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SARNIA, Ont. (CP) - The people living among a notorious cluster of chemical plants in southwestern Ontario want to know where the boys are.

A recent review of Aamjiwnaang First Nation birth records found there aren't very many boys being born in the Chemical Valley community, and Sarnia-area residents can't help but point the finger at the toxic industry that surrounds them.

According to the study, published in the American journal Environmental Health Perspectives, only about a third of babies born on the reserve between 1999 and 2003 were male. Going back to include another five years, only 41 per cent of babies born in the decade were boys. The ratio is normally something closer to 50:50.

"Is it what we're breathing in on a daily basis? Is it where we played as kids? Is it something our parents did? Is it these small exposures or is it because we've been living here our whole lives?" asked Ada Lockridge, a member of the band's environmental committee who also sits on the band council.

Residents of the 850-member native community started asking questions in 2003 when they realized there were three all-girl softball teams and only one for boys.

Lockridge was charged with the task of going through the birth records for the study. The lifelong resident of the area was stunned to realize her findings were far from normal.

Then she took a second look at her own family. She and her two sisters have nine kids between them. There is only one boy.

The Sarnia area is home to Canada's largest cluster of chemical, allied manufacturing and research and development facilities. Out of the 10 largest chemical companies in the world, eight have operations in Ontario. Lockridge can see the smokestacks of many of them just by stepping outside her front door.

While researchers are reluctant to point the finger at any one chemical being manufactured and processed in the area, some say it is difficult to think the industry is unrelated to the decline.

"It's a pretty significant decline," said Constanze Mackenzie, the fourth-year medical student at the University of Ottawa who led the study.

"The implications of this are that there appears to be some sort of influence on their reproductive ability," she said. "We're not sure what this influence is."

The sex of a human embryo is determined at conception, but it is thought factors including stress, chemical exposure and hormones can play a part.

"The community is located right in the centre of a number of large petrochemical and chemical industrial plants, so it is suspected they do have multiple exposures to environmental contaminants," said MacKenzie.

She added there is ongoing research in the area that shows similar changes in sex ratios and the reproductive ability of local wildlife.

The Canadian Chemical Producers' Association said Thursday it was aware of the study, but a spokesman said further research was needed.

"We would encourage more investigation by scientists to better identify reasons for the apparent change in sex ratios," said Michael Bourque, association spokesman.

Lockridge said even though studies like these raise questions about the safety of her home, she isn't planning to leave.

"It just depends which way the wind's blowing. This is our home, all our family is here and our friends we've grown up with all our lives."

Like his neighbours in the town of 2,000, Mr. Barre's life changed when a forest fire ripped through the outskirts of Barriere two years ago.

The McLure-Barriere fire that destroyed 19,000 hectares and 39 homes and led to millions of dollars in losses left few untouched and was started, police allege, by a careless cigarette dropped on dry ground by Mr. Barre one hot summer evening.

Now, two years later, the town has been rebuilt and Mr. Barre has found redemption among his neighbours.

He is charged with dropping a burning substance within one kilometre of a forest and if convicted, could face a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a fine of $500,000.

"This has destroyed Mike and just about destroyed his family for no reason other than to make him a scapegoat and to have someone to hang out to dry," said Jill Hayward, editor of the North Thompson Star Journal in Barriere and a fire victim who lost her house and cattle ranch.

Ms. Hayward said no one she knows is happy about seeing Mr. Barre charged under B.C.'s Forest Practices Code and even though a civil suit has been filed against him by some homeowners, residents are firmly on the side of their neighbour.

Barriere residents worried that Mr. Barre, who has a young daughter, was so distraught about the fire that he was suicidal. A petition started by neighbours showing their support for him now has more than 1,400 signatures.

Volunteer firefighter Rob Linnea said people have moved on, houses have been rebuilt and residents of Barriere consider the charge against Mr. Barre an attack on all of them.

"It feels like the court is picking on one of us," he said. ". . . The feeling is it's like kicking a dog when he's down."

Mr. Linnea said watching the footage in recent days of the devastation in New Orleans has convinced him and other Barriere residents that natural disasters happen and they consider themselves fortunate for having survived.

Changes in the town, which had largely relied on employment from a mill in Louis Creek that was also destroyed in the 2003 fire, have become permanently embedded.

Fear of more fires has made the town's residents cautious and wary, Mr. Linnea said. In Barriere, residents see fire wherever there's smoke. Not one fire in the past two years has been started by a cigarette.

Crown counsel Jonathan Oliphant said there is no possibility that, if convicted, Mr. Barre would face the maximum penalty.

In May, Kenneth Weaver of Kamloops pleaded guilty to starting a fire during the wildfires of two years ago. Mr. Weaver set off a flare to frighten away a bear, but the flare ignited a fire that burned nearly 18 hectares of land and cost $58,000 to put out. He was ordered to pay the Forest Ministry $10,000 and was fined $1,500.

The McLure-Barriere fire cost $31-million to extinguish. Mr. Barre has told people in Barriere and a reporter that he started the blaze and tried to put it out when it flared. When he couldn't contain it, he said, he ran to alert neighbours.

In total, the fire resulted in more than 3,500 people fleeing from Barriere and nearby McLure and Louis Creek.

Mr. Barre's remorse is evident and should be taken into account during his trial, said John Ranta, who was chair of the North Thompson Recovery Plan Task Force set up after the fire.

"We have laws in order that they act as a deterrent for people. If you are to turn a blind eye to someone who committed an offence, you're contributing to the potential that others may commit the same offence, with some degree of expectation that it would not be pursued by courts," Mr. Ranta said.

"The fire caused a lot of damage and hardship for an awful lot of people in the province, but I would hope the courts would be much more harsh on someone else."

It will take a long time for Mr. Barre to forgive himself, regardless of how the residents feel about him, said Bill Kershaw, a long-time resident and vice-chair of the Thompson Nicola Regional District.

"This spring, we had flooding in McLure and Mike was there, helping, sandbagging. He's part of the community, but this is something that he's carrying on his own and none of us can help him with that," Mr. Kershaw said.

"Sleepwalking into disaster": small business delivers wake up call on proposed changes to the Ontario Municipal Act

TORONTO, Sept. 7 /CNW/ - Ontario's small business community wants a say in any changes to the Province's Municipal Act and overwhelmingly rejects the ideas of new powers of taxation and regulation for municipalities that are being proposed by mayors and their supporters. These are the key findings of a new survey released today about proposed changes to Ontario's Municipal Act by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

Two Dartmouth youths will be charged in Halifax provincial court today after an armed robbery on Erskine Street Wednesday night.

Halifax Regional Police Sgt. Wayne Grantham said two male youths walked into Habib's Grocery just after 8 p.m., pointed a gun at the clerk and asked for cigarettes.

Gaming Control Minister Dave Chomiak has nipped Manitoba's Bingogate in the bud.

The minister says the practice of charging nickel-and-dime bingo operations licence fees, and burdening them with financial reporting, will end.

The news comes on the heels of a Winnipeg Sun story yesterday that exposed how the provincial Gaming Control Commission was cracking down on small bingo operations in private seniors homes, some with pots as little as $10 a game.

"The intention of the Gaming Control Commission was not to gouge," Chomiak told The Sun yesterday. "They're going to have a board meeting in about two weeks, and they're going to take another look at it because that was not their intention."

Under changes made by the commission in April, bingo operations that generate $5,000 or more a year in revenues had to start paying a licence fee and submit quarterly financial reports to the GCC.

That meant small bingo operations in seniors' homes and elsewhere with weekly payouts of $96 and up found themselves having to pay a licence fee and submit several pages of financial reporting every three months, including who won prizes and how much.

"There was no intention to jeopardize or to go after seniors and other groups that are doing this," said Chomiak. "I suspect that (the GCC) will probably find a way to exempt places like seniors centres where they have bingos because that certainly wasn't the intention."

Tory lotteries critic Ron Schuler, who raised the issue this week, said government has obviously come to its senses.

"We wanted them to stay out of seniors apartment blocks and private residences," said Schuler. "I don't think government belongs there at all."

Kate Kehler and 20 to 25 of her tenant friends at Edgewood Estates -- who play bingo in the basement of their East Kildonan complex every Tuesday night -- said she's happy with the changes.

The Edgewood Estates group say they were told by GCC officials that their licence fee would be $500 a year.

But officials in Chomiak's office say that's an error, adding the fee would only have been 1.5% of revenue, or $75 a year on $5,000 of payouts, which is still ridiculous.

Small bingo operations like the one at Edgewood Estates will pay nothing to government, as they've done for years. And they won't have to fill out four pages of financial reporting every three months, either.

Not everything that happens in government bureaucracies are known to ministers -- although they are ultimately responsible and often ought to know when they don't.

Nevertheless, the changes the GCC made were at the board level, so they didn't make it to Chomiak's desk.

What's important is that ministers fix a problem swiftly when it comes to their attention, which Chomiak did.

Even more critical, it's important for the public to speak up when something's wrong.

Which they did this week when they flooded Chomiak's office with calls about Bingogate.

Ottawa Routinely Breaks the Law in Treatment of Media Requests under Access to Information, Newspapers Claim

McGuinty government continues fight against smoking and for a healthier Ontario -ON

OTTAWA, Sept. 8 /CNW/ - The McGuinty government is continuing its fight against smoking by providing $1.68 million this year to support local groups engaged in tobacco-control initiatives, Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson announced today.

Today's funding announcement will mean $686,000 in funding for Ottawa Public Health and $992,000 for Region of Waterloo Public Health.

This year, the McGuinty government will invest $50 million in its Smoke-Free Ontario Campaign - the largest anti-smoking investment in the province's history.

The Smoke-Free Ontario Act, which received third and final reading on June 8, 2005, will prohibit smoking in all enclosed workplaces and public places in the province beginning May 31, 2006, and will toughen laws on tobacco sales to minors, with a complete ban on the display of tobacco products by May 31, 2008.

Heather Crowe is packing up her belongings, trying to decide what to keep and what to give away as she prepares to move into a care home.

Crowe, 60, from Ottawa was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer three years ago, which has since spread to her liver and spine. That means another round of chemotherapy, more medication to ease constant pain and a need for 24-hour care.

Crowe -- who was told she has just three months to a year left to live -- was awarded compensation for lung cancer caused by occupational exposure to second-hand cigarette smoke. The non-smoker had spent 40 years working as a waitress in restaurants, bars and banquet halls.

"The only reason I'm in this condition is because I went to work every day and this really is what happens to the unprotected worker," said Crowe. "I don't want to take (smokers') rights away from them, I just want legislation that states when you go to work, you're going to be protected."

And that legislation is too long in coming, argued June Blau, president of the Saskatchewan Coalition for Tobacco Reduction, saying such regulations have been under review for more than a year. According to Statistics Canada figures, in 2004 Saskatchewan had the lowest number of workers protected from second-hand smoke at 62 per cent.

"We don't see any light at the end of the tunnel," said Blau. "Meanwhile people continue to be exposed to second-hand smoke and our death and disease toll is continuing to accumulate."

Health Canada statistics show up to 7,800 Canadians die each year because of second-hand smoke.

"I think the point is we can prevent it, so even one death is too many," said Blau. "This is a totally preventable situation and it's in our power to do that and to do it immediately, so why wouldn't we just do it?"

Labour Minister Deb Higgins said Saskatchewan is doing something about it. She said the province has taken some big steps in the last few years to cut down on smoking in the workplace.

"I mean, to go from wide-open smoking to 60 per cent in a couple of years to zero in public places, we have made some pretty significant moves," said Higgins.

However, she admitted those smoking bans do not carry over to all workplaces, just those where the public may go.*

Blau said that is not good enough. She said she wants legislation that makes all workplaces smoke-free, as has been done in several other Canadian provinces like Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba.

"For those of us who know about Heather Crowe and other people who have died or will die from second-hand smoke, it's an issue of some urgency to just get it done," she said. "And we think that there's really nothing to stop the government from going ahead with legislation."

Higgins said the matter is not yet in the hands of legislators. She said an Occupational Health and Safety council is currently completing a legislative review that may address the issue of workplace smoking. That report is due in by the end of the year, said Higgins.

In the meantime, Crowe continues to speak out against workplace smoking and said she will continue to do so as long as she can.

"They should really consider doing the right thing and making all workplaces smoke-free right across Canada," she said. "And I doubt that I'll live to see it happen but I'm hoping I will."

*to clarify the issue they would consider anywhere that you work (including home) a workplace, whether public goes there or not

One-year anniversary of by-law sparkss mixed reactions within the community of Sarnia Lambton

�Residents and visitors have welcomed and embraced the opportunity to enjoy smoke-free restaurants, bars, bingo halls, casinos, apartment lobbies, bowling alleys and taxis, not to mention a smoke-free work environment,� says Dr. Christopher Greensmith, acting medical officer of health for Lambton County.

�Exposure to toxic second-hand smoke in workplaces and public places is a problem of the past,� Greensmith added.

But, not everyone agrees. A challenge to the local legislation, by Andrew Falby and Patrick Forget, is still before the court.

They claim the county�s public consultation process was flawed and a referendum should have been held before the bylaw was passed.

Earlier this year, the county was unsuccessful in trying to have those objections quashed altogether.

Public health officials say 30 complaints have been investigated since the bylaw came into being last year, with 12 warnings issued and two businesses charged.

�There is a need to reverse the impression that smoking is normal,� says John Hitchins of the Council for a Tobacco-Free Lambton.

He says the council�s goals of prevention, cessation and protection have been furthered by the year-old bylaw.

�Now every man, woman and child in Lambton County has the opportunity to enjoy smoke-free public places and workplaces.�.

Ontario's ruled by a nanny government intent on bypassing personal rights because the government knows best, according to opponents of the province's smoking ban.

"I am allowed to sell it (tobacco) but I can't let you smoke it. It's asinine," said Ralph MacIntosh, owner of the Georgian Shop on Mitton Street, during Thursday's local hearing organized by a tobacco lobby group.

Under the nanny state, smokers are treated as social outcasts, communities have been hit by negative economic impacts and personal freedom has been removed, said Nancy Daigneault, president of Mychoice.ca.

The non-profit group funded by the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers' Council has 23,000 members, including 200 to 300 in Sarnia-Lambton, dedicated to changing Ontario's smoking ban.

"There's no problem with the government advocating a healthy lifestyle but adults don't have to adopt the lifestyle. They're coming into your kitchen. Canadians don't want that," she told the hearing being presided over by Conservative MPP Toby Barrett from the tobacco farming region of Haldlimand-Norfolk.

None of the hearing's speakers disputed the negative health impacts of smoking, but it was suggested air quality standards could be set for second-hand smoke.

Lambton's acting medical officer of health, Dr. Chris Greensmith, has stated the local ban has made exposure to second-hand smoke at work and public places a problem of the past.

Andrew Falby, a local resident, said the "nanny state has taken over," and people need to educate themselves about the meaning of freedom.

He has challenged the Lambton smoking ban in court and that case will continue this month or October.

John Mallon, co-owner of the Ups N' Downs pub in Sarnia, told the hearing "there's a whole lot of big brother in this."

He wants patios to be allowed under the province's ban as they are in the Lambton bylaw.

Barrett also heard an estimate that the local smoking ban has cost charities $1 million through reductions in bingo revenues during the year the ban has been in effect. It began last September.

"We're all hurting. . . We've lost the American trade," said Shirley Pettit, president of the association of 85 charities using Bingo Country as a fundraising venue.

When the ban started, she said charities were told a drop in business would be temporary but "that didn't happen," she said.

She handles the Sertoma Club bingos where revenue dropped from $43,000 per year to $18,000.

Many bingo players are smokers and charities should have a say about the laws, she said.

Barrett said the province-wide ban is "pretty well a done deal" with implementation set for next May, but ideas for changing the legislation came through the Sarnia hearing and one in Windsor.

Karen Bodirsky of the Fair Air Association wants Ontario to follow British Columbia's lead. It stipulates only 25 per cent of an establishment's floor space can be a designated smoking room equipped with a separate ventilation system.

Air in that room must match the exterior air quality and workers can only spend 25 per cent of the shift inside the room.

Smoking patios should be allowed that go beyond an area completely open to the elements.

"Standing out there (in the open) like a bunch of cattle is quite scary," she said.

Barrett said it might require a court action against the ban as was done in British Columbia.

Ontario Youth Group Presses 18A Rating for Tobacco at Toronto International Film Festival -ON

TORONTO, Sept. 9 /CNW Telbec/ - Wide Awake, a youth movement against tobacco marketing, will attempt to buttonhole film producers at the Toronto International Film Festival and urge them to keep future films rated G, PG and 14A tobacco-free.

The bulk of the 2005 tobacco crop is off and there are varying reports on the quality.

�The crop appears to be of excellent quality,� Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers� Marketing Board chairman Fred Neukamm said of the tobacco in the Aylmer area where he lives. �We�ve had an exceptionally warm season that�s allowed the crop to reach its potential. It�s starting to get cooler at night, which allows the leaves to ripen.�

He said when the crop grows quickly it results in robust tobacco. However, Neukamm had heard of curing problems with the lower leaves.

Denise Beaton of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food said the progress of harvest varies from farm to farm and even field to field on the same farm. Some fields are being stripped while others are in the fourth pulling. Most of the calls she received about cooling problems in the lower leaves were in regard to bacterial soft rot. Beaton said it is too early to tell how the upper pullings will cure out.

A Tillsonburg-area grower wasn�t as satisfied with his crop, saying rain didn�t come in the area at the right times, resulting in a lighter crop.

KAMLOOPS, B.C. -- By his own calculations, Mike Barre has smoked 350,000 cigarettes in his lifetime and his process for butting out each one was as much a habit as his addiction, he told a Kamloops courtroom yesterday.

For the first time since the devastating McLure-Barriere fire of 2003, which he is accused of starting, Mr. Barre explained in detail what happened the afternoon of July 30, when he smoked a cigarette and dropped it on the ground.

The 52-year-old, who has pleaded not guilty, testified that since he began smoking at the age of 15 or 16, he always used a four-step process to extinguish a cigarette: he dropped it on the ground, put his foot on it, stomped it and then twisted the butt.

The final two steps were to make sure the ashes were dispersed, he told the court, adding that he always double-checked to make sure the cigarette was out.

Mr. Barre, a volunteer firefighter who was working on construction jobs that summer, is charged under the B.C. Forest Practice Code with dropping a lighted substance within one kilometre of a forest. Though the act has since been repealed -- Mr. Barre was the last person to be charged under it -- he faces a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a fine of up to $500,000 if convicted.

Mr. Barre told the court that he was so familiar with butting out his cigarette that it was second nature, like walking out a door.

On that July afternoon, Mr. Barre was on a hillside behind his property with a satellite-installation technician. He said he was smoking as the two men looked around for a suitable site.

When he finished a cigarette, he discarded the butt on the ground. He said he first thought of throwing it into a pit, but when he saw the hole was filled with garbage he decided that was too dangerous and he butted out the cigarette instead.

Mr. Barre initially told the 911 emergency dispatcher, his neighbours and fire investigators, that he was responsible for the wildfire, which eventually burned through 26,000 hectares, but he and his lawyer, John Hogg, are now raising doubts about that claim.

Mr. Hogg told the court that a marijuana grow operation, 150 metres from the site where the wildfire allegedly began, could have brought people in and out of the area.

In addition to the criminal charge, Mr. Barre is being sued by a number of businesses, including the Tolko mill, one of the region's major employers.

The mill, in neighbouring Louis Creek, burned down, as did nearly 100 other buildings between McLure and Barriere. More than 3,000 people were forced out of their homes as the blaze spread in the province's worst forest-fire season in 50 years.

Mr. Barre told the court that after noticing smoke on his hill, he ran for assistance and brought back two men to help fight the fire. But within minutes it was out of control.

He testified that when he talked to people during and after the fire, he was overwhelmed.

"It was just devastating. Tolko burned down. People losing their homes. One person was suicidal. There was a helicopter pilot who died," he said.

"People lost their possessions. I was so emotionally distraught. I never thought about it, I came forward and I said my piece and I just carried on."

In earlier testimony yesterday, Joel Birkeland, the satellite technician, and Stephen Grimaldi, a ministry of forests investigator, testified that the ground covering where the cigarette was discarded contained pine needles.

But Mr. Barre disputed that, saying he extinguished his cigarette on ground that was sandy, with no vegetation nearby.

In a brief interview outside the court, Mr. Barre said he always had doubts that his cigarette was what ignited the massive wildfire, but in the first days after it started, he was consumed with a range of emotions. "I can't explain what it felt like. There was so much going on around," he said.

"In the end, it doesn't matter whether I win or lose, no one won in this at all."

The judge is to hear final submissions today, and is expected to render a written decision within the next two weeks.

Dear Mr. Sinclair: I would like to respond to the article that you wrote regarding the smoking issue on August 12.

St. Albert council did the absolute, totally correct thing by banning all smoking! It is unfortunate that Mr. Klein, our premier, with his total lack of wisdom, did not make this a complete province wide ban.

You stated that servers are claiming "severe financial distress as tips have dried up." This is a totally unrelated cause for lack of tips.You should suggest that the "smoking" patrons should increase theirs tips (sic) for the servers for being in some clean, unpolluted air.

You also stated the (sic) there is "the stress of small female servers being forced to reprimand large male patrons. "Are all these female servers "small"? Perhaps the bar owners should be dealing with these patrons, not the "small" servers.

You stated that 90 per cent of bar patrons smoke. Did you ever consider the health related issues that face the workers who work in bars? Obviously not. How many of these servers may get lung cancer from second hand smoke I have no problem with people who want to smoke, as long as they are smoking in their own air space and are polluting their own lungs.

St. Albert council was definitely not on a power trip when they imposed this ban. They had considerations of the health benefits to the general public.

Your analogy of the 20 hotels in Sask. (sic) That (sic) have closed directly "as a result of the province wide ban" is not entirely correct. Many small towns in Sask. are losing their population to larger cities as are many towns in Alberta. The closing of these hotels may not be related to the smoking ban. Regarding your legion issue, if they want to stay home and smoke, that is good. At least, they will be polluting their own lungs. They have to abide by the same rules as every one else.

There is no reason or excuse for anyone who worked in a bar and "lost" their job, not to find another. Are these bar workers no capable of doing something else? There are lots of jobs available in St. Albert and Edmonton. There are many signs asking for workers. Do not even use this as an excuse.

You obviously need to focus on the health issue and not on the rights issue. Everyone who chooses to can still smoke, but they do not have the right to pollute someone else's (sic) air space!

If the smokers need to take their business elsewhere, then they should. However, it would be better for them to butt out and face reality and not complain. It is a done deal. Live with it. I have included some articles that I am passing on to you. Please read them. You may actually learn something from them.

All smokers want is the right to congregate in a smoking establishment where no one under 18 is allowed. As for your rant on bar workers health, take a look the next time you pass a bar. The servers are out on the sidewalk with the patrons during their break. Want to guess what they are doing? As a side note, you won't name yourself, but expect me to do so and take calls or mail from people like you?

The next time you walk into the St. Albert Inn you may notice something a little different and you can blame it on the city's smoking ban. Michael Mazepa, who began operating the business in 1976, says that since the non smoking law in bars and lounges came into effect on July 1st of this year, he has seen a dramatic drop in business.

"Over the years the cocktail lounge has supported itself and made profit and these days it's not, so I'm making the business decision now" says Mazepa, who has seen a 65 per cent drop in revenue in just the last two months.

The common opinion many business owners, including Mazepa, have heard over and over again of course is that, while they may experience an initial drop in clientele, too disgruntled or perhaps pissed off to come in because they can't smoke, traffic will eventually pick up as people get used to being told they have to interrupt their evening out at a pub to go outside to feed their cravings. Mazepa doesn't buy it for a second.

"Smoking is a stupid habit but it's also a personal choice" he says, stressing that the same logic should apply to the business owner. "If a non- smoking customer comes into the lounge and later complains to me about the stink, it is up to me as a businessman to make a decision whether I should cater to the smoker or to the non-smoker. It's my decision to make".

Rather than seeing it legislated and imposed, Mazepa like so many others, would have preferred to make the call to go smoke-free based on the demand from clients---not legislators or the non-smoking majority.

I heard the same tune from the owner of a delightful Italian eatery in St. Albert. Nello Saporito opened his restaurant just eight months ago and catered to adult clientele only; allowing people to have the choice to smoke inside his establishment.

"They came to Nello's for the food, dropped a couple of hundred dollars on a fine bottle of wine, smoked and drank and business was good---it's not the case now" says Saporito as we sit at a crisply dressed table at the front of his empty restaurant---it's 6:30 on a weeknight and only three tables are being used.

But what really gets this restaurateur, is again that despite the fact he owns the place and pays considerable taxes he is being told what to do and how to do it.

"The City has no right to tell me how to deal with my customers. Non smokers can find non-smoking places and I should be able to serve who I want to. It's my business so where is the freedom?"

That attitude seems vaguely familiar? When the province imposed seatbelt laws many Albertans were disgruntled about being told what to do inside their vehicles. After all, it seems like a personal choice to buckle up. But it's not.

"It's not because at one point the safety, health and preservation of life outweigh to a certain extent personal freedom" says St.Albert's Mayor Paul Chalifoux

He agrees some establishments are hurting because of the smoking ban but adds that the secret to a successful business is the ability to keep up with the trends as the playing-field changes.

"You don't operate in a vacuum---you operate in a context of societal laws". It is some of these societal laws, and the trend to put limits on how people chose to lead their lives and, as in this case who businesses can cater to, that have some concerned.

"What are they going to ban next?" asks Mazepa, who is by the way laying-off four full-time employees from the Inn's cocktail lounge as a result of the smoking ban.

He thinks smoking is flat out "stupid and unhealthy" but, he adds, "so are fatty foods." Same sentiments from Saporito, as he expresses his disappointment and disillusionment.

"I came to this country years and years ago because there was freedom -- but where is the freedom now?" I looked this fifty-something Italian in the eye and asked---"what about the freedom of your employees to work in an environment that won't put them at risk of lung cancer"?

He smirks, "all of my employees---every single one---smokes. They don't care".

Smoking is an unhealthy and potentially deadly habit but we return to the human rights issue---it is a choice. Am I sympathetic to the rights of smokers? Absolutely, I indulge myself. Am I against the smoking ban? No. I enjoy the clean air in pubs and bars these days. It's refreshing to come home and not reek like an ashtray that has been left sitting unattended for days.

But the fact remains that if a smoker dishes out an average of $10 per pack, with much of it going into provincial and federal coffers, he should have access to restaurants or pubs that have the choice to cater to smokers only. The only way to make the smoking ban--- and the cited reasons for it--- fair, is if cigarettes are outlawed all together, say many of the people I talked to for this series.

So far that has officially happened in only one place in the entire world--- Bhutan. The Himalayan kingdom made history in December of 2004 when it banned all tobacco sales and smoking in public in an effort to become a smoke- free nation. Simple and genuine.

Smoking in our society A special two-part series in Saint City News Freelance writer, and admitted smoker, Agnieszka Wyka delves into society's perception of smoking and how it has evolved. Today, in part two of the series,Wyka talks with some business owners at the end of the busy summer season to find out what impact the smoking ban had.

We encourage feedback on the series at editor@saintcitynews.com

Dalton McGuinty, when are you and the rest of the morons in your provincial Fiberal party going to ban black bears? Two attacks in Ontario -- this is obviously an epidemic and these black bears, or anything that looks like a black bear, should be banned!

KAMLOOPS, B.C. -- The man accused of starting a devastating wildfire in the B.C. Interior in 2003 took the blame too early, his lawyer told a Provincial Court judge yesterday.

Defence lawyer John Hogg said that Mike Barre is "a good guy" who was forthright and honest in the days after the fire started, but he talked too much.

"If he had followed my advice from the start, we wouldn't be here today," Mr. Hogg said.

Mr. Barre, 52, pleaded not guilty to dropping a burning substance within one kilometre of a forest on July 30, 2003, in contravention of British Columbia's Forest Practices Code.

After the defence and Crown wrapped up their cases, Judge William Sundhu said he will give a written decision some time in the coming weeks. A date for the verdict will be fixed Friday.

If convicted, Mr. Barre could face a maximum fine of $1-million and a sentence of three years in prison. The code doesn't specify a minimum.

Mr. Hogg told the judge there are other possible explanations for the wildfire than Mr. Barre's discarded cigarette.

A marijuana grow operation discovered by investigators near where it is believed the fire started suggests the likelihood that other people were roaming about the hillside.

"[A grow-op] brings human activity; it causes people to go up the hill and be there more than they normally would. And not hikers, not mountain bikers," Mr. Hogg said.

"Do people who run grow operations smoke? You bet. There is an industry up there."

Mr. Hogg said there is no question his client dropped a cigarette as he walked up a trail behind his house. However, Mr. Barre is adamant that he stomped the cigarette out in bare dirt, as was his usual practise.

Mr. Barre testified Thursday that he has probably smoked 350,000 cigarettes in his life and butted out 25 per cent of them in the outdoors.

He always did the same thing with them -- dropped them and twisted them into the dirt with his toe, he said. "Everyone knows putting a cigarette into dirt is the proper way to put it out," Mr. Hogg said.

It is for that reason, the lawyer said, that hotels and government buildings supply ashtrays with sand in them.

Prosecutor Jonathan Oliphant said, however, that because of the conditions of the day, Mr. Barre should have done more. He could have taken his spent cigarette out with him or, more simply, he could have made the decision to not smoke as he walked up the path into the pines.

"He didn't have to smoke in the tinder-dry woods, he could have chosen to wait," Mr. Oliphant said. "That was a very easy alternative. He was only going up there for 15 or 20 minutes."

Mr. Oliphant said the Crown is not required to prove that Mr. Barre started the fire, only that he dropped a burning cigarette in the forest. "This case is about whether Mr. Barre dropped a lit substance within a kilometre of a forest. He did that. He dropped a lit cigarette in a forest."

ONE MINUTE Rommel Molina was chilling with his buddies at a North York park, the next the 21-year-old was dying on the ground with a bullet in his chest.

Friends and family remembered the city's 52nd murder victim of the year -- gunned down Thursday afternoon near Jane St. and Lawrence Ave. W.-- as a "great guy" who had never been in trouble. His only mistake was standing up to the wrong two guys.

"He didn't do anything wrong and he didn't deserve to die like this," said Rene Molina, 19, who along with his mom, dad, 17-year-old sister and about 20 of Rommel's friends, stopped by Upwood Park on Marshlynn Ave. yesterday to see where his brother was killed.

Homicide Det.-Sgt. Gary Giroux said Rommel was "smoking and talking" with three friends in the park bocce court when two young men approached them at 5 p.m.

An "extremely brief" argument ensued and one man pulled out a pistol and shot Rommel at close range.

Giroux said he didn't know what the fight was about, but family and friends had some idea what happened.

"Rommel was just minding his own business," Rene Molina said. "This guy came up to him and asked for a smoke and he said no, so the guy ripped my brother's cigarette out of his mouth and shot him."

Friends recounted a different story, saying Rommel and his pals were actually smoking marijuana.

Contraband cigarettes and marijuana were confiscated by Chateauguay police in a raid at 15 Julien street in Beauharnois on Labor Day.

According to police constable Michel Roy, confreres acting on a tip from an anonymous source raided the house at 3:30 p.m. with warrant in hand.

They seized 20 marijuana plants; 2.5 kilos of marijuana in plastic bags; 19 cases of contraband cigarettes, and six cases of tobacco emanating from the U.S. Police estimate the value of the entire haul at $90,000.

Mario Boisvert, 37, the owner of the house, was arrested and appeared in Valleyfield court last Tuesday where he was charged with production of cannabis and possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking. The cigarette dossier was referred to the RCMP for further action.

According to police, Boisvert had no previous record for this type of crime. Anyone with information about the case is urged to call Det-Sgt. Benoit Perron at 698-3223 or Info-Confidentielle at 698-3229.

Has anyone noticed the increasing number of gasoline stations and convenience store retailers who are advertising the sale of cigarettes on the outside of their stores?

It's my understanding that federal law limits inside-store point-of-sale displays of tobacco products. But by the size of these signs, outside of their stores, there appear to be no limits.

This kind of smoking promotion certainly flies in the face of the good work of the Canadian Lung Association, whose programs include smoking prevention for young people.

Perhaps a made-in-London municipal bylaw can put a stop to this. Our young people deserve this protection.

A Manitoba jail has stopped serving tea because some inmates were using tea bags to make cigarettes.

In response to Ron Hewton's Sept. 4 letter, "Concert security grates on rock fan," how can he justify smoking in a non-smoking building just because he paid good money? News flash, Ron, there are thousands of fans who also paid good money and are sick of having to breathe your smoke. Do us all a favour. Before the concert, choke down a pack of your cigarettes or whatever you smoke and let us enjoy the concert.

Two bar owners in Montreal are launching a legal battle against Quebec's anti-smoking legislation. They say the law will cause job losses because more patrons will stay home.

Peter Sergakis said Quebec's anti-tobacco legislation will put him and other bar owners out of business.

"I'm working all my life to build my businesses. In Ottawa, 210 bars - 60 of them closed - 25 per cent reductions in sales. We don't want to lose our businesses and we don't want to put people out of work."

Sergakis and another Montreal bar owner are heading to Quebec Superior Court to fight the law.

Quebec has passed legislation that will outlaw smoking in all public spaces next June.

The bar owners have hired constitutional lawyer Julius Grey who will argue that prohibiting smoking in bars and restaurants infringes on smokers constitutional rights.

"The problem is that tobacco is not outlawed," Grey said. "The problem is how far can the government regulate the everyday choices of people is there a limit." "And so what we are going to ask the court is to determine the very delicate limits of intervention with respect to lawful behaviour."

Grey said bar patrons are adults and they should be able to have a choice to smoke in a well-ventilated area.

-In enclosed spaces where the activities held are reserved for persons invited or authorized to attend by the host

Within nine meters from any exterior door leading to a facility of a health and social services institution, to a building of a general and vocational college or a university or to a facility of a childcare centre

Restrictions 'an example of Big Brother going too far,' constitutional expert says

MONTREAL -- One of Quebec's leading constitutional experts is filing a legal challenge to the province's new smoking ban, which he described as an unacceptable, Big Brother-style infringement on individual freedoms.

Julius Grey, a lawyer known for championing high-profile civil-rights causes, is going to Quebec Superior Court on behalf of two Montreal bar owners to try to block the new provincial legislation.

He says the anti-smoking campaign belongs in the same basket as Canadian anti-terrorism laws -- well-intentioned actions that have gone overboard.

"It's a civil liberties issue. The [anti-smoking] campaign cannot be allowed to overcome all other rights."

The Quebec government's full ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, which comes into effect next May, has so far generated little opposition in the province.

But Mr. Grey said the restrictions violate freedoms guaranteed in the Canadian and Quebec Charters, and he wants the courts to rule on how far the state can go in curtailing a legal habit.

"There is a limit to how much can be imposed for your own good," the non-smoking lawyer told a press conference at a smoky Montreal bar.

Mr. Grey viewed the restrictions as an example of "paternalism" and said the problem of second-hand smoke can be solved with ventilation in separate smoking rooms.

"We have to constantly be vigilant to protect liberty, and liberty is particularly in danger when the cause is popular."

While all have been unsuccessful, their result has been to delay the law's implementation, an anti-smoking group says.

"These laws are holding almost everywhere -- the science has developed to the point where it's unassailable," said Francis Thompson, a policy analyst in Ottawa for the Toronto-based Non-Smokers' Rights Association.

"We accept all other limits on behaviour. Behaviour that imposes a risk to third parties is fair game."

Anti-smoking groups also challenge bar owners' contention that smoking bans are bad for business. They say that jurisdictions that have brought in bans, including Ireland, Ontario and New York, have seen little or no negative effects.

"Instead of fearing an eventual loss of clientele of some smokers, they should be happy to gain a new clientele of non-smokers who avoided bars on principle solely because of smoke," said Flory Doucas, a political analyst in Montreal with a non-smoking rights group.