Email
Password
(Forgot Password?)
A state appeals court has rejected a challenge to Gulf Shores' ban on smoking in enclosed public places.
Jennifer Leigh Gann had been convicted of violating the ban by smoking in a bar where she worked in the beach town. She was fined $50.
Gann argued that the law was not intended to protect public health, but to allow the City of Gulf Shores to bully citizens.
Jump to full article »
Investigators seized thousands of counterfeit cigars, many labeled as Swisher Sweets.
Jefferson County sheriff's deputies say they have busted a cigar-counterfeiting ring that flooded the Southeast with look-alike cigars.
The ring, operated by men in Homewood and McCalla, imported hundreds of thousands of cheap and uninspected counterfeit cigars from China and India, repackaged them and distributed them across the region as if they were name brands.
The national and international implications from the criminal enterprise may lead to more charges in many other jurisdictions, authorities said Monday.
"It is hard to imagine the amount of money that has been lost, and just how far-reaching this illegal operation truly is," said Sheriff Mike Hale. . . .
Sheriff's investigators worked with tobacco giants Swisher International and John Middleton Company in the four-month long probe.
Jegil Wilissac Dugger, 30, of McCalla and Faisal Hassan Elnaham, 32, of Homewood are charged with multiple counts of theft of trademark. Bond for both was set at $600,000.
As a result of the tobacco lawsuits, some Republican politicians and tobacco industry lobbyists -- such as now-Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour -- appear to have become implacable foes of the trial lawyers who had frustrated them and their clients. . . .
In Mississippi, the corporate client was big tobacco -- and their chief lobbyist now sits in the Mississippi governor's chair.
The second aspect of the strategy is the politicization of US law enforcement by the Bush administration, . . .
In addition, by targeting Paul Minor, Barbour and his backers ensured a glacial freeze in contributions to Democratic candidates, since other Democratic trial lawyers were afraid of being targeted by the US Attorney's office as well. . . .
That summer, the Mississippi state legislature had begun holding hearings on whether to enact tort reform, the strategy promoted by the tobacco industry to limit settlements to plaintiffs which had been so effectively used by Rove to defeat Democratic judges in both Texas and Alabama and pass pro-corporate legislation.
A few months later, Mississippi newspapers began to print leaked allegations that the FBI had launched an investigation of Paul Minor -- a leading opponent of tort reform . . .
In early 2004, Haley Barbour took office as governor of Mississippi. Almost immediately thereafter, he called a special session of the legislature to ban class action lawsuits and cap damages in almost all tort cases. In 2006, Barbour won a lengthy court battle to completely withdraw funding from an anti-smoking program which had been highly successful in reducing smoking among middle school and high school students.
Big tobacco had finally accomplished its goals through the use of the political machine.
The Senate approved a state public smoking ban Thursday afternoon, but the legislation could have difficulty passing the lower chamber.
The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, bans smoking in most restaurants, stores and sporting areas, while providing exemptions for private homes, most bars and private clubs. Smokers would also be banned from smoking within 10 feet of the doors or windows of an establishment where smoking had been banned.
The House of Representatives had yet to consider a smoking ban by late Monday night ‐ the last day of the legislative session ‐ and the bill appeared unlikely to win approval.
The House was bogged down by filibusters for most of the day, slowing action on bills debated before the smoking measure, which would ban smoking in most restaurants, workplaces and indoor public areas.
Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, sponsored the anti-smoking bill. She has championed similar measures for more than a decade. Figures indicated she would be disappointed if it failed to pass before the midnight end of the session.
Smokers can still light up in inside many public places after the Alabama Legislature adjourned Monday without voting on a proposed smoking ban.
The 2008 legislative session ended at midnight without a final vote on the bill.
The sponsor of a proposed smoking ban said she'll try again next session if legislators don't approve the bill this year.
"It's a very important issue. It affects the lives of all Alabamians. It's a health issue," said Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile.
Former cigarette smoker Gov. Bob Riley said Monday that he would sign into law a broad ban on indoor smoking at workplaces and public places, if the bill were to pass the Legislature next week.
"I think it's a good bill. I really do," Riley said. "I think that anything that we can do to prevent people from smoking is something that we need to continue to do."
Riley used to smoke Winston Lights but said he kicked the habit last summer while on vacation.
The state Senate on April 30 passed Senate Bill 229, which would ban people from smoking cigarettes, cigars or pipes in restaurants, stores, malls, convention halls, theaters, sports arenas and many other public indoor places.
Some hospitals have banned smoking inside a person's own vehicle if it's on hospital property, a step viewed as logical by the anti-smoking movement but repugnant to its critics.
'Many of us see this as the beginning -- and easiest part -- of a growing encroachment of government into people's private lives,' said George Koodray, New Jersey coordinator for the Citizens Freedom Alliance.
While a handful of states ban smoking in cars if there are minors inside, the move by hospitals to prohibit any puffs behind the wheel represents new territory for those seeking a smoke-free environment. . . .
No exact count is kept on which hospitals extend the ban to inside a car or truck, but an Associated Press check of hospitals in Alabama and elsewhere found that a number do.
MONTGOMERY Smoking would be banned in most indoor public places in Alabama under a bill approved by the state Senate on Wednesday.
The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, forbids smoking in restaurants, sporting arenas and many other indoor areas. It also would apply to bars that make at least 20 percent of their money from food sales.
Figures sponsored a 2003 law that prohibited smoking in some public places, but had been unable to win an expansion of the ban until Wednesday.
A plan to ban people from smoking in restaurants, stores, malls and most other public indoor places in Alabama, excluding stand-alone bars, took an early step toward approval Thursday.
The bill also would ban smoking in all indoor workplaces that are used by employees even if the workplaces are not generally open to the public.
The Senate Education Committee voted 7-1 for the bill, which is sponsored by Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile. The full 35-member Senate could vote on it as soon as next week.
With no preliminary debate, the council voted 6-1 to ban smoking in most private businesses. The decision ended 16 months of often heated arguments, including a meeting two weeks ago in which the council rejected the proposal.
"This is an ordinance that was 20 years overdue," said Sabrina Bayer, a Daphne resident who addressed the council before Monday night's vote.
The ordinance, which is expected to go into effect upon publication within two weeks, bans smoking in all Daphne restaurants. It allows smoking in bars, private clubs, tobacco shops and in designated smoking rooms in hotels, city officials said. A hotel can allow smoking in up to 30 percent of its rooms.
A Morgan County judge dismissed a case brought by the owners of three bars who continued to allow smoking after others complied with the city's new smoke-free ordinance.
Circuit Judge Sherrie Paler agreed with the city's attorney yesterday that the bar owners were not harmed by the ordinance and lacked standing to bring the case.
Three city councilmen responsible for Decatur's ban on public smoking said they were sympathetic to the demands of residents angry about it.
But they remain resolved to keep it in place without compromise.
Their statements came after roughly 48 residents and business owners gathered forces Monday, staging a three-hour protest in front of City Hall. Rally participants said they hoped to make the councilmen reconsider.
Representatives said the law is detrimental to local businesses and a violation of their freedoms as Americans.
Changing the smoking habits of Americans has taken four decades and set a precedent for how to handle public health threats.
But the 1964 Surgeon General's report that linked smoking to cancer almost didn't happen, said Dr. Charles A. "Mickey" LeMaistre.
LeMaistre will be in Tuscaloosa this week as part of a weeklong conference on cancer prevention and screenings at the University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences.
He will lead an evening presentation and discussion on "The report that almost did not happen: 'The Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General on Smoking and Health.' "
"What happened at that time politically, medically and ethically is fascinating," said Dr. Eugene Marsh, dean of the UA College of Community Health Sciences. "It was a struggle, and he will also talk about what has happened since then."
LeMaistre is one of two surviving members of the 10-person advisory committee that produced the 1964 report
Business tenants beware.
Decatur's comprehensive smoking ordinance holds tenants responsible for violations and not property owners as does the city's weed, junk and litter ordinance.
That means a judge can fine business owners and employers, regardless of whether they own the building they operate from, up to $500 a day for violating the new ordinance.