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Yale-New Haven Hospital bans smoking on grounds 

Yale-New Haven Hospital would like to make the city sidewalks around its buildings smoke-free, and the Board of Aldermen is considering the idea.

If the proposal, which was given approval by the aldermen's Human Services Committee earlier this month, passes the full board in January, the hospital will paint signs on the sidewalks outside its buildings designating the area a smoke-free zone. The sidewalks are mostly along York and Cedar streets, South Frontage Road and Howard Avenue.

In the meantime, beginning Thursday, smoking will be banned on all hospital grounds, both inside and out. The policy will mean the elimination of designated smoking areas, such as on Cedar Street and in a glassed-in smoking room just outside the hospital's main entrance on York Street. The Air Rights Garage also will be smoke-free.

Kevin Myatt, senior vice president of human resources, said the ban is a logical next step to keeping patients, staff and visitors healthy.

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Yale club with noted members struggles to reopen after more than a century of rich traditions  

Mory's, a legendary Yale eating and drinking club that traces its roots to the Civil War, has a powerful membership that includes two presidents named Bush. Foreign leaders and movie stars such as Al Pacino, Paul Newman, Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks and Jodie Foster have patronized the club. . . .

The club survived Prohibition, including a visit to Yale by prohibitionist Carry Nation, who was known to smash up bars with her cane and bricks. Her photo shows students drinking and smoking around her; Getman isn't sure how they pulled that off.

"There are things that happen here that aren't going to happen anywhere else," said Robin Soltesz, the club's comptroller. "They have to save it."

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Careless smoker caused school fire 

SHELTON -- A fire that seriously damaged Shelton High School Tuesday afternoon has been ruled accidental, caused by improper disposal of a cigarette, police said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, city officials said it is too soon to tell if school can reopen on schedule Monday.

Police Capt. Michael Madden said the investigation revealed that the fire started from someone throwing a cigarette inside a garbage can in the maintenance supply room on the second floor of the building.

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Cigarette caused Shelton school fire 

A cigarette thrown into a garbage can in the Maintenance Department's supply closet sparked the fire that damaged a large portion of Shelton High School Tuesday.

That is the finding released Wednesday morning by the Shelton Police Department and Fire Marshal James Tortora.

"It has been determined that the nature of the fire appears to be accidental," according to the release. "The fire started from the disposal of a cigarette into a garbage can in a maintenance closet."

That closet, on the second floor of the building behind the cafeteria, contained both paper supplies and chemical cleaning agents, which reportedly led to an explosion in the closet, which set off the fire.

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Cigarette caused Shelton High fire  

- A discarded cigarette caused Tuesday's three-alarm fire at Shelton High School, authorities told News Channel 8.

Count on 8 Investigator Alan Cohn spoke with Shelton Police Capt. Michael Madden, who says the fire marshal has ruled the fire accidental.

According to Capt. Madden, the cigarette was tossed into a garbage can in the maintenance supply closet on the second floor. The investigation is still ongoing.

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Versailles' car blast caused by cigarette  

Fire officials in Virginia believe a cigarette is to blame for the deadly vehicle fire that claimed the life of a former Greenwich restaurateur.

Maurice Jean Clos-Versailles, 64, died on Dec. 11 after his GMC Yukon burst into flames in Gordonsville, Va. He was the owner of Versailles Restaurant on Greenwich Avenue and had moved to Virginia in 2006, according to Ablemarle County Fire Marshal's Office.

"As it appears now there was a liquid petroleum gas leak inside the vehicle that ignited by a cigarette," said James Barber, Fire Marshal and Assistant Fire Chief with the Albemarle County Department of Fire Rescue.

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• Two Hospitals Seek to Extend Smoking Bans to Cover Public Property  

WHILE some Connecticut hospitals want to ban cigarette smoking on their property to protect patients and employees, two hospitals are trying to go one step further by seeking to ban smoking even from the public streets and sidewalks nearby.

Earlier this month the Human Services Committee of New Haven's Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a request by Yale-New Haven Hospital to paint the city sidewalks surrounding the hospital with a thin blue line to denote a smoke-free zone.

Yale-New Haven Hospital's campus will be completely smoke free beginning on Thursday, and if the full Board of Aldermen votes to allow it, the smoke-free zone will extend past the hospital's property line and onto the city-owned sidewalks. Currently, the hospital allows smoking only in designated outdoor spaces.

Bristol Hospital is pursuing a similar goal.

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Hotel bar busted for alleged swingers' club 

Connecticut police have arrested three men accused of running a swingers' club inside a hotel bar.

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E-mailed photos of risqué behavior led police to Club 91 and the Beverly Hills Suites in Windsor Locks. . . .

Liquor law violations at the club included smoking inside a public building, nudity, sex acts, not serving food and improper use of a service bar.

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• GIORDANO et al. v. CONNECTICUT VALLEY HOSPITAL et al. (PDF) 

In late September 2007, Plaintiffs – nine long-term residents of Connecticut Valley Hospital ("CVH"), a state-operated psychiatric facility – sued CVH, Thomas A. Kirk, Jr., the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services ("DMHAS"), and Luis B. Perez, the Chief Executive Officer of CVH, seeking to enjoin them from implementing a complete ban against smoking and tobacco products scheduled to take effect on the CVH campus on October 1, 2007.1 Plaintiffs, then proceeding pro se, alleged that the proposed smoking ban violated a number of their federal and state constitutional and statutory rights. . . .

For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment insofar as Plaintiffs' federal constitutional claims are concerned. As to Plaintiffs' state law claims, the Court declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over those claims. Plaintiffs' state law claims are, therefore, dismissed without prejudice. Plaintiffs may re-file their claims in state court.

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EDITORIAL: Making best use of tobacco funds  

Connecticut's approach to anti-smoking efforts certainly is confusing. For years we have decried the state's token support for those efforts at the same time it was collecting well over $1 billion from tobacco companies. But with our state government facing financial crisis, why are officials moving now to spend more in that area?

We never envisioned a situation when a bigger commitment to anti-smoking programs could be questioned. But these are unusual times that justify the consideration of all angles, especially when it comes to spending. . . .

After an admirable job by Gov. M. Jodi Rell to cut spending, followed by a somewhat anemic attempt by the legislature, we still have to find a way to fill a $302-million-sized hole by the end of this fiscal year on June 30.

A few million extra for anti-smoking efforts is a relatively tiny amount compared to those numbers, but we can only afford new spending in areas of absolute dire necessity. It is not minimizing the horrors caused by smoking to say the expenditure doesn't meet that standard at this time - especially since smoking is in decline across the country, and smoking bans and cigarette prices will keep it that way.

No doubt state-funded anti-smoking efforts have helped in the welcome reduction of smoking rates. But right now, the minimal dollars we have can best be used elsewhere.

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PIONZIO: How will Smokers Deal with Smoke Free Hospitals?  

Connecticut Hospitals, including St. Vincent's in Bridgeport and Midstate Medical in Meriden, have started a two-year campaign to become totally smoke free to create a healthier, cleaner and safer environment.

That means no smoking breaks for employees (or patients) on hospital campuses. . . .

If the hospitals that are involved in this smoke-free initiative have allowed their employees (and patients?) the time to smoke a few cigarettes each day, will they also give them the time to seek recovery?

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Bristol Considers Smoking Ban On Public Streets  

Bristol smokers, take note: Soon, public streets might be off-limits, too.

City officials could declare tiny Newell Road a no-smoking zone, possibly the first smoking ban on a public road anywhere in the state.

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CIGNA, Aetna To Ban Workplace Smoking Completely  

The last workplace refuges for smokers are disappearing as a growing number of employers in Connecticut and around the nation adopt the toughest ban yet -- no puffing anywhere on company property. Not outdoors, not even in parking areas.

CIGNA said Wednesday that it will start a total smoking ban April 1 for employees and visitors at its 179 properties, including Bloomfield, and Aetna told its workers in July that its complete ban will take effect July 1. Electric Boat in Groton is discussing a possible total ban with its unions.

In addition, the Connecticut Hospital Association began an initiative today coinciding with the American Cancer Society's annual Great American Smokeout to get its 29 member hospitals to make their campuses smoke-free by November 2010.

Employers are cracking down to improve workers' health and productivity, protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke and save on ever-growing health care costs. Although some smokers may think the move is punitive, employers say it's not meant to be, and they're offering incentives to quit.

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Connecticut ramping up anti-smoking efforts  

Two legislative committees approved a plan Tuesday to spend millions of dollars more on helping people quit smoking and preventing others from taking up the habit.

The state's Tobacco and Health Trust Fund proposed spending $6.8 million in 2009. The plan includes $2 million for the state's "Quitline" telephone counseling service so it can resume offering nicotine replacement therapies.

They also plan to spend $2 million for a new statewide anti-smoking media campaign and $1.2 million for smoking cessation programs for people with serious mental illness.

Their plan also includes $500,000 for a new school-based smoking prevention pilot program for 10 to 20 school districts, and $250,000 for a lung cancer tissue repository and database to identify high risk groups.

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Future unknown for UST employees  

The fate of 350 UST Inc. employees in Stamford is unclear now that Altria Group Inc., owner of Philip Morris USA, has announced it will buy the company for $10.3 billion.

Altria spokesman David Sylvia said Altria plans to come up with $250 million in annual savings by 2011, but would not comment on the fate of any of UST's 4,600 employees. The company's headquarters is at 6 High Ridge Park in Stamford.

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