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Smoking Ban Adjustment Period Starts in Marion County 

If you have walked into a Fairmont bar recently, you might have been surprised to still see people smoking.

The Marion County Health Board has banned smoking in public places, effective August 1.

But if a bar applied for a business permit before the ordinance was passed in June, it has until next August to comply. That gives them more than a year to adjust to the change.

Any new businesses opening in the county, must be smoke free now.

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Bar Owner Holds Smokers Night, Despite Smoking Ban 

CHARLESTON -- The ashtrays were back on the tables Tuesday in one local bar, even though a county wide smoking ban prohibits lighting up indoors.

Black Hawk Saloon owner Kerry Ellison organized a smokers night Tuesday to protest the recently activated smoking ban.

He says he's frustrated because since it's implementation, he's obeyed the rules, while other bars continue to allow patrons to light up.

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The Chinese really light up 

According to 9NEWS Anchor Mark Koebrich, people in China smoke everywhere, both inside and outside.

On average, Chinese men smoke a pack a day and people in Beijing to watch the Olympics have noticed.

One person from Australia says people smoke there too, but "not as many here, no. But I've traveled to a lot of Asian countries and many, many people smoke. They seem to ignore the detrimental effects of it."

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Barnstable eyeing smoke-free beaches  

At the urging of beachgoers bothered by cigarette butts and after a letter from a local doctor worried about secondhand smoke, Barnstable officials may ban smoking on the town's beaches.

"We felt the town should look further into the issue and not just ignore it," said Clyde Takala, chairman of the town's Recreation Commission, which two weeks ago submitted a recommendation to Town Manager John Klimm to ban smoking on Barnstable's 16 beaches.

The commission's recommendation follows ordinances passed in Abington, Sharon, and Tyngsborough to ban smoking on their freshwater beaches, said Donna Rheaume, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Health.

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New Albany residents give their thoughts on proposed smoking ban 

WAVE 3 talked to people in New Albany to get an idea of how they feel about the smoking ban. Nearly everyone we spoke to was for it.

"I'm for the smoking ban because for people that don't smoke, to have to sit and breathe in the smoke is very irritating and it makes you feel like you are ruining your lungs being there," said New Albany resident Luann Argetsinger.

Some who smoked in the past no longer want to deal with it when they're out in public.

"I think people ought to be able to smoke if they want but not if it's going to interfere with other people," said resident Kenneth Bristle.

One resident we talked with, an occasional smoker, said he's prefer a smoking ban.

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LETTER: An open letter to Mayor England  

Imagine, if you will, that failure to affix your signature to this bill means that New Albany is the last city in America to ban workplace smoking. The economic damage would be incalculable. Being the last is an extreme, of course. But as civilized society moves inexorably toward such a state, why would an avowedly progressive mayor decline to join that march toward better public health? Why would you want to be the mayor that kept New Albany bringing up the rear?

Frankly, I don't see any downside to you, Mayor. A majority of the council has expressed the will of the people of New Albany. No one argues that the ordinance doesn't enjoy public support and praise of landslide proportions. A vocal but declining minority, most of whom are hopelessly addicted to that form of nicotine delivery or who have fallen for the propaganda that their incomes will suffer, shouldn't be able to run roughshod over the clear evidence of science.

You don't deny the effects of global warming, do you? So why would you align yourself with the deniers of the science on indoor smoking in the workplace?

I urge you to sign the ordinance. Most of your constituents do, too.

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Foes protest New Albany smoking ban; focus turns to mayor’s opinion 

Protesters of a smoking ban for New Albany met at the 40 & 8 Voiture 1250 Society building Tuesday, bolstering efforts to see language in a recently passed ordinance softened, if not eliminated.

The ordinance was approved by the City Council with a 5-4 vote on first reading, and if OK'd next week, would outlaw smoking in all public venues and private clubs including the 40 & 8, which is located at 221 Albany St.

"It's really about our freedoms," said 40 & 8 member and business owner George Waldrews. "I think we're old enough to have the right to choose."

Council members Steve Price, Diane McCartin-Benedetti and Jack Messer answered questions from the crowd, trying to explain the legislative process that still must be followed before the ban becomes law.

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On eve of New Albany smoking vote, FCTPC points to new data to support ban 

Implementing a comprehensive smoking ban would reduce asthma-related medical visits in New Albany, doctors and medical officials said Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference sponsored by Floyd County Tobacco Prevention and Cessation, or FCTPC, Richard Wilson, chair of the Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Louisville, said statistics prove asthma cases decrease when a smoking ban is applied.

He pointed to a six-year study done by the University of Kentucky which allegedly shows asthma-related medical visits decreased by 24 percent in adults and 18 percent in children for an average of a 22 percent decline after Lexington, Ky., banned smoking in public establishments.

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Laboring toward a decision on smoking ban 

With the mayor set to announce on Tuesday his decision on whether he will sign the recently passed ordinance banning smoking in public establishments, several anti-smoking coalitions held a press conference Friday to throw more justifications at England. . . .

Local jazz musician Jamie Aebersold spoke to the group of reporters about how he quit playing several clubs because of the smoke-filled quarters, furthering the theme of Labor Day and worker's rights.

"I hated the way it jeopardized my health," he said, adding that England should sign the ordinance to ensure a paycheck is all workers would be getting at their place of employment, as opposed to health problems associated with secondhand smoke.

Yet, the majority of workers who spoke during the Aug. 21 City Council meeting said they were opposed to the ban, citing a loss of revenue from not allowing smoking could cost them their employment.

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Ban continues to divide people  

Residents across the state came together via the Iowa Communications Network Wednesday morning to express their passion for either side during a hearing hosted by the Iowa Department of Public Health, which is responsible for enforcing the ban.

Even though the bill passed the Iowa Legislature, was signed by Gov. Chet Culver and was enacted on July 1, those in attendance at the meeting mostly fought over the language in the bill rather than discussing the law's rules, which was the reason for the meeting.

"(One attendee) said, 'The place to rehash this bill is the election booth,' " state Sen. Tom Courtney, D-Burlington, said after the meeting. "He's exactly right."

Courtney, who attended the meeting and sits on the Administrative Rules Review Committee, said he hoped the discussion would have focused more on the area where he feels the rules did go beyond the law's intention: banning smoking on bar decks or patios.

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Weaver fury is calming 

The ongoing controversy surrounding Councilman Dave Weaver's alleged comments about Armenian smokers in a June 26 Pasadena Weekly article appeared Tuesday to have fizzled.

Only one speaker at the City Council meeting, Vache Mangassarian -- a staunch Weaver critic -- returned to berate the councilman over the article despite expectations in the past week that a larger contingent of critics would take to the speaker's podium at the meeting.

Critics, including representatives for the Armenian National Committee-Glendale Chapter, maintained their calls for Weaver to resign, issue a full apology or for his colleagues to censure him based on assertions in the Pasadena Weekly article that Weaver had tied opposition to the city's coming anti-smoking ordinance to Glendale's "substantial and politically influential Armenian community."

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USC Upstate to go smoke-free on its entire campus this fall 

The tobacco-free policy will take effect Nov. 20, the day of the nationwide Great American Smokeout. The date also coincides closely with the full opening of the Health Education Complex, which will house a new wellness center and serve as a landmark for the university's Healthy Upstate Carolina initiative.

"We think as a university, we have an opportunity to take a major step by declaring the campus a smoke-free zone," USC Upstate Chancellor John Stockwell said, "and that's what we're doing. Other entities in the county have taken this step, including Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, and we think it's time."

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Bar owners go unpunished in Charleston smoking 'duel' 

CHARLESTON -- About a dozen bars in Kanawha County dared the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department to take action on a county smoking ban this week by encouraging patrons to light up indoors.

But with no intention of entering into a 'duel' with these business owners, health department officials refused to cite the anyone for the violations.

According to the Charleston Gazette, many bar owners in the area have been against the county's clean indoor air regulations since they were instated by the health department July 1. Reports state that the owners have said the ban has had detrimental effects on their alcohol and video lottery sales.

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• Reporter, editor defend smoking-ban article 

The Pasadena Weekly reporter who touched off a furor three weeks ago, when it came to light that his June 26 article had incorrectly attributed comments about Armenian smokers to Mayor John Drayman, appeared live on cable television Thursday to defend his work.

The reporter, Carl Kozlowski, was unassuming in his defense on "The Larry Zarian Show" on Thursday while discussing an error in which he incorrectly attributed to Drayman comments Councilman Dave Weaver allegedly made about Armenian smokers and the influence they may have in opposing Glendale's upcoming smoking ordinance.

The cover article was widely circulated at City Hall about five weeks after it published and set off what has been an ongoing protest of Weaver by the Armenian community, especially the Armenian National Committee Glendale Chapter.

"I certainly didn't want to cause a rift in the community," Kozlowski said.

But he did not back down from Weaver's accusations that the Pasadena Weekly had distorted his comments and had fabricated some of the indirect quotations in the article. . . .

A week prior, Councilman Ara Najarian said he was satisfied with Weaver's explanation that his comments were taken out of context and that he never tied opposition to the coming smoking ordinance to Glendale's "substantial" Armenian smoking population.

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Butting in 

If you're a smoker, you probably remember the rush of joy and relaxation delivered by that first hit of nicotine. Everyone smoked back in the 1960s and '70s, or so it seemed, and you were just fitting in.

But over the years, popular perceptions of smoking have changed dramatically, primarily because cigarettes have been exposed as one of the single greatest killers in world history. . . .

Other cities to implement similar outdoor smoking bans include Calabasas and Santa Monica. And now Glendale is about to follow suit, igniting a battle that's bound to be intense.

Glendale's proposed ordinance would slap violators with citations ranging from $100 to $500 for anyone who fails to put out their butts after a warning. If approved, the new law would also require by January 2010 that 85 percent of all units in an apartment building be designated as non-smoking, with the remaining apartments for smokers "clustered" to one side of the building.

Is this a case of Big Brother government overstepping its bounds in trying to protect us from ourselves? Or is this a situation, much like global warming, in which government has an obligation to get involved and save lives?

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