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Smoking Ban a No-Go in Lowndes  

Bar and restaurant owners, not local governments, should decide whether smoking bans should be imposed, a Lowndes County group said today.

That means the Columbus City Council and the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors likely won't adopt a smoking ban like the one approved in the last two years by several North Mississippi towns, including Starkville, Tupelo, Pontotoc, Amory, Aberdeen, Oxford, Mantachie and Ecru.

"If business owners think it will help their business, then they should have the backbone to make their business non-smoking," District 1 Supervisor Harry Sanders said during the meting of the Columbus-Lowndes Intergovernmental Committee.

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Committee Set Up to Enforce Smoking Ban 

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo, has set up a committee to enforce the ban on smoking in public places in the FCT from June 1.

A statement by Mr. Muhammad Hazat, the Chief Press Secretary to the Minister yesterday in Abuja, said the committee would be coordinated by the FCT Social Development Secretariat headed by its Secretary, Mrs. Felicita Banehita-Olajide, with eight members.

According to the statement, the minister said the committee is expected to embark on an aggressive public awareness campaign from May 1, to effectively sensitise the public.

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Local clubs adjusting to smoking ban 

Like counterparts in the bar business, fraternal and veterans club managers say the statewide smoking ban that began a year ago has had varied effects on their business.

"We probably went down initially 60 percent and we're probably still off 40 percent from where we were," said American Veterans Post 21 Canteen Manager Pat Enck.

Bingo tickets are the only things keeping the doors open, he said.

But at American Legion Post 3, Canteen Manager Kelley Zehender said, "We're starting to adjust."

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EDITORIAL: No smoking - a law, not a suggestion 

With too few health department inspectors to keep up with the complaints, bar owners have low odds of actually being fined.

In contrast, there's only one reason why Ohio bar owners should enforce the smoking ban:

It's the law. . . .

Since Ohio's ban, more than 180 restaurants in Northern Kentucky have voluntarily gone smoke-free. Further, the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce supports a smoking ban like that of Ohio.

It's true that, in Ohio, health departments have not been able to keep up with the flood of complaints about violations. Perhaps state officials could use the last of the dwindling funds from the tobacco settlement to pay for more enforcement.

In the meantime, the most responsible step for bar owners is to uniformly obey the law as it now stands, whether they eventually decide to again bring the matter before voters or not.

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Proposed tougher smoking laws have some Richardson businesses worried 

But in the next few months, this taste of Middle Eastern tradition could disappear as Richardson leaders consider a tough new smoking ordinance.

So, too, would people's ability to legally smoke a cigarette while sipping a beer at Main Street Liquid Co., shooting pool at Fox & Hound or knocking down pins at AMF Richardson Lanes.

City Council members will discuss the proposal again Monday night. The earliest a vote on the smoking ordinance could be held is May 12. If passed, it would go into effect 90 days later.

Last week, four of the seven council members said they wanted to cut the list of exempted businesses to just one: tobacco retailers.

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Richland Twp. agrees to ban smoking in parks 

Richland Township supervisors on Monday banned smoking in public parks, but not before some wavering and a philosophical debate on the role of government.

Smoking in Veterans Park and other township open spaces could result in up to a $600 fine under the ban, which was part of a comprehensive set of park rules enacted by a 2-1 vote.

Last week, a majority of supervisors said they supported the smoking ban, which is similar to an ordinance Quakertown adopted in March. But one of the two, Supervisor Rick Orloff, said Monday he was reconsidering his stance in favor of prohibitions only during the summertime, when cigarettes could pose a fire hazard.

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Smoking: Companies to cough up 

"Healthy lifestyles" is to be the health department's key strategic message this year, and as part of its campaign the government is pressing forward with its bill to amend the tobacco products control law.

Parliament's portfolio committee on health will hold two days of hearings this week on Wednesday and Thursday on the new proposals. The bill will strengthen sections of the original act that prohibit advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and the regulation of smoking in public places.

"The bill increases the penalties so that they become a real deterrent," health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said at a media briefing in parliament on Monday. "The fine for the owner of a public place or employer who fails to ensure that there is no smoking in a smoke-free area has been increased from R10 000 to R50 000."

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Smoking ban: Reps willing to deal down  

As key lawmakers haggle over what limits the state should place on public smoking, several local lawmakers say they want a tough ban but would also consider exempting some businesses or clubs to get something passed.

A House-Senate conference committee has been struggling to hammer out a compromise to make Pennsylvania one of at least 30 states with some type of public smoking ban. They will try again in a meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

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State law speeds up UI smoking ban 

The University of Iowa is getting its campus ready to go smoke free sooner than originally planned because of the statewide smoking ban that begins July 1.

"Really what we've done is just accelerated our timeline to be able to address that throughout the next few weeks, months," said Joni Troester, director of UI Wellness and co-chair of the school's Smoking Policy Implementation Committee.

In February, UI President Sally Mason approved recommendations from a task force to ban smoking everywhere on campus by July 1, 2009.

That will now happen one year earlier to fall in line with the statewide ban on smoking in many public places that Gov. Chet Culver signed into law last month.

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Workers prodded to stop smoking 

A year after Ohio banned smoking in most workplaces, many businesses are pursuing a loftier goal -- smoke-free workers.

Getting employees to give up nicotine can help businesses reduce health-care costs and increase productivity.

"The healthier you are, the less ill you are going to be and the less health care you are going to need," said Kathleen Herath, vice president for health and productivity for Nationwide Insurance, which offers smoking-cessation programs for employees and family members.

About 40 percent of companies offer programs to help employees kick the habit

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Finnish study: Genes linked to smoking habit  

Genes could play an important role in determining a person's smoking habit, Finnish researchers reported in a study published on Sunday.

Researchers from Helsinki University came to the conclusion after surveying 9,000 twins and their families, and checking their genetic samples.

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Eger takes the lead with ban smoking  

Aiming to improve the health of its workers, residents and visitors, administrators of Eger Health Care and Rehabilitation Center in November will become the first nursing home in the city to implement a smoke-free campus.

In fact, only 25 eldercare facilities in the country have completely banned smoking for people who live and work there, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation.

"We want our staff, we want our residents, we want our visitors to be as healthy and have the best environment possible," said Jack Pease, president and CEO of Eger Lutheran Homes and Services. "We think it's our job being that we're a healthcare facility."

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MAKHIJANI: Health conscious America junks smoking, embraces fast food 

This is one of the many contradictions of American society: smoking is banned on health grounds in most public places - but not in the outdoors - while no steps are considered necessary to check the burgeoning consumption of junk food that is definitely considered a health hazard.

Thus, you have a situation in which smoking is banned in government offices, restaurants and even hotel rooms - but not in the areas surrounding these places.

So much so that a stern warning, very carefully worded, greets visitors to a swanky beach resort and spa an hours' drive from here.

"Enjoy your non-smoking room", reads the notice in bold capitals, adding: "A $250 cleaning fee will be charged for smoking in this room".

The ban also extends to the various restaurants and party rooms of the hotel.

At the same time, ashtrays are liberally provided in various other parts of the hotel - but outside the building complex. . . .

Wasn't this policy self-defeating in that it was not only failing to prevent people from smoking but also contributing to the pollution of the atmosphere at large?

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LETTER to the Editor: Director clears up allegations of Res. Life seeking campus-wide smoking ban 

After reading your editorial in the April 25 edition, I implore you to correct and clarify the statements made about the Pershing smoking policy. Your editorial asked “someone” to listen to students. In fact, we listened: to the many residents who asked us remedy the situation, which we did and have already been thanked for doing so; . . .

Only after repeated efforts to address the problem through encouragement, education and requests for actual enforcement of the UMHC smoking policy proved ineffective did we decide on this restriction. For clarification, “the administration” for MU and UMHC are NOT the same. The UMHC administration bears responsibility for hospital employees but although under not any duty to do so, Residential Life (which reports to the MU administration) is providing a smoking area in our efforts to be “good neighbors.” Through this policy, we are finding a way to both provide space for our residents who smoke — picnic tables in the courtyard — while still honoring the requests of those students who do not smoke. Lastly, the conspiracy theory about a subversive attempt to pilot a campus-wide smoking ban is inventing news, not reporting it.

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Hollywood's Smoking History - Photos - WTVJ  

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