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"I'm the one that usually gets to deal with them," Van Winkle said.
For all her efforts, the private club in Butler County has gained a place of distinction among businesses in a four-county area of Southwest Ohio.
It ranks at the top when it comes to people complaining about smoking violations since Ohio began enforcing the ban 18 months ago.
With 208 complaints filed against it - primarily by its own members - the lodge has been ticketed twice. One of them was for a fine of $500. Both tickets are under appeal.
"We were getting a bad rap," Van Winkle said. "We have close to 10,000 members in and out of the facility in any given week. So we are going to get a lot of hits."
At a time when places like the Moose Lodge feel picked on, statistics provided by the Ohio Department of Health hint at problems with enforcing the ban.
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Two fatal fires over the weekend have been blamed on careless smoking, fire officials said Monday.
A man who died in a Norwood fire Saturday night was identified as Robert Lagrange, 56. He died at University Hospital after he was pulled from his two-story home in the 2500 block of Moundview Drive around 10:30 p.m. Saturday. . . .
Robert Hawkins, 51, died of smoke inhalation, according to the Warren County Coroner's Office.
As health commissioner for Hamilton County, I support the smoking ban and am proud to say that our efforts to protect workers from the hazards of secondhand smoke are effective.
In December of 2008 complaints were down 40 percent compared with December of 2007. Of the nearly 2,100 restaurants, bars and other facilities licensed by Hamilton County Public Health, only 3 percent have been found in violation.
Since May 2007, when enforcement of Smoke-Free Ohio began, Hamilton County Public Health has received 746 complaints, conducted 739 investigations and issued 190 violations.
What Ohio law currently says about smoking in prisons:
- No smoking or other tobacco use allowed inside or outside at the Corrections Medical Center in Columbus or the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, which also houses death row.
- No smoking or other tobacco use inside the North Coast Correctional treatment facility in Grafton, the Lake Erie Correctional Institution in Conneaut, the Toledo Correctional Institution, the Hocking Correctional Facility in Nelsonville in southern Ohio, the Oakwood Correctional Facility in Lima, the Northeast Pre-Release Center in Cleveland, the Franklin Pre-Release Center in Columbus or the Montgomery Education Pre-Release Center in Dayton.
Ohio is moving ahead to ban all tobacco products from prisons by March despite questions about the state's authority to put such a ban in place.
Smoking and tobacco products are already prohibited inside Ohio's 32 prisons, though some facilities have outdoor areas set aside for inmates and staff.
Terry Collins, director of the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, wants to expand the ban to eliminate all tobacco products in or out of prisons by March 1.
State lawmakers should heed the wishes of the 2.2 million Ohioans who spoke loud and clear in 2006 by passing a comprehensive workplace smoking ban without exemptions.
--Michael J. McFadden Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains"Philadelphia
CARLISLE -- A cigarette caused a fire that claimed the life of a man inside a top-floor apartment late Friday, Dec. 26, according to the Carlisle fire chief.
Robert Hawkins was found dead inside the apartment at 712 Joshua Court in the Colonial Gardens complex, said Chief Greg Wallace.
The accidental fire started in the chair where Hawkins, who was born in 1967, was sitting, Wallace said. Wallace said there was no obvious reason Hawkins could not escape the fire, other than to guess he fell asleep and was overcome by smoke.
Remember the freedoms we once had to think and choose for ourselves in the not-so-distant past, before our state allowed the SmokeFreeOhio advocacy group to declare us too stupid to do so with the Issue 5 smoking ban in 2006?
Private property business owners chose smoking or nonsmoking.
Employees chose their preferred working atmosphere. . . .
The Issue 5 smoking ban ballot initiative in 2006 was nothing but deceit and lies.
Despite what the initiative's proponents may say, Ohioans voted for family-owned business and private club exemptions - period.
Shame on SmokeFreeOhio, and shame on Ohio for letting them get away with it. Ohio citizens and business owners deserve better.
It is to my great dismay and disappointment that I have heard the current "suggestion" that Ohio's Issue 5 smoking ban be "excused" in certain private clubs and venues. . . .
Lung cancer deaths are on the decline, and there is no doubt that the adoption of smoke-free workplace laws and other tobacco control policies are major contributors to this remarkable process.
Ohioans should take pride in having put in place one of the most comprehensive public-health measures in the country - one that allows every Ohioan to breathe clean air, both now and for future generations.
It's ridiculous that two years after Ohio voters approved a smoking ban, enforcement is so spotty that 40 percent of complaints aren't even investigated, as the Enquirer's Sheila McLaughlin reports today (Page A1). At this point, the institutions most penalized by the ban are those that do enforce it, then lose customers to competitors that look the other way.
The ban is a law, not a suggestion, and not open to hand-wringing by business owners or whining by health officials. The state has an obligation to enforce it, end of discussion. That some institutions, like Middletown's Moose Lodge 501, have piled up hundreds of complaints and gotten off with a puny ticket or two is an insult to voters.
Meanwhile, three Northern Kentucky counties have talked the issue to death without taking action. Why not be bold and take a stand for their citizens' health and financial well-being?
According to the data, 60 percent of complaints between May of last year and Dec. 15 were investigated by county health departments or the state; 5 percent of those resulted in citations and fines. About 40 percent of complaints went uninvestigated.
State health officials dispute the program is troubled.
"We believe the enforcement is going relatively well. What you can infer from the (data) is that a vast majority of the businesses are voluntarily complying," said Kristopher Weiss, spokesman for the state health department.
Cigarette smokers like fa-la-la-la as much as the next person. Need proof? Check out the Christmas lights on the cigarette-smoking tent outside of Boston's Bistro and Pub, 7500 N Main St.
Photo of Boston's smoking tent taken by Cathy Mong
Cigarette butt huts have popped up outside of area bars every winter since the Ohio enacted its indoor smoking ban approved by voted in November 2006.
What do you think of smoking tents? Make a comment below.
Though attempts to shoot holes in a smoking ban approved by Ohio voters in 2006 are almost sure to continue, legislative leaders have snuffed out a proposed exemption being pushed during the final days of the lame duck session.
Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester, proposed attaching an amendment to HB 327, a city health board bill, that would have exempted cigar bars from the smoking ban.
But both Senate President Bill M. Harris and House Speaker Jon Husted said Tuesday that they do not support exemptions to the smoking ban so soon after the sweeping prohibition was approved by voters. However, Harris expects the issue to be debated again next year.
at the Toledo Jeep Assembly plant, said he is preparing to return to work soon, but has been laid off for the last three weeks.
"I've never seen it like this," he said.
Bar owner Michelle Dusseau said the autoworkers make up 80 percent of her business, which she has run for 13 years.
As plant workers continually were laid off during 2008, she has had a hard time keeping the business going.
"I went from 15 employees down to like four," she said. "The smoking ban killed us to begin with, then the tax rate on our water. Now with the Jeep plant shut down, I don't know how any business in Toledo can stay in business."