Email
Password
(Forgot Password?)
There are some exceptions to the rule, but for the most part… starting today, smokers can't light up at Hoover restaurants, bars and pubs.
Baumhower's Wings and Sports Grille is one of those places - customers won't be able to light up. A mostly sports restaurant, the owner has decided to just go smoke-free. The manager said there are no worries about losing business.
General Manager Tom Wells said, "We have a lot of specials going on during the, the recessions times trying to get people in and the last few days since it's taken effect, no one's really complained about it."
But restaurants can serve smokers if they have separate enclosed areas with proper ventilation. Bars and pubs with a certain percentage of sales from alcohol have the option to allow smoking. But in both cases employees have to be legal adults.
Jump to full article »
We are not sure who is more anxious to ban smoking in Fort Payne - the city council or the public. There has been little to no public outcry since the people voted in August in favor of government regulation of smoking. There has been, however, hasty talk at council meetings and work sessions. . . .
We have heard the council talk the past few weeks of moving quickly on the smoking ban. We do not understand the hurry. We believe careful discussion of all the issues leads to the best possible decision by government. It's important to realize government working at warp speed accomplishes little. Instead, government's role is to carefully consider and move with caution. Anything less would deserve stern questions from the people of Fort Payne.
Results of a new Alabama Department of Public Health survey show that fewer high school students in the state are smoking.
Health officials released some of the data from their 2008 Youth Tobacco Survey Wednesday.
It shows a 17.5 percent decrease in teen smoking in 2008 compared to 2006.
The survey was given in 43 public high schools earlier in the year and the results are based on a sampling of nearly 1,400 students who turned in usable questionnaires.
About 22.1 percent of students said they smoked cigarettes and 15 percent said they smoked cigars.
A small Alabama town has banned smoking in public places.
The Brookside Town Council approved the ban Monday night. But authorities say they won't enforce the new ordinance until "no smoking" signs are posted throughout the town.
In August, more than 1,800 people told the Fort Payne City Council they wanted the government to ban smoking in public places. On Tuesday, the council tried to figure out how to interpret that vote.
At a lengthy work session that included issues surrounding the fire department, the city's new police chief and a possible nuisance law, council members debated which businesses should be impacted, if an actual ban is necessary and if, in fact, voters understood the question on the ballot.
"Why are we making it a criminal act for something that isn't against the law," Council President Richard Pridmore said.
By a vote of 1,875 to 1,032 Fort Payne voters responded favorably to the question "Do you favor legal restrictions on smoking in public places, such as restaurants, parks, commercial establishments, government buildings, etc., and work places, such as manufacturing and service buildings."
Pridmore believes voters misunderstood, believing they were being asked their feelings on smoking instead of their opinion on if government should ban smoking.
Student anti-tobacco groups from four Mobile schools received a $28,000 check Thursday from the Alabama Department of Public Health to keep spreading their message.
Students Working Against Tobacco, or SWAT, operate out of Bryant, LeFlore and Murphy high schools and Phillips Preparatory middle school.
State public health officials estimate that 11,000 Alabama teenagers will start smoking daily this year.
Last year, SWAT partici pants shared information at 52 area schools about the dangers of smoking.
Average Pack Cost: $3.76
State Cigarette Tax: $0.43
Total: $4.19
Per Capita Packs Sold in 2007: 80.2
Annual Cost: $335.64
According to the American Heart Association, as estimated 25.9 million men and 20.7 million women are smokers. Smokers are at a higher risk of heart attack and stroke. Cigarette smoking is the most important preventable cause of premature death in the United States. According to the American Heart Association, about 440,000 people die annually from smoking related deaths.
"All the major killers are associated with smoking," said Scott Warner, Pulmonologist of Chest Medicine of Cullman.
The increased battle against tobacco — smoking restrictions, rising taxes and government regulations — has resulted in part to the closing of The Cigar Factory in Selma.
An official at the factory said Tuesday the last production day is Nov. 14. People will receive paychecks through Dec. 5, said Vlencon Brown, the plant manger.
Altadis U.S.A. owns the plant, which has manufactured blunt-shaped cigars.
Richard C. McKenzie, senior vice president of human resources for Altadis, said a decrease in consumer demand for the blunt-shaped cigar is another reason for the factory’s closure.
The Hoover City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday night to restrict smoking in public places while allowing exemptions that include bars, pubs and restaurants with enclosed smoking areas with separate ventilation.
The council voted 6-0 in favor of the Comprehensive Second-hand Smoke Control Ordinance. It takes effect Jan. 2.
The vote capped years of talk about a stronger smoking ordinance in Hoover, replacing a law passed in 1993 that applied only to buildings owned or managed by the city. Advocates say the new ordinance is intended to limit exposure to second-hand smoke and to discourage teens from picking up the addictive habit.
Dr. Alan Blum knows where the smoking gun lies in the case of who-knew-what-when in the dispute over tobacco and lung cancer.
. . .
The archive reaches back more than 200 years. From the 1980s onward - the period during which Blum has been collecting - its level of detail is enormous.
"This is a 30-year daily biopsy of the tobacco industry and its promotion, advertising and marketing, along with the anti-smoking movement," said Blum, who is also a practicing physician and holds the Gerald Leon Wallace endowed chair in family medicine. . . .
The collection is contained in 2,500 boxes, most of which are in public storage. A small portion of the collection is housed in the basement of Nott Hall. It's not open to the public, but provides assistance to researchers, health officials and universities. "We are considered a resource for the World Health Organization," Blum said. . . .
Blum is also highly suspicious of efforts to bring the cigarette industry under control of the Food and Drug Administration. He has testified before Congress against the legislation, which was written with the assistance of Philip Morris. It's just another ruse, he said, but this time the tobacco industry is co-opting one of the primary government agencies responsible for the nation's health.
A recent survey conducted by the Alabama Department of Public Health boasted a 17.5 percent decrease in smoking among Alabama high school youths, but Pride Surveys conducted among local sixth graders paint a different picture in Covington County.
The ADPH announced through a press release Wednesday that recent surveys revealed a 17.5 percent decrease in smoking among high school youths from 2006 to 2008. According to the ADPH, about 22.1 percent of high school students said they smoked in the 2008 survey compared to nearly 27 percent who reported they smoked in 2006. . . .
Susan Short, executive director of the Children's Policy Council, said the decrease revealed by the ADPH's survey was promising, but she is more concerned with numbers revealed by Covington County's Pride surveys.
According to Short, 8.3 percent of 121 sixth graders surveyed in Andalusia's city schools said they smoked, which she said is the exact same percentage as last year. Short said 17 of the surveys were thrown out due to discrepancies found in the answers. . . .
"The surveys are designed to ensure each student pays attention to the questions asked," she added. "One question may ask how many times per day a student smokes and then another question further into the survey asks if the student smokes. If the two answers do not match, then the survey is discarded."
Researchers pay particular attention to the numbers of adolescents who use tobacco because it is considered a gateway drug to the use of alcohol and drugs.
Don't let the short item at the bottom of Monday's Health section escape your attention:
"Teen smoking falls in state," is the headline on the 16-line brief, but the information should have much more impact than the space it takes up on the page.
For years, Alabama has been one of the most tobacco-friendly states in the nation. We don't have any significant tobacco farming, yet our Legislature acts as if it's one of the largest cash crops in the state. Lawmakers resist raising tobacco taxes, enacting a strong, statewide anti-smoking policy, and even spending more than a fraction of the money needed to educate smokers on the risks of a cigarette habit. . . .
Also encouraging is nearly half of the students who smoke say they want to quit. . . .
The Legislature must pass state Sen. Vivian Figures' bill that will ban smoking in many public places. Each year, Figures introduces the bill. It passed the Senate this year before getting bogged down in the House. The bill prohibits smoking in restaurants, workplaces, sports arenas and the like. Studies have shown that teens in towns with strict smoking bans are 40 percent less likely to become smokers. Generally, if people don't pick up the habit as teenagers, they aren't likely to smoke as adults.
We know what we can do to further reduce teen cigarette smoking and tobacco use, and it's no secret. The only question is whether the Legislature will choose to help the state's vulnerable teenagers instead of bowing once again to a hard-lobbying tobacco industry.
The state Health Department also has a new teen cessation project that uses advertising on television and radio, as well as a MySpace page.
Alabama also uses a public health Life Skills program for sixth-graders in some schools. It has proved to be effective in reducing the risks of alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse, Williamson said.
These programs are showing results, borne out by the latest teen smoking survey. The Legislature should find more money to expand these programs to every school in the state. They will save not only public health dollars in the future, but lives as well. That's a sound investment by any standard.
More of Alabama's high school students are seeing the light: fewer of them are lighting up.
The Alabama Department of Public Health released some of the data from its 2008 Youth Tobacco Survey on Wednesday, showing a 17.5 percent decrease in teen smoking compared with 2006.
The survey was given in 43 public high schools earlier in the year, and the results are based on a sampling of nearly 1,400 students who turned in usable questionnaires.
Youth Tobacco Prevention and Cessation director Barry Riddle said that it's hard to pinpoint exactly what led to the drop from nearly 27 percent in 2006 to about 22.1 percent in 2008, but that programs offered by the department certainly helped.