such employee smoking shelters. The tougher provincewide ban takes precedence over the city's crackdown.

"It obviously wasn't caught that the province had different requirements," he said. "They recognized that and now they've remedied it."

Tory Leader Stuart Murray said the province was creating a double standard by not enforcing the butt ban on its casino workers.

"To me, (Premier Gary) Doer either believes in the legislation or he doesn't," Murray said. "He should make up his mind."

Murray said if Manitoba Lotteries employees can smoke indoors, hotel and restaurant staff should also be permitted to light up in special rooms.

But, "it's a slippery slope," he warned, noting the next step would be allowing bar patrons to have their own smoke shacks.

Ray Louie, chairman of the Manitoba Restaurant Association, said it was "a little shocking" to learn government workers had their own smoking huts.

"It seems the rules don't apply to everybody," Louie said. "Some are more privileged then others."

The Manitoba Restaurant Association and the Manitoba Hotel Association had unsuccessfully tried lobbying the Doer government to allow for ventilated smoking rooms in bars and lounges.

Olynik said the decision to force smokers to step outside was made internally without any interference from the NDP government.

The shelters were constructed prior to the province's crackdown on smokers, Olynik said. The one at McPhillips Street Station was built three years ago, and the one at Club Regent was built last year, she said.

"They really have nothing to do with the smoking ban," Olynik said.

Since the provincewide butt ban kicked in Oct. 1, eight reports have been made to the province of scofflaws. Seven warnings have been issued but there have been no fines.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2004/10/15/669721.html

 

Heather Crowe visits New Brunswick

Sept. 30, 2004 NB 1081

FREDERICTON (CNB) - Premier Bernard Lord and Health and Wellness Minister Elvy Robichaud met with Heather Crowe today to discuss the government's commitment to implement smoke-free legislation as part of the Provincial Health Plan

Crowe, a former waitress in Ottawa, worked for 40 years in restaurants and bars where, as she describes, "the air was blue with smoke". A non-smoker who never lived with a smoker, the 57-year-old was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in the spring of 2002. She has been featured in Health Canada advertising campaign against the dangers of second-hand smoke. Crowe's visit to New Brunswick is organized by the Canadian Cancer Society 

Premier Bernard Lord and Heather Crowe - Video: (Original) (Interpretation) - (more audio/video)

"I commend Ms. Crowe for her bravery and dedication in sharing her personal struggle," Lord said. "I am pleased that New Brunswick can say it is a proud partner in this change to encourage smokers to break the habit and join the majority of residents who live, work and play in a smoke-free environment."

Smoke-free legislation is expected to reduce exposure to second hand smoke by 80 per cent, cut cigarette consumption by at least 20 per cent, and save the province an estimated $132 million a year in health care costs and productivity losses.

"I am pleased to welcome Heather Crowe to New Brunswick, a province which will provide full protection from second-hand smoke to all workers," Robichaud said. "Her testimony is a touching and convincing one that, I am sure, will encourage other jurisdictions to follow New Brunswick's example by adopting smoking legislation to protect all workers and the general public."

Crowe said the province's plans fit with her goal. "I want to be the last person to die from second-hand smoke at work," she said.

As of Oct. 1, indoor public places and indoor workplaces will be smoke-free in New Brunswick. Smoking will no longer be permitted on school grounds, in retail stores, community halls, conference centres, sports arenas, educational buildings, bingo halls, bars, restaurants and all indoor workplaces.

New Brunswickers can find information on the smoke-free legislation by calling the Smoke-Free Act information line number at 1-866-234-4234 or by visiting http://www.gnb.ca, keyword: Health.

04/09/30

MEDIA CONTACT: Communications, Health and Wellness, 506-453-2536.

http://www.gnb.ca/cnb/news/hw/2004e1081hw.htm

 

Pinard's claim that she wrote anti-smoking law questioned –CA, USA

A San Luis Obispo doctor, former council member and then-city attorney behind the ordinance say her only involvement was voting to pass it
Ryan Huff The Tribune
Three people key to the passage of San Luis Obispo's landmark 1990 anti-smoking ordinance are questioning state Senate candidate Peg Pinard's claim in television ads that she "wrote the first law banning smoking in restaurants in the entire country."

"I'm astounded," said Jerry Reiss, who served on the City Council from 1987 to 1992. "I don't recall she had any involvement in it other than voting on it."

San Luis Obispo doctor Steve Hansen says he pitched the ordinance to Reiss, who asked then-City Attorney Jeff Jorgensen to write it. Reiss and Jorgensen back up this account.

Pinard was part of the 4-1 vote to approve the measure, which outlawed smoking indoors in most public places -- including bars and restaurants. She said while many people deserve credit for passing the ordinance, her commercial is still accurate.

"When a council passes it, we write it into law," Pinard said in a phone interview Thursday. "I would never take away from what other people did. But four council members voted for it, and I was one of them."

The one who opposed it was late Mayor Ron Dunin, who had pushed for exemptions from the law for bars and gaming rooms.

With passage of the law, San Luis Obispo adopted the nation's strictest anti-smoking law at that time and was the first city in the nation to ban smoking in bars.

Hansen, an internal medicine specialist, said he proposed the ordinance idea after studying data about the harmful effects of secondhand smoke.

"I was the one who brought forward the whole notion of workplace safety for workers who had to bear the brunt of smoking for eight hours," said Hansen, chairman of the American Medical Association's tobacco control program. "I called Jerry Reiss and worked the council."

Jorgensen, who researched and actually wrote the ordinance, declined to say how he felt when he saw Pinard's commercial.

"I will tell you that as the driving force behind it, I think Dr. Hansen's and Jerry Reiss' comments are very credible," Jorgensen said.

The retired city attorney added that the law was complicated because such an ordinance had never been passed in the United States and was heavily lobbied against by tobacco companies.

"Because we were charting new territory, there was a risk that the ordinance would be challenged by tobacco industry and other interests if it went too far or if there wasn't adequate justification for it," Jorgensen said.

Reiss said that if anyone deserves the credit for writing the law, it's Jorgensen.

"Peg didn't write it no matter what her advertisement says," Reiss said. "After seeing that, my inclination is I wonder how accurate the rest of her commercials are."

Pinard acknowledged that she wasn't the only one who wrote the law but said she was a key figure in its passage.

"We only have 30 seconds for an ad -- we can't list everybody's name," she said.

"... It would have never happened without Jerry Reiss, but Jerry Reiss could never do it without me."

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/local/9926529.htm

 

Government to quit inspecting tobacco
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON -- Legislation just passed by Congress abolishes the requirement that the government inspect imported tobacco to ensure it is not laced with chemicals and pesticides banned in the United States but permitted elsewhere.

That means imported leaf, which U.S. tobacco companies are increasingly relying on, could make cigarettes even more harmful, said Tom Glynn, director of science and trends for the American Cancer Society.

Glynn said about 60 of the 4,000 or so chemicals in cigarette smoke are linked to cancer. "What this may do is just add to that number, making an already toxic product even more toxic," he said.

The Agriculture Department, the Homeland Security Department and the Food and Drug Administration all have authority to inspect other imported agricultural products to ensure they meet U.S. standards. Officials at those agencies said they did not know of another agricultural product that comes into this country without some kind of inspection.

U.S. farmers are unhappy about the end of foreign inspections on tobacco. The change was included in legislation that will pay tobacco growers $10 billion and end a Depression-era program that set price and production controls on American-grown leaf.

The tobacco plan is part of a major corporate tax bill that is awaiting President Bush's signature.

The federal tobacco program included foreign and domestic leaf inspections. Lawmakers were reluctant to retain any part of the program, which growers and cigarettes makers had paid for, and did not want the public to cover any of the costs. The legislation requires cigarette makers to fund the buyout.

Growers had complained for years that the old quota system kept their tobacco prices too high to compete with imported tobacco. But they now say they would like assurances their foreign competitors will not try to lower production costs by relying on pesticides such as DDT, which is banned in the United States.

These farmers also say foreign growers use chemicals not permitted in the United States that make tobacco leaves more pliable and easier to harvest.

"If they know it's not going to be inspected, they're going to take the cheapest route whatever that might be," said Rod Kuegel, a tobacco farmer from Owensboro, Ky.

Kuegel worries that growers in developing countries may take this route. African and South American countries are among the leading exporters of tobacco.

Both Philip Morris USA, the nation's largest cigarette manufacturer, and leading rival Reynolds American plan to inspect foreign tobacco that they use and test for outlawed chemicals, company spokesmen said. Philip Morris spokesman Mike Farriss said the costs should be minimal.

Even so, small cigarette manufacturers that sell discount brands are unlikely to conduct such inspections, said Arnold Hamm, assistant general manager of a Raleigh, N.C.-based growers' cooperative.

Lamar DeLoach, president of the Tobacco Growers Association of Georgia, said he is concerned about relying on manufacturers that pledge to test.

"I guess my only problem with that is that other commodities that come into this country have federal inspections, and federal inspections ought to allow the people to know what's coming in," DeLoach said.

"If I'm bringing in bananas, and I just tell the government, 'Well don't worry about inspecting these. I'll do it myself,' how comfortable would you as a consumer feel about me doing that?"

http://newsobserver.com/news/nc/ncwire_news/story/1737649p-8008078c.html

 

POLICE BEAT -OH, USA

By The Eagle-Gazette Staff

At 1:23 p.m. Wednesday someone broke into the Star Drive Thru, 825 W. Fair Ave., Lancaster.

Officers responded to the alarm and witnesses said a white pickup truck with three people were seen leaving the area when the alarm went off, according to a Lancaster police report.

Stolen items included miscellaneous cartons of cigarettes, plastic trash cans and $574 in cash.

Between 10:15 p.m. and 10:51 p.m. Wednesday someone entered Suds & Stuff, 1649 E. Main St.

Stolen items included $300 in cash and an unknown number of cigarette cartons.

The estimate of damage to a cash register was $200 and damage to a door frame was not estimated.

http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/news/stories/20041016/localnews/1425999.html

 

Gunman gets away with $4,500 from dollar store –IL, USA
By Gene Haschak Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Saturday, October 16, 2004

Elgin police Friday were investigating Wednesday's armed robbery of the recently opened Deal$ - Nothing Over a Dollar store at 1015 N. Randall Road, Elgin.

A lone gunman escaped with $4,460 from two cash registers and a safe in the store.

An assistant manager told police she went out to smoke a cigarette about 9:25 p.m. after the store had closed and while other employees were cleaning up.

She told investigators she was grabbed from behind by her sweatshirt, a handgun was placed at the back of her head and she was told to go back into the store.

The gunman forced her to lock the front doors and call over the public address system for the three other employees to go to the front of the store, where he forced them to lie facedown on the floor, police said.

The robber had the assistant manager collect the others workers' cell phones and throw them down an aisle.

"Open the safe and get the money," the robber is quoted in a police report as telling the assistant manager.

"Put the money in there," he said, throwing several store bags at her, the police report said. After stuffing the bags with money and giving them to the robber, he again grabbed her by her sweatshirt, this time throwing her to the floor and yelling to the workers, "Don't turn around or I'm going to shoot you," the reports said.

Before leaving, the reports said, the robber led the four workers into the men's washroom and told them to count to 100 before coming out or he would shoot them.

They left the washroom five minutes later. The robber was gone.

http://www.dailyherald.com/kane/main_story.asp?intID=3827670

 

Discount tobacco store robbed- IN, USA

PORTAGE -- A Portage cigarette shop was robbed Friday afternoon and police are investigating whether the crime is linked to three similar robberies this week in Lake County.
A Michigan man was arrested Friday evening in Gary in connection with the Lake County robberies, although that man has not been charged in connection with the robbery in Portage. Brett Mallon, 41, of New Buffalo, Mich., was arrested outside a Gary motel. Police said he will be charged today in Lake County with robbing two cigarette shops in Merrillville and one in Dyer.

On Friday, a white man, described as being in his 30s entered Low Bob's discount tobacco store at 3456 Willowcreek Road in the Portage Commons Shopping Center just before 2:30 p.m. The man threatened a clerk at knifepoint and fled with an undetermined amount of money and cigarettes, said Portage police Cpl. John Ryan.
"This early in the day, it is pretty strange," Ryan said about the mid-afternoon robbery in an area of the city that is busy with traffic. The shop is just north of U.S. 6.
The man, described as 5-foot-9, 160 to 165 pounds with shoulder-length dark brown wavy hair and a scruffy beard leading from sideburns, fled the shop and ran south along the storefronts of the shopping center.
He was described as wearing a dark brown or green shirt and blue jeans.
Ryan said the man displayed a knife with a silver blade to the clerk. The clerk was not injured during the robbery.
A police dog picked up his track from the tobacco store, which led west to a storage unit rental business northwest of U.S. 6 at Ash Street. The dog then tracked back to the scene of the robbery.
Police received several calls about the possible spotting of the suspect and searched areas around U.S. 6 and Ash Street, Swanson Road and Aspen Avenue and along the Prairie Duneland Trail. Police searched for the suspect for more than an hour Friday afternoon, but he was not located.
Ryan said police believe the man may have fled to the storage unit rental business and then fled in a vehicle that he had parked in the area.
 Business robbed

Special Casino Tables Provide Clean Air -NJ, USA
Oct 15, 2004 ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP)

At the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, dealers like Linda Lombardo don't have to do "the wave" when smoke gets in their eyes.
A table does it for them.
 http://kyw.com/Local%20News/local_story_289152529.html

 

LARGE ASTHMA STUDY ACHIEVES STRINGENT CONTROL IN FORMERLY UNCONTROLLED PATIENTS

A 1-year randomized, stratified double-blind parallel-group study of 3,416 patients with uncontrolled asthma showed that the stringent standard of total control was achieved by 41 percent of all patients from 3 separate study groups during at least 7 out of 8 consecutive assessment weeks over the year. The researchers recruited 3 groups of uncontrolled asthma patients: an inhaled steroid naïve group, those on a low-dose inhaled steroid regimen, and a group on moderate dose inhaled steroids.

REPLACEMENT TESTOSTERONE ASSISTS CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE PATIENTS

METAL-RICH PARTICULATE MATTER CAUSES AIRWAY INFLAMMATION

Instillations of environmentally relevant concentrations of tiny particulate matter (PM2.5) from a smelter area in Germany induced distinct airway inflammation in 12 healthy subjects, as compared with PM2.5 from a nearby rural town. Researchers instilled ambient particles (PM2.5) through a bronchoscope into the lungs of the 12 healthy volunteers. The particulate matter was collected at Hettstedt, a city in an 800-year-old German smelting area, and from Zerbst, a rural community 80 kilometers away. The cities are similar in climate and size. The authors said that the levels of transition metals, including zinc, copper, and cadmium, as well as oxidant generation, were several fold higher in the PM2.5 from Hettsted, as compared with Zerbst. They said that increased metal concentrations and consequent oxidative stress is known to promote factors which can lead to the release of proinflammatory mediators. They pointed out that such results had been demonstrated especially for zinc, which is a major component of environmental particulate matter. This material has induced pulmonary cell reactivity and epithelial damage in animals. The study population consisted of 8 women and 4 men, all healthy volunteers who averaged 27 years of age. Each subject had a normal physical exam, a normal lung function test, and no clinically relevant lab findings. Smokers were excluded from the study. The research appears in the second issue for October 2004 of the American Thoracic Society's peer-reviewed American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

http://www2.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/ats-ats100804.php

 

State Revenues Up 10 Percent In First Fiscal Quarter – VA,USA

By BOB LEWIS Associated Press Writer

(AP) - September's state tax collections - the first to reflect new tax increases in Virginia imposed this year - were up by 12 percent, the Warner administration's latest monthly revenue report said Thursday.

September's collections reflect a 17.5-cent per-pack jump in the cigarette tax (to 20 cents a pack) and a 66 percent increase in the tax on recording real estate transactions, both of which took effect Sept. 1.

The report doesn't reflect a one-half cent increase in the state sales tax rate because merchants don't remit their collections until after the close of each month.

The growth, however, was driven by personal income taxes that reflect strengthening statewide job growth and unusually large estate tax collections, Finance Secretary John M. Bennett's report to Gov. Mark R. Warner said.

September is a major revenue collection month. Payroll withholding, which accounts for 62 percent of the state's general revenues, and estimated quarterly payments on non-payroll income totaled $812 million compared with $719 million for September 2003, up 12.8 percent.

http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=2434372&nav=23iiS23r

 

*ask for a name, of this person dying weekly.  It’s a statistic based on 1992 EPA risks, not a person.

Is ban on smoking the only answer? -UK

Birmingham Post Debate Oct 15 2004

Should the law ban smoking in public places or should it be left to individuals to decide?

Birmingham’s hospitality industry would take a massive hit if a ban on smoking in bars, pubs and restaurants is introduced, claim city licensees.

Bennetts, a watering hole popular with the city’s business community in Bennett’s Hill, was forced to scrap a smoke-free trial after takings dropped by more than 50 per cent.

The Big Smoke Debate, an on-line survey conducted earlier this year, revealed 86 per cent of people in West Midlands were in favour of banning smoking in enclosed spaces.

Although only 58 per cent voted for a ban on smoking in bars and pubs, three out of four people wanted to see smoking in shopping centres outlawed.

Nearly 14,000 people took part in the two-and-a-half month study, the biggest public consultation on a public health issue in Britain.

Campaigners feel that after bans proved successful in several US States and Ireland, licensees in Britain must now try it out themselves.

Paul Hooper, regional spokesman for anti-smoking group ASH, believes, for a ban to be effective, there must be no exceptions. He said: “Passive smoking is a real health hazard and not just the mere irritation some anti-ban lobby groups may claim.

“In order to remove the risk to non-smokers, particularly staff who have no choice about breathing in second hand smoke, a total ban in Birmingham’s bars, clubs, restaurants must be introduced.

“I am not talking about a ban on smokers, but a ban on smoking. Each week one nonsmoker in the hospitality industry in the UK dies due to breathing in other people’s smoke, that ’ s just not acceptable.”

Last month, Imperial Tobacco, which makes John Players, Embassy, Superkings, Lambert & Butler, and Royal cigarettes, reported a drop of nearly ten per cent in Irish sales between January and August this year.

But the slump was blamed on higher tax rather than Ireland’s smoking ban, which came into force in April.

The tobacco firm also pointed out there had been a drop of 25 per cent in trade in Dublin’s pubs and clubs, leading to 2,000 job losses in the city alone.

 Comment No: It's not good for business Oct 14 2004
“There is a certain synergy between enjoying a quiet pint or glass of wine with a cigarette, a fine cigar or a loaded pipe in your favourite local. more

Comment Yes: Time for bars to take action Oct 14 2004
“The time has come for a smoking ban to be implemented and it would take a leap of faith to do so, because we have seen such schemes work in the US and Ireland. more

Is aban only option?

 

Dropped Match Litter Lout Brands £135 Penalty 'Ridiculous' - UK
By Will Batchelor, PA News

A man who was fined for dropping a used match in the street today branded the punishment “ridiculous“.
Gary Colbert dropped the match in Liverpool city centre while the council was conducting a blitz on litter louts.
He was approached by a council official and appeared before Liverpool Magistrates on Thursday when he pleaded guilty to dropping litter.
He was fined £60 and ordered to pay £75 costs.
Mr Colbert, of Seaforth, told the Daily Post newspaper: “It is ridiculous, it’s a joke.
“People get away with all sorts. I throw a match on the ground and end up having to fork out £135 I don’t have.”
A total of 25 people were given the same punishment by Liverpool Magistrates on Thursday for dropping cigarette-related litter.
A Liverpool City Council spokesman said: “Litter is litter, and that includes matches.
“Research from ENCAMS (an environmental campaign) shows that cigarette-related litter makes up 40% of street litter.
ENCAMS stand for Environmental Campaigns – the charity which runs the Keep Britain Tidy campaign.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3628837

 

*earlier I have many internet sellers that have made many changes to system.

Action Needed Now to Stop Illegal Traffic in Tobacco

Minors are becoming addicted to cigarettes through illegal, uncontrolled Internet sales.

(PRWEB) October 15, 2004 –

While state and local governments make sporadic attempts to tax Internet tobacco sales, too little attention is being paid to the growing health threat to teens posed by the rampant, uncontrolled online traffic in cigarettes, a newly-formed advocacy group charged.
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/10/emw167684.htm

 

Debating Groob, Westwood reverses stance on tax hike –KY, USA

By Patrick Crowley Enquirer staff writer
COVINGTON - State Sen. Jack Westwood, who throughout his legislative career has fought against tax hikes, said Thursday he would consider supporting an increase in the state's cigarette tax.

Westwood, a Crescent Springs Republican seeking a third term in Frankfort, said he is aware his comments will draw political fire because in 1996 he signed a pledge not to raise taxes.

"Would I consider that, yes," Westwood said during an hour-long debate with Democrat Kathy Groob at Holmes High School.

Groob, a marketing executive from Fort Mitchell, also said she would consider supporting an increase in the state's tax of 3 cents a pack on cigarettes, the second lowest rate in the nation. Virginia's state tax on cigarettes is 2.5 cents a pack.

Both said they would prefer that the increase be a part of an overall reform of the state's tax code.

But money is so desperately needed, Westwood and Groob said, a standalone increase of the cigarette tax should be considered to pay for health care and other programs.

The debate will be broadcast by the Telecommunications Board of Northern Kentucky on Wednesday at 8 p.m. on INC Channel 16.

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/15/loc_kysenate15.html

 

McDonald’s UK replacing M with ?

Global restaurant chain McDonald’s is going through a series of drastic changes in the international markets. The most significant of these is the company’s decision to drop its famous golden arches logo in the UK from today. Other important developments include introducing health food such as salad and fruits in its otherwise high fat-containing menu, and also reducing the food servings.
Essentially, McDonald’s is serious about changing its image from a food-chain of obesity-inducing junk foods into a respectable new age health-oriented global restaurant. The trigger for the change has been warnings of an obesity crisis from governments of developed nations; growing public awareness of the high-fat, high-salt nature of a fast-food diet; and the consequent squeeze on the company's bottom-line.
The golden arches logo – which is easily one of the world's most recognisable images, probably only behind Coca-Cola and the crucifix as the best known symbols in the world – is being replaced with a large yellow question mark.
Will McDonald’s Indian operations also witness similar changes? When agencyfaqs! Put in its question across to the McDonald's India office, Vikram Bakshi, the head honcho at McDonald’s India, declined to make any comments. Irrespective of whether the company will introduce changes in its logo and menu in India, it’s a fact that the issue of obesity – especially among children in McDonald’s target group – is a global phenomenon, and India is not an exception to this rule. Surely, many existing and prospective McCustomers would warm up to the thought of the restaurant chain serving a ‘happy and healthy’ meal.
In India, where heart attacks kill millions every year, there have been stray demands that branded junk food companies carry mandatory statutory warnings about associated health hazards – similar to the ones carried by cigarette/tobacco manufacturing companies. Even the junk foods category has seen its share of controversies; the usage of monosodium glutamate (commonly called ajinomoto) over acceptable limits had landed Kentucky Fried Chicken into serious problems a couple of years back.
In the UK, meanwhile, the golden arches logo is being ditched purely because of health concerns that patrons have shown. The two-week campaign, called Change, will contain the line: "McDonald's. But not as you know it", with a yellow question mark replacing the famous M arches.
A bigger issue – assuming the question mark is only a temporary measure to arouse curiosity – is what will happen next? Will ‘?’ serve as a stepping-stone to a brand new logo, or will the golden arches be revived? And if the arches are indeed brought back, will the hiatus mean that they are ‘damaged goods’?
Marketers will vouch for the fact that surely, it takes a lot of courage to ditch one of the world's most recognisable images. In McDonald’s case, it was possibly courage mixed with a generous dose of desperation.
McDonald’s patrons are reportedly disturbed by films such as ‘Super Size Me’, which documents the disastrous damage done to the film’s director Morgan Spurlock's health after a month spent eating nothing but McDonald's fare. For the record, the film has been a box-office hit in the UK.
Sales at McDonald's UK outlets had plunged dramatically last year as concerns mounted over the country's obesity problems. The UK adverts will feature close-ups of McDonald's new healthy options such as salads and fruit. The measures follow the group's recent announcement that it was reducing the size of food portions at its restaurants. Booklets detailing new menu items will also be sent to 17 million households in Britain.
History is not particularly kind about corporate makeovers as British Airways (with their abstract tailfins) or British Telecom (with its multi-coloured globe) have discovered to their cost. But then, the UK market has also seen successful transitions such as Channel 5's logo change to Five. In part, at least, this was due to the rebranding devised by TBWA, the ad agency behind French Connection's hugely successful FCUK campaign. In the case of Channel 5, they deliberately drew a line under the past while retaining brand loyalty.

Essentially, there is no one golden rule to successfully change a logo. There must be a solid logic to it, and it's important that the public does not feel that it is being manipulated.

http://www.agencyfaqs.com/news/stories/2004/10/15/10082.html

 

Official: Low sales axed RJR product

Team developed a reduced-risk cigarette

BLOOMBERG NEWS WASHINGTON

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. developed a cigarette intended to reduce disease-causing chemicals in the 1990s, then dropped it because it wasn't accepted by smokers, the company's chief of product development testified yesterday.

Jeffery Gentry, who led the team that developed a reduced-risk cigarette known internally as EW, said he believed until at least 1999 that the product, which had a carbon-scrubber filter and a low-nitrogen tobacco blend, should be on the market.

"I believed that EW did pose less risk," Gentry told Judge Gladys Kessler of U.S. District Court in the government's $280 billion racketeering case against Reynolds and other U.S. cigarette-makers.

The Justice Department claims that cigarette companies conspired to resist the development and marketing of safer products to avoid admitting to the public that smoking is dangerous.

The suppression of safer cigarettes is part of a larger, 50-year scheme by the industry to defraud smokers, the government said.

In laboratory testing, EW's carbon filter reduced chemicals suspected of causing disease, including carbonyls, hydrogen cyanide and benzene, Gentry said in written testimony submitted earlier.

Reynolds test marketed six versions of the EW cigarette in Oklahoma under the brand name "Winston Select," from April 1995 through mid-1997, Gentry testified. It sold Winston Select without the EW features in the rest of the United Sates, he said.

EW's taste was rated "good" by smokers who tried it in tests, Gentry said, though they ranked it below their usual brands.

sales made cigarette fail

 

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MDs call for ban on smoking in car with kids -ON, CA

CANADIAN PRESS
The dangers of second-hand smoke are so great there should be a ban on lighting up in cars carrying children, Ontario doctors said today, bringing an immediate outcry from critics who labelled it another attack on personal freedoms.

The Ontario Medical Association said children's exposure to smoke must be curtailed, arguing that their delicate respiratory systems make them especially susceptible to pulmonary disease and cancer.

In a report released this morning, the association said cars were up to 23 times more toxic than smokers' homes and some homes were as bad as bars.

"I don't apologize for being pretty intense," Dr. Ted Boadway, the association's executive director of health policy, said in explaining his plea to crack down on cigarettes.

"It is the No. 1 preventable cause of disease and damage to our population and it is something that (causes) disease and damage doctors see morning, afternoon and all night long, every day."

The proposal immediately raised the ire of some smokers who feared such a policy would tread on individual rights and be impossible to enforce.

"Where is the line?" Gord Smith, a 55-year-old father of three adult children, said as he took a cigarette break in downtown Toronto.

"Is this the start of a whole series of government interventions in our private lives? We as individuals have to take responsibility."

Aside from banning lit cigarettes from day-cares and the family car, the association wants smoking restricted in foster homes and considered as a factor in child custody decisions.

It also wants Ontario's drug benefit plan to cover nicotine replacement therapies and to make parents and caregivers more aware of the dangers second-hand smoke poses to children.

The province, however, has its own plan to combat smoking provincewide.

"I think it's a helpful contribution to the debate, obviously, to be reminding people about the dangers of second-hand smoke, (but) it will not be an element of our upcoming legislation," Health Minister George Smitherman said.

Instead, the forthcoming legislation will impose a "100 per cent ban" on smoking in public and work places, Smitherman said.

"It's the responsibility of parents to act responsibly," he said.

"We depend upon them in many, many ways to do that. The legislation we bring forward will be consistent with our campaign commitment."

The province is expected to reveal its anti-tobacco strategy in the next few weeks.

Several municipalities, including Toronto, Sudbury and Ottawa, already have strict smoking bylaws in place.

Boadway said the government is dismissing a ban on smoking in cars because this is the first time it has been proposed and has never been considered by legislators.

"My experience is that today's `no' is tomorrow's legislation," he said.

Boadway said he doesn't think such a law would be difficult to enforce and just having it on the books would influence people's behaviour.

"Once people understand the seriousness of the problem, people respond," said Boadway.

"People will be responsive to that, just as they were responsive to seat-belt protection."

Nancy Daigneault of the smokers' rights group mychoice.ca called the plan a giant intrusion in private lives.

"The vast majority of smokers out there understand the need to protect non-smokers, which includes their children," said Daigneault, whose group is funded by the tobacco industry.

"The best, rational, approach to an issue of this nature is education."

One 40-year-old mother of five children suggested the policy would be an insult to her parenting skills.

"That's a parent responsibility," said Sue Chiblow, whose children range in age from 10 to 22. "It's just like, what do you feed your kids? You have an obese kid, you have diabetes, it's the same thing. Are they going to start banning potato chips?"

Some Ontario childrens' aids societies already restrict smoking in foster homes in Kingston, Ont., and Toronto, the association noted.

New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories have all approved anti-smoking laws.

British Columbia and Prince Edward Island allow smoking in specially ventilated rooms in restaurants and bars, as does Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia's premier wants smoking rooms eliminated by 2008.

tobacco claims irrational

 

Hot Springs Mother Arrested for Actions of Her Children –AZ, USA

Hot Springs - Another disturbing case involving young children Thursday, this one out of Garland County. According to authorities, a four-year-old boy tried to kill his two-year-old brother.
The mother is charged with permitting the abuse of a minor.
Amanda Mullins was arrested Wednesday for the actions of her young child. According to police, her four-year-old son woke his two-year-old brother up late Sunday night inside their home on Geronimo Street. He then forced soap into the two-year-old's mouth until he vomited. After that, the boy admits to holding his younger brother's head under water in the bathtub by putting his foot on his brother's head.
The two-year-old passed out.
His mother says she was outside smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone during all this. When she discovered what had happened she called 9-1-1.
The two-year-old is now out of the hospital. The mother says this was not the first sign of aggression in the four-year-old. She says he has held a pillow over the two-year-old's head trying to suffocate him and has jabbed a fork down his throat.
Amanda Mullins could face up to 20-years in prison if she's found guilty. According to state law, the older boy is too young to be charged with a crime.
He's in the custody of his father.

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/1004/180423.html

 

Lawyer Tells Judge Smoking Killed Great Aunt

Thu Oct 14, 2004 02:52 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Justice Department lawyer blamed cigarettes for the death of his great aunt as the government's $280 billion racketeering case against the tobacco industry took a personal turn on Thursday.

During a heated exchange with tobacco lawyers, the Justice Department's Joel Schwartz told the presiding judge that his great aunt had died of lung cancer after smoking Brown & Williamson's Kool cigarettes for 25 years.

"You can't let those kinds of personal issues come into the courtroom," U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler cautioned.

Schwartz's comment briefly punctured the decorum of the courtroom near the end of the fourth week of the trial that is expected to last months.

Brown & Williamson lawyer David Bernick had asked Kessler to "admonish" Schwartz for referring to cigarette maker RJ Reynolds as having "killed" people's relatives during the questioning of a chemist for the company.

Schwartz had spent the morning questioning chemist Jeffery Gentry about why RJ Reynolds dropped efforts to sell a cigarette designed to be safer than regular brands.

The government suit, launched in 1999, targets Altria Group Inc. and its Philip Morris USA unit; Loews Corp.'s Lorillard Tobacco unit, which has a tracking stock, Carolina Group ; Vector Group Ltd.'s Liggett Group; Reynolds American Inc.'s RJ Reynolds Tobacco unit and British American Tobacco Plc unit British American Tobacco Investments Ltd.

Brown & Williamson, formerly a unit of BAT, was acquired by Reynolds in July.

The government charges cigarette makers lied and tried to confuse the public about the dangers of smoking as part of a 50-year industry conspiracy.

The companies deny the allegations and say they have drastically changed their marketing practices since 1998, when they signed a landmark settlement with state attorneys general that severely restricts marketing and subjects cigarette makers to oversight.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=6505007

 

Antioxidant Supplements: Worthless -- or Worse?

By Michael Fumento  Published 

Antioxidant supplements, we're told, range from useless to slightly worse than strychnine. "Antioxidants Don't Fight Cancer," the Chicago Sun-Times headlined, while BBC News claimed: "Vitamins Pills Do Not Stop Cancer" and CBS News.com declared: "Docs: Vitamins Can't Fight Cancer." Worse, "Vitamins 'May Cause Early Death'" blared the Scotsman, while Forbes.com warned: "Vitamin Supplements May Boost Cancer Risk."

So should those taking antioxidants (myself included) flush them, or better yet start making funeral arrangements?

 

Neither. Driving the media frenzy was a full-court press comprising a questionable medical journal report, a spooky accompanying commentary, a more alarming and sensationalist press release, and even a sensationalist quote on the cover. "The prospect that vitamin pills may not only do no good but also kill their consumers is a scary speculation," the cover quote read in part, drawing not from the report at all but from The Spooky Commentary.

 

According to the Associated Press (AP), in the October 2 issue of the British journal The Lancet, "Scientists pooled the results of 20 years of research [in what's called a "meta-analysis"] involving more than 170,000 people considered at high risk of developing gastrointestinal cancers. Antioxidant supplements investigated included vitamins A, C and E, as well as selenium, in a total of 14 trials."

 http://www.techcentralstation.com/101504G.html

 

Lawsuit generates windfall for Madison County -IL, USA

Associated Press
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - There's already been a winner in the appeal of a $10.1 billion lawsuit against cigarette maker Philip Morris USA - Madison County, where the case was filed.

The county near St. Louis gets to keep a part of the interest on a $12 billion bond Philip Morris was ordered to post last year before appealing the class-action lawsuit over light cigarettes.

So far, the county has collected more than $1 million and expects a $700,000 payment soon, County Administrator James Monday said.

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/business/9918731.htm

 

Coastal Community To Ban Smoking On Beach –CA, USA

Law Enforcement Could Issue Citations

UPDATED: 9:21 am PDT October 14, 2004

LOS ANGELES -- Newport Beach today became the third Orange County coastal community to ban smoking on the beach.

The ban will mainly be enforced by park rangers, although law enforcement officers could issue citations under some circumstances, said Sgt. Steve Shulman of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

But he said officers will take care of more serious crimes before responding to beach smoking violations and that authorities will mostly issue warnings during the first few days after the ban goes into effect.

"It's not our goal to take enforcement action," Shulman said. "It's our goal to get people to comply."

The Newport Beach City Council initially voted 5 to 2 on Aug. 25 to ban smoking on public beaches, piers, beach walkways, floats, wharfs and lookout points.

On Sept. 30, the council again voted to approve the ordinance, which became effective today.

Smoking is already banned in San Clemente and Huntington Beach, as well as the city of Laguna Woods, which is not a coastal city.

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/3821596/detail.html

 

Pokies legislation creates job fears -AU

Friday, 15 October 2004

South-east South Australian hotelier Guy Matthews says if State Government legislation to remove 3,000 poker machines is passed jobs will be lost.

Mr Matthew's says of his 160 machines he will lose 24 under the proposed legislation.

He says income from his poker machines has let him take on 50 extra staff and has paid for much needed renovations to his hotels.

He says it is a rough time for people working in the industry.

"We also have to contend with the smoking legislation that's coming in as well which says 25 per cent of machines are to be smoke-free, so with the combination of the two we're really up in the air to how it's going to affect profitability and employment of staff," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/northandwest/news/200410/s1220749.htm

 

Minister disappointed by smoking ban delay

Smoking bans due to be phased in on October 31 will now be delayed until at least November.

The South Australian Government says the delay is because the Legislative Council has not finished debating the Tobacco Control Legislation.

Health Minister Lea Stevens says she is disappointed by the delay.

The first phase of smoking bans will restrict smoking in all licenced venues in South Australia.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1220724.htm

 

Look Closer –NY, USA

10/14/2004 6:00 PM(WROC-TV)
Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks insists by keeping the rate flat, her budget proposal holds the line on property taxes. But News 8 Now reports a more careful look at the spending plan reveals other ways the county could be collecting more money from you in future years.
Whether you agree with Brooks, or with others who maintain your taxes will likely still go up, there's no denying the county administration aims to take more from you in another way.  Through new, or increased fees, and there are a lot of them.
One fee increase most everyone's heard of already is the proposed 2 dollar, or 70 percent hike for admission to the zoo. Now they say that'll only be in the peak summer season...but honk if you think that could change...Well, close enough.
But if you look through all 724 pages of the budget as we did, you will find dozens more fees...either existing ones being increased or ones which are entirely new.
There's a litany of them which will effect you if you build a new home, fees for driveways and utility hookups just to name a few. There are hikes in your pure waters fees, a sanitized name for sewer bills. There's a new fee if you want your water tested.
Some say the only certainties in life are death and taxes. Now I know it's a sensitive subject, but under certain circumstances the cost of one of those things would increase too.
The budget counts on the medical examiners office to generate close to a million dollars in extra fees. See, here, the cost of an "elective" autopsy will increase 25 percent.
Again that's only if you want one.
And here's a laundry list of tests they apparently used to throw in for free that they want to start charging for. Vendors who sell food at festivals will see their permit go from 40, up to 100 dollars depending on how many days the event runs.
If a bar or restaurant wants to apply for a waiver to the smoking ban, that'll cost them 100 bucks.  Can't be sure how much the county can count on making there though, considering since the clean indoor air act went into effect...the county's yet to grant one.
Oh and there's a new fee to stage a tobacco promotional event.
Some have the idea we're being, nickeled and dimed!
There are so many more fee hikes in here we haven't the time to address them all, so we'll just show you some...while reminding you this is nothing new. Maggie Brook's good friend George Pataki has been doing it for years, holding the line on taxes while charging you more for everything from a fishing license to a car registration. But some say this way's better, let the users of services pay the freight, if they've got the change.
.Will any of this effect you? Well, the fees cover such a wide variety of services that sooner or later, probably...somewhere...yes.

http://www.wroctv.com/news/story.asp?id=15307&r=l

 

Health Support By Sarah Wright –AZ, USA
Posted: Thursday, October 14, 2004 4:31 PM PDT

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced Tuesday that Mariposa Community Health Center will receive a grant of $866,000 from the federal government.
Thompson made the announcement during the bi-national Border Health Week inauguration reception at the health center.

Jim Welden, MCHC's chief executive officer, said the money will support a new medical and dental clinic to serve Rio Rico and northern Santa Cruz County.
The health center identified Rio Rico as a strategic area of need in 2002.

Welden said, "We are very excited to have this opportunity to make our services more accessible and better serve our community."
Thompson said the health center was awarded the grant money because, "We want you to expand, and grow."

Thompson came to Nogales, along with his Mexican counterpart, the Mexican Secretary of Health, Dr. Julio Frenk Mora, and several state government officials.
Born of a dream

Thompson said the bi-national border health week was born of a dream that he and Secretary Frenk shared, and he hopes it will become an annual occurrence.
He took the opportunity to encourage everyone present to take care of their own health.
"I want to make sure you realize that you have to first take care of yourselves.
"I want you to get your screenings, I want you to get your shots, I want you to make sure that you take your loved ones to the clinics and to the doctor," Thompson said.
He told the audience that when they see someone smoking they should walk up to that person, say "I love you," and take the cigarette out of their mouth.
"You might get a slap," he said, "but I want people to realize that smoking is bad for your health."
Other dignitaries
Former Nogales Mayor Marco López, who is now director of the Arizona-Mexico Commission, and Congressman Raúl Grijalva also spoke on border health issues.
Grijalva said the week's events are an opportunity to "plan for a bi-national commitment to healthy families and to a mutually sound quality of life for all of us who live, work and share this very beautiful and very precious border region."
He said the health week recognizes the two nations' dependency on each other and the responsibilities that each shares.
The border region, he said, is vital to the national development of the United States. Healthy families and quality of life are "part and parcel" to making sure the region reaches its potential.
López said he spoke on the governor's behalf.
The State of Arizona's health campaign this year is "Families in action for health," he said.
He said the state understands the role of the family in "promoting a healthy, sustainable, fruitful lifestyle."
The residents of the Ambos Nogales region, López said, have recognized for years that the border may exist on the ground, but there is no border when families and relationships are involved, especially concerning health.
Healthy families on both sides of the border will make the region more successful, he said.
Mexican Health Secretary Julio Frenk said, "Health is one of the few truly universal aspirations no matter where we come from, no matter what language we speak, no matter what religion we follow."
He said the week's purpose is to reassert that universal value.
The interests of each country and community coincide with the interests of the rest, he said.

http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2004/10/14/news/news1.txt

 

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Officials praise county’s smoking bylaw- ON, CA
One month after the implementation of Huron’s non-smoking bylaw, county health unit officials are pleased with the positive response they’ve received.

Jennifer Hubbard

Clinton News-Record — One month after the implementation of Huron’s non-smoking bylaw, county health unit officials are pleased with the positive response they’ve received.
But, as cold winter weather fast approaches, public health manager Craig Metzger encouraged area businesses to contact the health unit before shelling out any money on so-called smoking shelters.
“We’ve seen advertisements for bus shelters, renamed smoking shelters and they actually count as indoors when it comes to the smoking bylaw,” Metzger told county council at their Oct. 7 meeting. “We can also give you an update on the proposed provincial legislation as to how far away the structure has to be from the building. You could be in compliance with our bylaw and then have to move it when the provincial bylaw becomes law.”
All workplaces and public places -- with the exception of long-term care facilities and psychiatric wards of hospitals -- became 100 per cent smoke under Huron’s Environmental Tobacco Smoke bylaw, which came into effect Sept. 4, 2004.
 http://www.clintonnewsrecord.com/story.php?id=121525

 

* This was tried in California, and the logistics are incredible!

Ban smoking if children in cars, Ontario urged

By ALLISON DUNFIELD
Doctors in Ontario are urging the provincial government to ban the use of tobacco in vehicles if children or infants are present.

The bold recommendation is part of a larger study on secondhand smoke by the Ontario Medical Association which found that despite advances in knowledge of the dangers of smoking, children continue to be at risk of tobacco exposure through second-hand smoke in both homes and vehicles.

"This report will lead the way in taking action against second-hand smoke in spaces that children should feel safe and protected," Dr. John Rapin, OMA's president, said in a statement.

The OMA says the study is the first of its kind in North America.

It found that "while smoking in indoor public places has been reduced in Ontario through various by-laws, smoking in homes and cars still occurs."

The authors of the study looked at a number of studies that outlined the continued harmful effects of tobacco use indoors on children. They say the move would prevent many smoke-related illnesses in children.

Numerous reports have found that children are at risk of a host of respiratory illnesses as a result of second-hand smoke including asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia as well as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Infants are especially at risk of SIDS because their airways are still developing and they have higher breathing rates than adults, Dr. Ted Boadway, executive director of health policy at OMA, said in a statement.

Prolonged exposure in childhood can increase risk of heart attack and stroke in adulthood, the OMA report also noted.

The province, however, has its own plan to combat smoking provincewide and a government source told The Canadian Press that will not include measures to force drivers to butt out in their own cars.

A comprehensive smoking ban for the province has been promised for 2007.

Smoking is already banned in most public work spaces and many bars and restaurants in Ontario and Children's Aids Societies already restrict smoking in foster homes in Kingston, Ont., and Toronto.

Most provinces and large cities in Canada now have some form of a smoking ban in public indoor spaces.

Along with banning smoking in vehicles, the OMA urges the government to:

--make available to caregivers more information on the dangers of lighting up around their children

--amend the Day Nurseries Act to ban smoking in homes or other facilities that provide child care.

--allow nicotine replacement therapies to help adults quit smoking to be covered by public health care

"It is our duty as the protectors of children to ensure that we provide them with safe and healthy environments," Dr. Boadway said.

With a report from Canadian Press

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20041014.wsmok1014/BNStory/National/

 

A voice for change- AB, CA
Peter Renny Strathmore Standard 

Present council has not done a credible job. We have a water and sewage problem that has reached crisis proportions. Poor decisions have been made.
Two firehalls. A waste of money. Three levels of policing. RCMP, Town and County. Another waste. Lack of an on-going beautification plan for tree planting, flower gardens, decorative lamps downtown and hanging baskets. Just imagine the difference the planting of 500 trees only 10 years ago would have made today.
Every person travelling from Halifax to Vancouver will likely pass through the middle of our town. Other than four days in August, we have no ongoing tourist attractions. Tourist dollars are passing us by.
In spite of our prime location on Hwy. 1, we have done little to attract industry. The battle against the likes of Airdrie, High River and Okotoks has been lost over the past many years.
We have among the highest property taxes in because we have no industry to share the load. A pipeline to the Bow River for effluent must be completed next year and we still don’t have the money or a plan in place. Our taxes are only going to go higher.
Some presently on council and some challengers talk about the beauty of our wetlands and the need to preserve them. I agree. But what we presently have on Wheatland Trail is an eyesore. It’s overgrown with weeds and a dumping ground for garbage. So let’s make the most of it! Plant trees.
You can’t go out for a meal in Strathmore without breathing second hand smoke. Yet nothing has been done to create a smoking bylaw. It’s not that we don’t have the bylaw enforcement officers to do the job.
We’ve got part time councillors and a part time mayor. Yet we how have a full time fire chief.
Now some may argue that I haven’t been around long enough to make these statements, or do the job. I disagree. Running a successful business in Calgary for 14 years, employing 55 people, working as a manager of a federal government department, plus many other stints in community and charity organizations have given me the experience to draw from.
It’s now up to you to decide. Do you want more of the same old thing, or do you want new voices and a new vision? What I can promise is I’ll never be compromised. I’ll be the squeaky wheel. I won’t ignore the citizens of this community.

http://www.strathmorestandard.com/story.php?id=121994

 

Sparks fly over smoking bylaw during debate –AB,CA

Edmonton - Mayoralty candidate Robert Noce is taking heat over comments he made about the city's smoking bylaw.

Incumbent Bill Smith, during a mayoralty mayoralty debate hosted by CBC Radio, took Noce to task for saying he would listen to concerns of those who oppose the bylaw.

Noce deflected criticism and any suggestion that he was receiving backing from tobacco companies.

"I have not received any pressure. I know you (Smith) intimated, in fact you said that I was receiving funding from tobacco groups and I can tell you I have not received a single penny from anyone advocating a change in the smoking bylaw, nor have I solicited any money from anyone interested in changing the smoking bylaw," said Noce.

Noce maintains he never said publicly that he was in favour of reopening the smoking bylaw.

The former city councillor is also being targeted by challenger Coun. Stephen Mandel about the cost of his campaign promises.

Mandel says Noce's promises will cost the city more than $364 million, which is about one-third of the city budget.

Noce says those calculations can't be trusted, however he hasn't offered any figures to refute Mandel's suggestions.

Recent polls and political analysts have said Noce and Mayor Bill Smith are in a tight race that is too close to call. Mandel is running third.

http://edmonton.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ed_mayors20041014

 

What Talking Heads SHOULD say

Doug Hagin

Liberals and Conservatives are always being compared and contrasted. Their ideologies, beliefs, politics, biases, there is nothing about these two very different groups which escapes scrutiny. And of course the ones doing the scrutinizing are these groups themselves.
Face it, one of the few things Conservatives and Liberals actually do have in common is their love of disagreeing with each other. This is why we note the popularity of so many shows featuring the talking heads from both sides. Each side has their list of mouthpieces, most of whom are sadly predictable.
Face it if you have watched Hannity and Colmes or Crossfire, then you know what the Liberal spokesperson is going to say. The same goes for the Conservative talking head. Unfortunately for us, who care about politics and which ideology is correct we are stuck in a land where the rhetoric never changes.
Let’s face it Ann Coulter or Newt Gingrich is not going to surprise us with anything they say on their next appearance on Hardball, or Scarborough Country. Likewise Susan Estrich or Dennis Hennican are not very likely to say anything particularly new and refreshing the next time they are guests on any talk show either.
The rhetoric we hear is largely is nothing but the same old same old it seems. Sure there are a few fresh faces with some fresh opinions out there. Michelle Malkin for instance always brings fresh perspectives in both her columns and her guest slots. But for the most part all any of us hear are the same old talking heads spouting the same old predictable lines.
Not to say I do not agree with most of the Conservatives who are regulars on these shows but they need some new faces and ideas. They need people who will speak not from politics but from common sense, and perhaps even the Constitution.
For example, if I were to appear on any of these shows I would argue the most important aspects of the issue at hand. Cities which ban smoking in restaurants? There is one overriding problem with these laws. They are laws which intrude into areas where the government has no place. Yet how many times have you actually heard that argument presented? Instead we hear over and over how these laws might hurt the revenues of the businesses. Now that is important, but it is not the most basic and crucial problem with these laws. The destruction of businesses to not be micromanaged by government is the biggest issue at stake, yet it is not really discussed.
Capital punishment is too often discussed in terms of deterrents and recidivism rates. Yet what is the real justification for the death penalty? Punishment, yet, again, this goes unmentioned as the most basic reason to have and use the death penalty.
How about the always controversial issue of how to deal with child molesters and rapists when they are released from prison? Mush discussion is spent on how to balance protection of citizens with the rights of these predators. Should we make neighbors aware of their crimes? Should we be more concerned with protecting the rights of these people who have served their sentences? Who do we blame if they harm some one else? What about three strikes laws?
Once more the most basic solution is overlooked. How about this? Rapists and child molesters NEVER get out of jail. Got it? One strike, one time, and they are done! No further debate needed, issue settled. Why can’t any of the famous talking heads come up with that one?
Then there is abortion, which always gets the ideological juices on all sides flowing. Why of all the Conservative talking heads can we not get the best argument against abortion? Forget post abortion stress, and how abortion hurts respect for life. Yes these are important but are either of these the most crucial issue? No, the fact that abortion kills a human being is. Simply present the overwhelming medical evidence that exposes what abortion is. The pro-abortion side can not face up to that evidence. Show abortion for what it is! Those watching will get it, and the tide of public opinion will begin to turn against legalized abortions.
Gun control debates on these shows are always ratings grabbers so why do Conservatives not use the most effective tactic? Talk about those who have defended themselves with guns. There are literally thousands of examples to use. Put faces and names of those who are alive because they were armed along with words of the Founders concerning private gun ownership. Again a no fail strategy, yet how often do we hear this from our Conservative talking heads? Instead they bore viewers and listeners with court cases and judicial rulings. Good grief!
Another example of how the conservative talking heads are failing us is the issue of Southern heritage. Used to be those who attempted to attack the Confederate flag would be met with facts and reasonable arguments from whatever Conservative they were debating. Now though many of the Conservatives have abandoned defending this flag and those who defined it with their blood. I suppose they are seeking to run away from possibly being labeled a racist or insensitive.
How sad that they are afraid of defending the valor of Southern troops and the heroes like Robert E. Lee and JEB Stuart. How sad that they are more interested in appeasing the left wing race baiters than presenting the historical truth and actually winning the debate!
Yes shows that feature debate are great. Presenting both sides is the quickest way to expose the sheer folly of Liberalism and the rightness of Conservatism. But only if those who are sent to represent Conservatism are prepared to argue the most important points and to present the most logical solutions to the issues being discussed.

http://www.opinioneditorials.com/freedomwriters/dhagin_20041014.html

 

House to vote on health proposal –KY, USA
By Amanda York Post Frankfort Bureau Chief
 FRANKFORT -- House Democrats late Wednesday night outlined a plan for changing Gov. Ernie Fletcher's health insurance proposal that calls for nearly $170 million more in spending.

The added revenue would provide additional benefits to employees, decrease their contributions and re-establish a flexible spending account that state workers currently have in their health insurance plan.

House Bill 1 did not specify what source House Democrats planned to tap for the additional money, although they've expressed hope that an improved state revenue picture might provide some of it. The House intends to vote on the plan today. If passed, it would move on to the Republican-controlled Senate.

House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, said he believed "teachers, state employees, support personnel and retirees will be very, very happy about our plan."

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, said he had not seen the bill's language and could not comment on specifics.

"Considering the fact that we don't have a document in our hand, it is really hard to calculate when we are going to be here," Williams said. "We will not be rushed through this process."

The General Assembly is now on day eight of an extraordinary session called by Fletcher to rework a health insurance plan that put teachers and state workers at odds with his administration. The session is costing an estimated $55,000 a day.

The governor has said lawmakers need to come up with a solution because only they have authority to put more money into the program. He can't because Kentucky has no budget -- the Legislature couldn't agree on one this spring -- and is operating under financial constraints imposed by a Franklin County judge.

In its plan, House leadership kept one option offered by the governor but inserted two new ones with lower deductibles and premiums for single and family plans. Under the governor's preferred plan for nonsmokers, an employee making $36,000 with a family would have paid $486 a month. The comparable plan in the House version was $429.24.

Aspects of the governor's plan House Democrats moved away from included making the insured pay a coinsurance or percentage of the cost of a prescription refill or medical procedure, and tying monthly payments to salaries.

http://www.kypost.com/2004/10/14/sess101404.html

 

Southern states reap billions, new jobs from tobacco buyout
By: Associated Press10/14/2004 11:20 AM
(WASHINGTON) - North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee are the top three states to benefit from the government's decision to pay tobacco farmers to leave the federal leaf-growing program.

A University of Tennessee agricultural economist estimates people who grow tobacco or own quotas in North Carolina will receive payments worth nearly $4 billion over ten years.

In Kentucky, they will get about $2.5 billion. Those in Tennessee will get about $770 million over a decade that begins sometime next year.

The cash infusion is expected to create thousands of new jobs.

Tennessee economist Kelly Tiller says more than 3,000 new jobs are likely to be created as a result of the buyout in North Carolina. She says that's because people are going to have more money to spend.

The legislation requires cigarette makers to fund the buyout.

They should benefit because U.S. tobacco prices are expected to fall under the new free-market system.

More than half of current tobacco growers are expected to retire or move into other kinds of agriculture or work.

http://rdu.news14.com/content/headlines/?ArID=56954&SecID=2

 

Council staff banned from smoking-UK

A city council is clamping down on staff smoking breaks by banning lighting up in all of its buildings.

No facilities will be provided for smokers inside or outside Manchester Town Hall and staff will not be allowed breaks from work for a cigarette.

The ban will also extend to visitors and those attending functions. But the council says staff will be given help if they want to quit.

Pro-smoking group Forest has said that the ban is "heavy-handed".

Manchester City Council says the move follows plans for a government White Paper looking at public health and smoking.

'Bad management'

Councillor Richard Leese, leader of the council, said: "We take the health of our residents and visitors very seriously.

"We are not proposing to ban smoking but have to take a lead in doing something about the number of deaths and amount of illness caused every year by smoking and breathing second-hand smoke."

A group is to be set up at the council to oversee the ban.

Last month, a delegation of councillors and health officials from Greater Manchester visited Dublin to see how the city's ban on smoking in public places has been carried out.

'Politicised' smoking

Any similar ban in Manchester is dependant on the contents of the government's White Paper, however.

Simon Clark, director of Forest, told BBC News Online that he believed the move had "politicised" the issue of smoking.

He added: "I think it's bad management considering about a quarter of the council's workforce will be smokers.

"To deny them the occasional smoking break is not good man management."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/3743812.stm

 

GV takes first vote to approve smoking ban – MN, USA
By Sue Webber Sun Newspapers
 (Created 10/14/2004 9:26:41 AM)

Smoking will be banned in all of Golden Valley’s public places and work places – including bars, restaurants, outdoor dining patios, and private clubs – if a new ordinance gets final approval Oct. 19.

The Golden Valley City Council unanimously adopted the ordinance on first reading Oct. 5.

The ordinance is similar to those passed earlier in Bloomington and Minneapolis, as well as Ramsey County. The Hennepin County Board was scheduled to vote Oct. 12 on a smoke-free ordinance.

If the Golden Valley ordinance is adopted on Oct. 19, an estimated 800 to 1,000 businesses, private clubs and restaurants in the city will have five months to get used to the idea, before the ban is imposed on March 31, 2005.

Ordinance details

In addition to prohibiting smoking in all public and work places, smoking also will be prohibited within 25 feet of entrances, exits, open windows, ventilation intakes, and outdoor dining areas.

Smoking already is prohibited in Golden Valley’s public parks and recreation facilities.

The ordinance will not apply to private residences, private rooms in a hotel or motel, motor vehicles, as part of a recognized religious ceremony, or where authorized by state or federal law.

Proprietors at indoor recreation facilities and liquor or food establishments will be expected to post “No Smoking” signs, ensure that ashtrays, lighters and matchbooks are not provided, and ask any person who smokes in a prohibited area to refrain. If the person does not refrain after being asked to do so, the proprietor must take action and remove the person from the premises.

The lone speaker against the ordinance was Barb Obershaw, president of the TwinWest Chamber of Commerce, which serves 10 northwestern suburban communities, including Golden Valley.

She said the chamber opposes a piecemeal approach to smoking bans, noting that a city-by-city restriction would create an unfair advantage to neighboring communities without bans.

She also was critical of the fact that the ordinance holds business owners, not smokers, responsible for violations.

“Our consensus is that the market should dictate smoke-free ban, not the government,” Obershaw said. “While we’re opposed to implementation, a regional or statewide approach would be the least objectionable.”

Rep. Ron Latz of St. Louis Park, DFL-District 44B (which includes part of Golden Valley), said the cigarette industry spent $600,000 to lobby the Legislature in 2003.

“We could not get a hearing on the bill in the House,” said Latz, chief author of a House bill to extend the Clean Indoor Air Act. “This ought not to be a partisan issue; it’s a health issue. But it’s been an uneasy battle between the state and local governments, each hoping the other would take the first step. I would prefer a statewide ban, but the fact is we can’t wait for the state. The tobacco industry has the Legislature tied up. It’s important for someone at the local level to go first and call their bluff.

“If we depended on market forces, asbestos would still be in buildings and miners would still be contracting black lung disease.

“Now is your chance to show extraordinary leadership. If Lexington, Kentucky, in the heart of tobacco country, can pass a ban, certainly we can do it.”

Tom Lehman of Golden Valley, a health lobbyist at the Legislature, said the opposition to smoking bans is likely to continue.

“Special interests already are working on legislation to pre-empt local ordinances,” Lehman said. “They believe cities can’t be trusted to make decisions, and they would remove your authority.”

http://www.mnsun.com/story.asp?city=Golden_Valley&story=145749

 

42 in court over litter blitz -UK

By Jon Tunney, Liverpool Echo Oct 14 2004

A CRACKDOWN on litterbugs in Liverpool has seen dozens of people charged for dropping rubbish - including cigarette butts.

A one-day blitz by council workers and police officers picked up 42 alleged offenders.

Wardens swooped in a pre-planned action in June, resulting in the city council's first serious court action to clean up the streets.

All the defendants - some of whom have already indicated they will plead guilty - face fines of up to £2,500.
Among those up in court is Valerie O'Rourke, of Garson, who dropped a cigarette end.

"The man from the council said I would be prosecuted for dropping litter and to beware that anything I said could be used against me. I was astounded and asked if this was some kind of joke - which it wasn't," she told the ECHO.

"I feel all this procedure for dropping a small cigarette end into the gutter is an outrageous waste of time, effort and money."

42-in-court-over-litter-blitz-

 

Councils accuse pubs of underage cigarette sales

Published 14th October 2004

Licensees have rejected accusations that children are being allowed to buy cigarettes from vending machines in pubs.

Derbyshire County Council is demanding that pubs take more care over who buys the cigarettes and reminds them that fines of up to £2,500 can be issued if they are caught.

The edict comes as part of an East Midlands campaign initiated by the East Midlands Co-ordinators of Trading Standards in response to testing in the area.

During recent testing in 10 Derbyshire pubs only one stopped a 14-year-old volunteer buying cigarettes. In some other parts of the East Midlands all underage volunteers succeeded.

But licensees in Derbyshire have argued that they are aware the problem exists and work hard to prevent it.

Licensees are receiving the following advice:

Vending machines should be installed where they can be supervised at all times

There is a legal requirement to display the following notice on vending machines: 'This machine is only for the use of people aged 16 and over'

Challenge anyone you think is underage and tell them not to use the machine.

Source: Derbyshire Trading Standards

Pub owners accused of allowing youth sales

 

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Anti-Smoking By-Law Fallout
Tb News Source
Web Posted: 10/13/2004 7:52:13 PM  

More negative fallout from the City of Thunder bay's anti-smoking by-law. The Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce say some local bar owners are telling them the bylaw is killing their business. Many are worried they may eventually go under.

Chamber President Mary Long-Irwin says they've received calls from bar owners saying they've suffered losses of between 37 and 40 percent. Long-Irwin says at least two bars have closed and staff at other establishments have been laid off. She also stresses that while most owners understand the need for a smoke free by law, they hope a compromise can be reached - such as a closed off smoking section.

Long-Irwin says they will now do an in depth survey of local restaurants and bars before bringing the issue to council. She hopes this will be complete within four to six weeks.

http://www.tbsource.com/Localnews/index.asp?cid=70544

Casino awaits data to weigh bylaw impact
By Jim Kelly - The Chronicle-Journal
Thunder Bay, ON October 06, 2004
The real impact of the smoking ban on the Thunder Bay Charity Casino won’t be known for a few weeks when revenue figures for the second quarter are in.
That’s when the data will be compared to the second quarter of last year, said Jim Cronin, senior manager of public relations for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation.
The city-wide smoking ban for public buildings and workplaces kicked in July 1.
“Talking to the staff, we’ve learned there are new faces in the casino who weren’t there before,” Cronin said Tuesday from Sault Ste. Marie.
“But there’s no question (some) smokers have decided not to go back.”
So far this year, Cronin said, 664,834 customers have visited the casino compared to 549,973 for the same period last year.
But the 2004 numbers are misleading because some smokers have been counted twice, once when they first entered the casino and again when they came back in after going outside for a smoke.
In Manitoba, a slump in casino business has been attributed to the province’s smoking ban.
That slump has resulted in layoffs for 269 workers who were given severance packages.
Some of the Thunder Bay smokers who have decided not to come back to the casino because of the bylaw, might change their minds once the outside smoking lounge is built.
It will be on the Pearl Street side of the casino and will be similar to one that was built at a sister casino in Sault Ste. Marie.
It will conform to the city bylaw as long as employees do not go out to the lounge area to serve customers, said Simon Hoad, health promotions planner for the Thunder Bay District Health Unit.
Cronin said casino personnel met with city officials to make sure the lounge fully complies with the bylaw.

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/story.shtml?id=23922

 

Bingo hall on the move -ON,CA
By Ward Holland - The Chronicle-Journal
Thunder Bay September 28, 2004
The owners of the Intercity Bingo Palace won a jackpot at city hall Monday.
Thunder Bay city council gave Mavis and Brent Waruk permission to move their bingo hall from its current location down the street to the Lakehead Labour Centre.
Mavis Waruk asked council to allow the move from 425 Eleventh Ave. to 929 Fort William Rd., despite protests from another group.
“The bingo industry has taken a huge downward spiral,” Waruk told council.
The Waruks operate out of an 11,000-square-foot building, which they say is expensive to maintain.
They have a non-smoking room which hasn’t been used since the no-smoking bylaw came into effect this year. “It’s wasted space,” Mavis Waruk said. “It’s empty.”
They argued that leasing 6,500 square feet of space from the labour centre would decrease costs and prevent them from going out of business.
Waruk said her hall has been hit hard by the no-smoking bylaw and the Thunder Bay Charity Casino.
Meanwhile, Thunder Bay Community Bingo, which has bingo halls on Red River Road and Northern Avenue, said the move would harm its operations.
“If Intercity Bingo Palace is allowed to relocate their operations even closer to our facility on Northern Avenue, we will be faced with yet another strain on our operation and the fundraising efforts of our charities will be further eroded,” Colette Villeneuve and Gloria Houghton said in a letter to council.
Council voted unanimously in favour of the Waruk move.
In an interview, the Waruks said they are small business operators who aren’t getting rich from the bingo hall.
Intercity Bingo will move to the labour centre before the Thanksgiving weekend.
Also Monday night:
• Lakehead University and Confederation College administrators asked council if the Northwestern Ontario Technology Centre could be turned into a city-owned, tax-free facility.
The building is currently assessed $60,000 a year in property taxes and administrators were finding the payments difficult to make, council was told.
FedNor provides funds to the NOTC, but not for municipal property taxes.
Coun. Mark Bentz asked what would happen if council didn’t help the NOTC with its financial problem. The administrators said it would eventually fail and close. A decision to help the NOTC will be made later.
• The Lakehead Social Planning Council told councillors that Thunder Bay should get 211 telephone service.
LSPC president Douglas West said 211 would be good for groups, like seniors and aboriginals, to find social services.
The service is offered in some American cities, as well as Canadian cities like Toronto and Calgary.

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/story.shtml?id=23790

 

Unemployment Stats Released
Tb News Source
Web Posted: 10/8/2004 4:03:12 PM   The latest unemployment stats have been released. According to Statistics Canada the economy created another 43,000 jobs last month, pushing the national jobless rate down to 7.1 per cent from 7.2 per cent. But in Thunder Bay unemployment rose 3-tenths of a percentage point to stand at 9-point-1 percent.

http://www.tbsource.com/Localnews/index.asp?cid=70476

Should Thunder Bay workplaces be REQUIRED to set up outside shelters for smokers during the winter months ?

Yes (53.2%)    No (46.8%)  Total votes: 820

http://www.tbsource.com/Editorials/index.asp?cid=70434

* comment

I thank you for not being biased on reporting your results.  Too bad the can't be said for the comments section.  Makes people think that the majority of people are in support of this.  Then smokers wonder why we are always trying to get our voice heard.  We tried here, and the only thing we got was a vote, no comment. All the comments were from the no side, talk about a bias in reporting.

 

 

FINANCIAL SUMMARY: 2001-2002 SRHIP has provided financial support to its Partners on a number of different levels, including:

*conferences;  • PHPDB Maintenance Agreements;  • Internet Service Provider Charges; &

• 2 summer student projects.

Budget Area                            Grant Amount Expenditures   Variance

Personnel                                              $ 310,145.00          $ 263,427.41          $ 46,717.59

Supplies & Services, Equipment       $ 47,290.00             $ 105,508.15          $ -58,218.15

Conferences & Travel                         $ 22,565.00             $ 7,806.77              $ 14,758.23

 CORE BUDGET:                                $ 380,000.00        $ 376,742.33        $ 3,257.67 (99% of core)

Notes:

 Interest Earned Environmental Health $ 5,835.46

Technology Renewal $ 100,000.00

Fund Carry Forward: $ 33,110.0

 

http://www.srhip.on.ca/srhip/MiniAnnualReport2001-2002.pdf

 

Ontario counties of South regional health information partnership: Bruce, Grey, Huron, Middlesex, Lambton, Essex, Perth, Oxford, Elgin Counties  and the municipality of Chatham-Kent (diagram below)

 

Cigarette blamed for house fire

By WHITNEY ROSS
wross@marion.gannett.com

A cigarette dumped in a trash can caused a fire that damaged a home Tuesday morning.

Fire departments from Center and Mill Townships responded to 2591 S. 400E, around 8:46 a.m.

According to Carl Rigsby, Center Township assistant fire chief, the blaze was contained to the living room.

He said the owners were not home at the time, but once notified, the owner did say he had put a cigarette out in an ashtray and dumped the ashtray in a plastic trash can.

"All the things we saw, it pointed right down to where the trash can was," Rigsby said, noting the cigarette could have ignited paper or other flammable materials.

He estimated damages to be about $30,000 as the rest of the home filled with heat and smoke.

Grant County Sheriff's deputies also were on the scene to help.

"Black smoke was coming underneath the roof, and all the rooms were full of smoke, so we waited until all the fire units arrived," Deputy Mike Moore said, noting they helped the firefighters with their gear.

Rigsby said the living room was destroyed, and he didn't think the family could go back to their home for the evening, but offered his advice for smokers.

"Let them (cigarettes) get cold. Let them sit a while before you get (it) in the trash," he said, noting other fires have started the same way.

Originally published Wednesday, October 13, 2004

http://www.chronicle-tribune.com/news/stories/20041013/localnews/1403260.html

 

Delivery driver pistol-whipped for cigarettes –MI, USA

135 cases of tobacco stolen; bound victim left in truck

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

BY AMALIE NASH News Staff Reporter

A truck driver making a delivery of cigarettes at an Ypsilanti Township warehouse early today was pistol-whipped and blindfolded while an estimated $27,000 in cigarettes was unloaded from his truck, authorities said.

The 57-year-old Grand Rapids area man was attacked by a person or people who were apparently waiting when he arrived about 4:30 a.m. at EBY Brown, 2085 E. Michigan Ave., Washtenaw County Sheriff's Cmdr. Dave Egeler said.

The brazen early-morning robbery is the latest in a series of crimes in Washtenaw County in recent months in which thieves have stolen cigarettes, which have been increasing in price in part because of new cigarette taxes. Burglars previously have targeted gas stations and convenience stores.

The driver for Columbian Distribution Services Inc. in Grand Rapids was at the loading dock at EBY Brown, a wholesale distribution warehouse, when he was suddenly struck with a pistol from behind, Egeler said. The driver was bound and blindfolded, then thrown back into his truck, but he was unable to see how many people attacked him or describe the person or people, Egeler said.

While the driver was still inside his truck, someone else got behind the wheel and drove the truck to a nearby Tyner Furniture store parking lot, where 135 cases were unloaded from his truck, Egeler said. Police believe the cases were then loaded into a waiting truck. The Columbian Distribution driver was left alone in his empty truck, still bound, Egeler said.

The man was able to wriggle free and flagged down a passing motorist to call 911 at about 5 a.m., Egeler said. He had a minor head injury, but refused medical treatment, police said.

The cases of cigarettes were valued at $200 each, Egeler said. The brands taken were not known. An average pack of cigarettes sells for $5 to $6.

Authorities believe the high cost of cigarettes - boosted by an additional 75-cents-per-pack tax in July - has created a thriving black market in which smokes are a hot commodity. In the past two months, burglars have smashed windows in gas stations and party stores after hours and made off with cartons of cigarettes.

Dick Wickard, president of Columbian Distribution Services Inc. Grand Rapids, said he was shocked by the morning hijacking and was grateful the driver was not seriously injured. Wickard said Columbian trucks move hundreds of shipments across the state each day. Given what he sees as a growing black market for cigarettes and other tobacco products, Wickard the company has taken steps to increase security.

"We're always changing the routes; our drivers always have active cell phones," Wickard said. "We're doing about he best we can.

"I've been here 18 years and I've never seen anything like this," he later added.

A branch manager at EBY Brown did not immediately return phone calls from The News.

Police aren't sure where the cigarettes are going, but say they may be resold to businesses. A few arrests have been made, and the rash of thefts that was occurring in late September appears to have waned in the past two weeks.

Staff reporter Scott Anderson contributed to this report. Amalie Nash can be reached at anash@annarbornews.com or (734) 994-6832.

http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-0/10976785847020.xml

 

Warning Track

Thongs and bad songs approaching; please cover eyes and ears.

BY KATHERINE ORTEGA COURTNEY

The United States Department of Justice is currently in a court battle with Big Tobacco, claiming that the industry defrauded the public by lying about the health risks of tobacco for half a century. Please. It doesn’t take a court case or a surgeon general’s warning for people to figure out that inhaling smoke is bad for you. People have known that all along. The truth, though most smokers don’t want to admit it, is that people smoke because it feels good. That’s why it’s addictive. Yes, people often smoke even when they are trying desperately to quit — for the same reason: It feels good, it’s relaxing. I doubt you’ll ever meet anybody who smokes because they think it is a good source of vitamins or that raising and lowering a cigarette between ashtray and lips or tearing open the cellophane is a good way to get exercise. Although science and technology have come a long way in the past few decades, I don’t think that people in the 1950s were smoking for its health benefits. It’s true that the campaign to demonize smoking and smokers has been effective, with smoking levels dropping among teen-agers since the 1990s, but I don’t think that it is because of the warning labels on the packs of cigarettes. I have never seen anyone get ready to light up a smoke, then read the warning on the side and throw away the pack in horror.

Perhaps adding warning labels that actually reveal something that potential smokers may not already know would be a more effective deterrent. For example cigarette labels could read: Warning: Use of this product may result in strangers walking by and giving you dirty looks, making you feel like a leper. Or, Warning: Use of this product may lead to your being required to stand outside in a snowstorm or thunderstorm because smoking is banned indoors. This may not be effective for long-time smokers who already know this, but teen-agers who think this is a cool habit might not realize that once high school is over smokers are often treated like pariahs. Then there’s the no-sex-for-smokers idea: The Surgeon General has determined that smoking could lead your date to say “Eeeewww, you taste like an ashtray” after the first kiss.

The same tactic could be used for alcohol. At this point pretty much everybody knows that drinking and driving can have dire consequences and that alcohol is generally an unhealthy substance. But if the bottles were labeled with graphic reminders of all the short-term bad effects of drinking, perhaps that would be more effective. Warning: Consuming this beverage may result in the user performing drunken renditions of “Ice Ice Baby.” I think it is safe to say that no one wants that, although this is a common and often overlooked result of binge drinking.

But why stop there? A day at the mall reveals that there are several other areas in which warning labels could be useful. Why not put warnings on cell phones? Warning: If this cell phone rings or you talk on it while a movie is in progress you may be assaulted. Granted, most people who answer cell phones in the middle of movies are obviously too stupid to read, but if the warning touches even one person, it’s worth it.

http://www.fwweekly.com/issues/2004-10-13/thought.asp

 

Lorillard: Not pitching cigs to kids
Newport cigarette maker CEO testifies ads are for adults in $280B lawsuit against big tobacco.
October 13, 2004: 8:21 AM EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top executive of Lorillard Tobacco denied in court Tuesday that the company had tried to recruit underage smokers through an advertising campaign for its popular Newport cigarette brand.

Martin Orlowsky, chairman and chief executive of Lorillard, told a federal judge that the 30-year "Alive with pleasure" campaign was not aimed at hawking Newport cigarettes to anyone under 21, and Lorillard would not try to reverse the decline in the U.S. cigarette market by recruiting new smokers.

"We did not spend any money by design through intent to market to anyone who was not an adult smoker," Orlowsky told U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler.

Orlowsky took the stand at the beginning of the fourth week of the government's $280 billion racketeering lawsuit against the tobacco industry.

Filed in 1999, the suit targets Altria Group Inc. and its Philip Morris USA unit; as well as Loews Corp.'s Lorillard Tobacco unit, which has a tracking stock Liggett Group; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco unit and unit British American Tobacco Investments Ltd are also named in the suit.

The government charges cigarette makers worked together to deceive and confuse the public about the dangers of smoking as part of a 50-year industry conspiracy.

The 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 a 1998 settlement with state attorneys general.

Newport is Lorillard's biggest-selling cigarette. And according to the Justice Department, it's the second most popular brand among teens between the ages of 12 and 17.

Orlowsky joined Lorillard in 1990. Before that, he worked for rival R.J. Reynolds from 1977 to 1986. Prior to that, he had worked as an advertising executive.

In court on Tuesday, Justice Department lawyer Stephen Brody confronted Orlowsky with two of the magazine ads used in the "Alive With Pleasure" marketing campaign, and questioned whether the models used in them were consistent with industry promises not to market to people under 21.

"The only thing I know is that they were at least 25 years of age," Orlowsky replied.

Under an industry advertising code that dates back to the 1960s, the tobacco companies have promised not to advertise in publications "directed primarily" at people under 21; not to depict any smokers younger than 25 in their ads; and not to depict people participating in "physical activity requiring stamina or athletic conditioning beyond that of a normal recreation."

In pre-written questions posed to Orlowsky, the government cited a series of Newport ads that ran from 1973 to 2003 in magazines such as Sports Illustrated, Cosmopolitan and Rolling Stone as part of the "Pleasure" campaign.

The magazine ads featured young people having fun skiing, hiking and rafting. The government says they were designed to play on young people's yearning for social acceptance.

In pre-written testimony, Orlowsky denied suggestions the ads violated the industry's code. "Young is hard to define," Orlowsky wrote over and over again.

Lorillard intended the advertisements would reinforce the brand image and product availability to adult smokers, and also hoped they might encourage adult smokers of competitive brands to try Newport, Orlowsky said in prepared testimony. http://money.cnn.com/2004/10/13/news/fortune500/tobacco.reut/

 

Freudenthal Staying Out Of Smoking Bans –WY, USA
Riverton, Wyo. Associated Press

Governor Freudenthal says he would not support any effort to impose a statewide smoking ban.
Freudenthal says that decision should be left to local governments and communities.
Laramie residents will vote next month on whether to prohibit smoking in most public places, including restaurants and bars.
The governor make the comment this week to leaders of Wyoming's tourism, travel and recreation industries at the Wyoming Hospitality Summit in Riverton.

http://www.kgwn.tv/home/headlines/1098281.html

 

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