Tobacco.org

Falmouth to vote on beach smoking ban 

Voters at Monday's annual town meeting could make all of Falmouth's 11 town beaches smoke-free if they approve a recommendation from Beach Supt. Donald Hoffer and the Falmouth Beach Committee. If it passes, Falmouth will become the third Cape town, in addition to Barnstable and Yarmouth, to ban tobacco products from all public beaches, Hoffer said.

"Cigarette butts and filters end up in the sand, thousands of them every year, and they're not biodegradable," Hoffer said. "We'd be ridding the beaches of noxious debris."

The warrant article -- one of 32 voters will decide on Monday -- stemmed from a unanimous 5-0 vote from the beach committee and simply states "the use of smoking materials on the public beaches of Falmouth is prohibited."

Jump to full article »

Smoking ban may include fines  

But exposing young children to cigarette smoke is another matter, said Mayo, a town Parks Commissioner who inspired the board to ban smoking at the park and Sandy Pond Beach this summer.

Now, the Board of Health is teaming up with the Parks Commission to put more teeth into the regulation, possibly instituting some fines for violators.

The Ayer Board of Health is expected to discuss nuts and bolts of its potential smoking regulation at its biweekly meeting scheduled for Monday, Nov. 9. The purpose of the proposal is to add an enforcement component to the smoking ban that the Parks Commission adopted in August.

Jump to full article »

Clearing the air  

Eugene resident Sally Krueger used to walk with her two children through the front door of the downtown public library.

But the smoking and cursing from people who congregate in front of the library prompted Krueger to change her route. She and her children now enter the building from the library's underground parking garage.

"I always have my kids with me, and it's the smoking and the language that I don't want to subject them to," said Krueger, an elementary school teacher.

But help is on the way for residents like Krueger, who have become uncomfortable with the behavior of people outside the library at West 10th Avenue and Olive Street.

City officials are proposing to completely ban smoking outside the entire library building, up to the curbs, early next year.

Jump to full article »

Kennesaw OKs subdivision plans; Powder Springs eyes smoking ban  

Powder Springs

The city conducted the first public hearing for a proposed ordinance to ban smoking at city-sponsored events on the town square, specifically the Fourth of July and Christmas celebrations. Mayor Pat Vaughn said Hillgrove High School senior William Wizner proposed the ordinance as part of a school project.

Jump to full article »

VIDEO: Restricting Smoking Near Public Library 

Connie Bennett says, because of complaints from visitors about people gathering in front of the library and smoking, she and other city staff members are asking the city council to ban smoking around city buildings. Especially those that provide services to children like the downtown Eugene Library. The proposed ordinance would move the smoking area from 25 feet from the door; add an additional 5 feet to the curb. Bennett says pushing the smoking zones to the curb, would make the rule easier to explain.

Jump to full article »

• Housing authorities ban indoor smoking 

Alan Pape doesn't like going into smokers' apartments. But as the maintenance mechanic for the North Bend City/Coos-Curry Housing Authorities, it's part of the job.

"When you have to stand in them for two or three hours at times and breathe in second-hand smoke -- I know it's not good for me," Pape said.

By March, Pape won't have to worry about nicotine-stained walls or smelling like an ash tray at the end of the day.

The two boards of commissioners for the housing authorities adopted a no-indoor-smoking policy for the apartments and buildings they own. The Woodland Apartments Preservation Inc. and Powers Housing Development Inc. -- apartments managed by the housing authorities -- also passed the same policy. The agencies provide section 8 and low-income housing North Bend, Coos Bay, Myrtle Point, Coquille and Port Orford. Woodland and Powers have units in Empire and Powers. Ned Beman, the executive director of the Housing Authorities, said the policy will likely impact 475 residents. He estimated that about 21 percent smoke.

The policy bans smokers from lighting up inside units or other buildings owned by the agencies. Those who smoke will be allowed to -- but outside at least 10 feet from a neighbor's door. It goes into effect on March 1.

Jump to full article »

VIDEO: City staff want to expand smoking ban  

City of Eugene staff are asking the City Council to change the current smoking ordinance, which bans smoking within 25 feet of a door or window. They want the ban to include the areas around city buildings that provide services to children, like the library, Amazon Pool and Peterson Barn.

Jump to full article »

No Smoking Outside the Bar, Either 

Although called the indoor clean air act, some local bar owners are catching flak due to people smoking outside their establishments. Apparently, the law's definition of indoors extends 25 feet from any entrance.

Robert Eddington, owner of Murphy's Bar and Grill at 160 S. Main, received a complaint from the Salt Lake Valley Health Department for "letting customers smoke within 25 feet of the door entrance." It was a pretty vexing charge for Eddington, who says the person smoking too close to the bar wasn't actually a patron, but a passer-by.

Despite attempts to modernize Salt Lake City's downtown nightlife, the staff of Murphy's feel they've been stuck with an unfair complaint. For manager Steve Evans, it doesn't help that the bar is so close to Temple Square.

"I think they give us a harder time just because we're so close to Mormon Disneyland ," he says.

Ironically, what attracted the complaint from the Health Department was not the smokers, but an attempt by the bar's staff to prevent cigarette butts from littering the sidewalk. "It seems the complaint was the ashtray, so I threw the ashtray in the dumpster," says Eddington. "Now that they have done their due diligence and saved the city from an ashtray, people can throw their cigarette butts on the sidewalk, in the planter boxes or in the gutter."

Jump to full article »

• Cigarette smoke wafting onto neighbor's patio brings lawsuit 

This is the story of two neighbors and a dispute over secondhand smoke in the Sacramento suburb of El Dorado Hills.

It seems like a minor story, especially with everything that's wrong in California: . . .

In short, the state is a disaster. You'd think with all those problems that a dispute between neighbors over cigarette smoke wouldn't generate much interest but it has garnered more response in the local newspaper than anything the paper has reported in recent memory --and frankly, the Sacramento Bee has been doing a bang-up job uncovering all sorts of graft, waste and corruption in state government. Does this story resonate at the national level? Here's the deal:

A California couple has filed a lawsuit seeking relief from their next-door neighbor's second-hand cigarette smoke.

Richard and Donna Ganguet were the first to move into a gated community for people age 55 and older. That was 2006. Today, they claim the cigar and cigarette smoke wafts into their yard from the property of neighbor has caused an intolerable situation. . . .

The responses --over 600 on the newspaper's website-- are all over the board. . . .

I had a problem a few years ago with heavy smoking neighbors. No amount of pleading would get them to take their smoke somewhere other than directly into my windows.

I fixed the problem by putting an old piece of fish in a bowl, hooking up a small, quiet fan right behind it, and placing the rig right next to the fence. Worked like a charm - inside two days, the neighbors moved their smoking area away from my side and didn't come back to it.

Don't get mad, get even.

What do you think? How do you resolve this problem between two neighbors?

Jump to full article »

Corrie boss defends Street smokers  

Coronation Street's head honcho has defended the soap for having characters who smoke.

Executive producer Kieran Roberts told Radio Times: "While we have a duty not to glamorise the habit, it would be realistic to see nobody smoking - but only a few regulars do."

He added that the smoking ban in 2007 means characters such as Deidre Barlow (Anne Kirkbride) tend to smoke outdoors now, for example in the back yard of the Rovers.

He went on: "Just as in real life, that makes the habit more visible, but it's not actually more prevalent."

Jump to full article »

Push to limit smoking rekindled  

The controversial legislation -- first introduced by Supervisor Chris Daly last year and now being pushed by Supervisor Eric Mar -- would forbid smoking in a slew of new settings, adding to existing bans in bars, restaurants, parks, transit stops and taxicabs.

The bill would expand no-smoking zones to include farmers markets and the outdoor seating areas of restaurants, cafes and coffee shops. Smoking would also be prohibited while waiting in lines at ATMs, theaters, athletic events and concert venues.

Apartment buildings and other multiunit residences would also have new areas with no-smoking signs. Smoking would be prohibited in common areas of apartment buildings, including hallways, elevators, parking lots, lobbies, waiting areas, bathrooms, laundry facilities and recreation areas.

Jump to full article »

Smoking ban debated 

On Oct. 6 the Aldermanic Human Services Committee approved the hospital’s request to ban smoking on the publicly owned sections of Chapel, Orchard and George streets and Sherman Avenue, and sent the request to the full Board of Aldermen, which will vote on it Nov. 5. At the same meeting, Ward 20 Alderman Charles Blango, who chairs the committee, decided to delay action on a similar request by Masjid al-Islam, a neighboring mosque on George Street, until the Board of Aldermen’s Nov. 5 meeting.

“I didn’t want to open up a Pandora’s Box,” Blango said of his decision, citing his reluctance to set a precedent for allowing non-medical, private institutions such as the mosque to restrict smoking on public property. When Ward 23 Alderman Yusuf Shah, who is a member of Masjid al-Islam, submitted in late September the original proposal to ban smoking around the hospital, the proposal banned smoking on the sidewalks around both the hospital and the mosque. In late September, the Board of Aldermen unanimously voted down the proposal because it wanted to hold a public hearing on the issue. The board sent the request to the Human Services Committee for review because it had done so for a similar proposal by Yale-New Haven Hospital earlier this year.

At the committee’s Oct. 6 meeting, a number of aldermen asked Shah why he had included the mosque in the proposal, and Shah said he feared the ban would deter smokers displaced from St. Raphael’s from smoking in front of the mosque.

But Blango introduced an amendment to separate the two areas because people on the committee said they had concerns about legal problems that could arise if the ban were approved, Blango said. Blango also asked to see a legal opinion from an outside expert on any potential legal problems that could arise from the mosque’s request.

The debate about the appropriateness of the city’s efforts to regulate smoking on public property is playing out on streets surrounding St. Raphael’s, where half a dozen employees and patients interviewed expressed mixed feelings about the pending ban.

Jump to full article »

ECM to allow smoking in park  

Administrators at Coffee Health Group have agreed to open the park across the street from Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital emergency room for smokers.

The decision was made during Monday's board meeting and comes in response to complaints by residents who live in homes that border the hospital to the south.

Coffee facilities became smoke free Oct. 1 in response to a Florence city ordinance that bans smoking in all public buildings and on public property. Coffee Health Group includes ECM Hospital and ECM East in Florence and Shoals Hospital in Muscle Shoals.

Bridges Crawford who lives near ECM had complained that smokers were making their way across Alabama Street and up Water Avenue to smoke near homes in Rivermont subdivision.

Jump to full article »

Menlo Park City Council weighs tougher smoking ordinance - 

The City Council may consider a new smoking ordinance as soon as January that could ban lighting up in apartment and condominium buildings.

At a study session last week, council members agreed that the city's existing 16-year-old ordinance needs updating and should likely include more restrictions on smoking. However, most council members said they are not yet ready to go as far as Belmont, where a law banning smoking in multilevel residential buildings went into effect at the beginning of the year.

"I would like to look at that more," Vice Mayor Richard Cline said at the Oct. 27 study session, referring to a total ban on smoking in such buildings. "I think it requires a heck of a lot more work."

Councilwoman Kelly Fergusson, however, said she is ready to support such prohibitions after hearing researchers and community members speak about the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Jump to full article »

LETTER: Smokers ignore ban  

My husband, twin 5-year-old girls and I happened by the Renaissance Faire in Wilson Park and thought since the smoking ban went into effect we might actually get to enjoy some of the activities in the park this time. The last time we ventured out to an event in the park we had to leave with two crying children because of all the smokers mixing in with the crowd. We wrongly assumed that since the law had gone into effect that people might actually observe it and show some consideration for others who might not want to smoke their cigarettes with them. . . .

My children were excited to go and confused when they saw smokers ignoring the ban, and I think it is pretty sad when children comment about people breaking laws and being inconsiderate, and the adults breaking the law apparently don't care about the people around them.

Jump to full article »