Queen's is last hotel of its kind in province

Grand old dame turns 103

Monday, January 24th, 2005

Bill Redekop

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lianne Christie is more upset about the ban.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

www.winnipegfreepress.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• LINK: Provincial and Territorial report cards

Not taken seriously

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But Shakibaei disagrees.

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

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

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

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

She supports the ban.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Julie Cowie

Winnipeg

Not such an unreasonable request.

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

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

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

By Bradley Fehr Monday January 24, 2005

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Canadian Press January 24, 2005

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fri Jan 21, 2005 09:26 PM GMT

By Will Boggs, MD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SOURCE: Annals of Neurology, January 2005.

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

Fri Jan 21, 2005 07:15 PM GMT

By Anthony J. Brown, MD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fri Jan 21, 2005 11:42 PM GMT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spokesmen for Pfizer and Merck could not immediately comment.

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

Saturday, January 22, 2005

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Peter Kaplan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The bill faces staunch opposition from the hospitality industry.

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

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

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

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

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

Good site for sayings

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

Minnesota asthma meeting.  They are getting funding from pharmacies,

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

Guy Dresser, This is Money, 25 January 2005

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

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

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

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

'The Government's own ban is chaotic and there are too many ways around it. They've said the smoking ban will apply but you can be exempted if you don't serve food. Now there's a debate about what type of food is or is not covered. We would rather be clear and upfront about it. We're telling our customers where we are with regards to smoking.' Shares in the company fell 9¾p - nearly 4% - to 250¼p in early trading.

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

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

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

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

ALAN JONES AND JANE BRADLEY

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

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

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