Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- Quietly leaving his post as surgeon general, Dr. Richard Carmona said he would judge himself successful if he had persuaded one student to make good health choices or one mother to stop smoking. Carmona's report condemning secondhand smoke was a hallmark of his tenure as the nation's 17th surgeon general.

The issue is no longer just about smoking. Passing a state law outlawing smoking in most public places was, by this comparison, the easiest thing to do. The law was not required to address the inevitable hardships such a bill was destined to inflict. There was clapping and backslapping on the floor of the state Senate the afternoon it passed there. But none of that really matters now, when the issue is one of how it impacts people's lives. They are men and women who once ran tiny, yet prosperous, packed-to- the-kegs establishments, who now tend mostly empty bars. The...

They're making one last attempt to force the City of Beaumont to continue to allow smoking in bars and restaurants. Opponents of a ban on smoking in public buildings say they don't have enough signatures right now, but they plan to work hard in the next 24 hours getting the support they need. Lee Melton/Comedy, Texas "I own a business and pay a lot of Taxes and now I can't smoke in my own building." Smoking ban opponents say they are not quitting when it comes to getting enough signatures on this petition. Lee Melton/Comedy, Texas "Four ladies on...

Revenue from video lottery terminals in New Brunswick declined last year, in part because of the province's ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation says.The lottery corportation's 2005-06 annual report shows that money generated by VLTs fell by almost $8 million, or six per cent, from the previous year.ALC spokesman Robert Bourgeois said a province-wide smoking ban imposed in October 2004 was one of the major reasons for the decline."There were other factors as well, such an increase in competition from unregulated internet sites," Bourgeois said Friday. "But definitely, the smoking ban would have been one of the factors."The...

Nearly 300 union workers will be laid off by Casino Windsor due to declining revenues caused by Ontario's new smoking ban, casino officials said Wednesday. The casino, which has nearly 4,000 employees, will lose 297 union workers over the next two weeks and immediately terminate 32 salaried employees, officials said, who also cited an unfavorable exchange rate and high gas prices for the decrease. The law, which went into effect May 31, bans smoking in all public facilities, including bingo halls, bars, restaurants, sporting venues, stores, office buildings and Casino Windsor. "This is a day that no one takes...

Poor Heather Crowe, the Ottawa waitress who recently died of lung cancer and had lent her persona to the anti-smoking lobby as the typical victim du jour. Crowe was said to be a "typical" restaurant worker who spent 40 years working in Ottawa restaurants, all the while breathing the second-hand smoke that’s said to have claimed her life.There are so many things wrong with Heather Crowe’s case that it begs for an official inquiry, but like all politically correct causes the anti-smoking lobby can do no wrong. Crowe, who really did die of lung cancer, was anything but a typical...

Concerned Women for America (CWA) says that if the Marriott hotels care so much about their customers, as indicated in their recent decision to ban smoking from hotel rooms, they should stop offering hard-core porn in their hotel rooms. “Creating a smoke-free environment demonstrates a new level of service and care for our guests and associates,” said J.W. Marriott Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Marriott International. “Our family of brands is united on this important health issue and we anticipate very positive customer feedback. … Demand for nonsmoking rooms continues to rise with new information from the...

Cops in North Platte won’t be busting anyone for exposing children to secondhand smoke in motor vehicles.Lincoln County Attorney Jeff Meyer says he personally doesn’t like the idea of smoking around children, but it is not barred by law and doesn’t qualify as child abuse. Police Chief Martin Gutschenritter sought the county attorney’s advice based on a recent national study, reporting on the danger of secondhand tobacco smoke. Gutschenritter wanted to know if police could ticket people, who smoke when children are in their vehicles, for child abuse. ”Generally, acts that are not specifically proscribed against by statute do not...

The Pennsylvania Restaurant Association has thrown its support behind a statewide ban on smoking in restaurants, bars, casinos and private clubs. So why couldn't we find any local establishments who agree with them? Admittedly, we used a small sample, but when staff writer Jeff Pikulsky talked to owners of Mon Valley clubs and restaurants last week, he found angry opposition to the proposed ban. Monessen Elks Club Steward Marcy Zites estimated that 70 percent of her club patrons smoke and feared that a ban would be bad for business. Those sentiments were echoed at the Foster House in North...

The Surgeon General showed up very regal looking to provide a press release rehashing the tired old argument that secondhand smoke is deadly and must be banned. And with his next statement: Separate "no smoking" sections DO NOT protect you from secondhand smoke. Neither does filtering the air or opening a window. It seemed a feable attempt to pre-empt any action short of a total smoking ban.....as if to confirm that pro-smoking ban activists' credibility in the public is failing miserably. Well I am sorry to report that the American Cancer Society conducted air quality testing at several smoking...

If President Bush announced that secondhand smoke kills more Americans than the Iraqi insurgency, AIDS, drunken drivers and Katrina put together, would we nod in agreement — or look to Bellevue, if not to impeachment? Comes now Richard Carmona, the surgeon general of the United States, telling us that secondhand smoke kills 49,000 Americans a year — and there's no outcry, no notion that maybe this is nuts. Instead, the mass media buys it without question, and so apparently do the people.Does anybody out there know anything about Carmona, or even that he's the surgeon general? In 2003, he...

Everyone knows the traditional reasons why Maine is a great place to take a vacation - it has ocean, mountains, lakes and lobsters.Now the state is promoting one more inducement for people to visit: No smoking is allowed in Maine's public buildings.The state is putting up five signs at various points this week along the Maine Turnpike and Interstate 95 that advertise the fact."Breathe easy, you're in Maine," said the blue signs with white lettering. "All indoor public places are smoke-free."Dr. Dora Anne Mills, who heads the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said Maine may be "the...

First they came for the workplace, then for people's homes and cars, and then the great outdoors.Now the anti-tobacco jihadists, having helped ban smoking in most public and many private places, have turned their attention to the most private space of all — the womb.  That very personal place where humans incubate could be the next battlefield between smokers and those who have never uttered the words: “It's none of my beeswax.” This latest brainstorm comes from Arkansas, where Rep. Bob Mathis successfully shepherded legislation making it unlawful to smoke in cars in which small children are passengers. Apparently...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - A trade group that represents liquor retailers is mounting a legal challenge to Springfield's new indoor smoking ban for public places. The Illinois Licensed Beverage Association filed a lawsuit in Sangamon County Circuit Court Wednesday, seeking an injunction to prevent the ban from taking effect Sept. 17 in all indoor workplaces. The association has also asked the court to nullify the sections of Springfield's Clean Indoor Air Ordinance that apply to bowling alleys and taverns, saying state law does not give the city the authority to include such establishments in its definition of "public places." "We have...

Psst! Hey kid! Come over here and jump off this bridge! All the cool kids've done it 'n you're the only one left! It won't hurt, it'll be fun. Anyhow, if ya don't do it, I'm gonna come back 'n bugya, 'n bugya, 'n bugya forever till ya do. With that sort of reasoned discourse in the background, accompanied by taunts of "You smell like an ASHTRAY!", Philadelphia finally jumped on the bandwagon and banned smoking. Well, sorta. They banned it unless you're a bar that agrees not to feed its customers anything healthy, one that's well-off enough to have...

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of Steamboat Springs' controversial municipal smoking ban, but local businesses that once catered to the smoker's dollar have no reason to celebrate.  Mike Miller, owner of Sun�--pie's Bistro, thinks the city's ordinance goes too far, banning smoking anywhere within the restaurant or bar's liquor license boundaries. "It's almost impossible to enforce," Miller said about enforcing a ban that encompasses Sunpie's entire 5,000-square-foot outdoor seating area along the Yampa River. "You can be 150 feet from being indoors, and you're not allowed to smoke. You can inform customers of the law and...

A German businessman has founded an airline dedicated to smokers.Smintair, or Smokers' International Airways, aims to cater for smokers who feel excluded in an age when all major airlines have banned the habit.A Dusseldorf-Tokyo service is due to begin in October and is expected to serve mainly Japanese businessmen.Smintair's founder, Alexander Schoppmann, a 30-a-day man, said: "There are no laws banning smoking on board. The airlines have made these rules themselves because no-smoking planes are cheaper. It means you don't have to change the air filter system so regularly."

While some say the introduction of the statewide smoking ban next Saturday will level the playing field, a group of restaurants and bar owners are fuming over what they say are unfair exemptions.Smokers who travel to Colorado’s casinos and Denver International Airport will be able to light up.Puffing on a Basic Ultra Light last week over a game of bingo at Loveland Elks Lodge 1051, Frank Bustos said the law is unfair. “They shouldn’t hold the bar and pool hall owners back,” said Bustos, who has been a smoker for 53 of his 65 years. “Bars are traditionally a...

The state moved to expand its pursuit of tax dollars from smokers who buy cigarettes over the Internet. The Department of Revenue — at a cost of $88,000 — sent tax bills late last year to 7,500 smokers who bought cigarettes online without paying Oregon’s tax of $1.18 a pack. Roughly 33 percent of the people who received letters paid their taxes, generating $686,000. On Thursday, a subcommittee of the Legislative Emergency Board gave preliminary approval to the Department of Revenue to spend another $240,000 to send letters to people listed on another 23,000 invoices. The full Emergency Board,...

MONROE TWP. -- About a half dozen American Legion members sat around an old picnic table behind Post 252 Friday, despite the humid heat. Inside, the air conditioner was keeping the bar cool -- but out here, they can smoke. Thanks to new state legislation prohibiting smoking in all public places but casinos, this American Legion post lost approximately $5,000 in bar income during the month of May, said Commander Joe Reed. The post has a gaming license that allows them to operate a couple of Pull-Tab gambling machines, and the income from them is down about the same...