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New law exempts churches from 'No Smoking' sign rules 

Churches in Tennessee will no longer have to post "No Smoking" signs at their entrances.

Gov. Phil Bredesen this week signed the exemption for places of worship into law.

The state's indoor smoking ban went into effect in October. The ban applies to most indoor businesses and public places, and requires that the international "No Smoking" symbol be posted at all entrances.

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Rep. McCord caught allowing smoking in state office building 

Local Rep. Joe McCord, R-Maryville, said Tuesday he expects to receive a formal complaint over allowing smoking in his offices and that he will no longer allow the practice. Smoking has been banned in state-owned buildings for several years. Nashville television station WSMV reported Monday that McCord had been allowing people to smoke in a conference room he shared with another representative who has been absent while undergoing treatment for cancer. "I've known that occasionally people smoke in my office," McCord said. "I should have disallowed it, but there will be no more." McCord said some of the staff at his office had been smoking for years, and he had decided not to order them to stop as long as there were no complaints about it. After the TV report, he said he expects to receive a formal complaint and he said he is no longer allowing anyone to smoke in his office.

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Despite ban, Tennessee Rep. Joe McCord admits smoking in his office 

State Rep. Joe McCord acknowledged that he and others have smoked in his legislative office suite, even though smoking is prohibited at the state Capitol.

WSMV-TV in Nashville first reported that smoking was going on in McCord's office and aired a video that showed someone holding a cigarette through a window at the legislative War Memorial Building.

The Maryville Republican told The Knoxville News Sentinel that he and others have smoked in his office but that the practice would cease.

Ashtrays, an air purification system and a sandbag used to seal the space below a door were all used

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• State Responds To Legislature Smoking Report  

On Monday, the I-Team's Jeremy Finley reported how a lawmaker and some other people were breaking the law behind closed doors by using a conference room and an office as an area to smoke, even though state law prohibits smoking in state buildings.

If an establishment allows someone to smoke on or in its premises the state issues a letter, one of which will be sent to Rep. Joe McCord, R-Maryville.

It was in McCord's office at the state Legislature that the I-Team spotted someone smoking.

McCord was among the state lawmakers who voted for the smoking ban a couple of years ago.

"It's hypocritical. It's a double standard, and there's no way to justify it," said Drew Johnson of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

Along with McCord's office, a source also told the I-Team that inside Legislative Plaza, an entire conference room designed for official business had become a room to skirt the smoking law and not get caught. . . .

"Based on your story, we're going to make contact with the appropriate authorities and get assurances that they are going to comply," said Tennessee Department of Labor representative Daniel Bailey.

Following Finley's report, the state will issue McCord a letter telling him to stop allowing smoking in his offices.

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• Area lawmaker admits to smoking in legislative office 

NASHVILLE - State Rep. Joe McCord acknowledged Tuesday that he and others have been illegally smoking in his legislative office suite, as reported by a TV station. But he questioned the tactics used by a reporter in discovering a dozen bottles of legal liquor.

In a report aired Monday night, WSMV-TV said the Maryville Republican had a "room set up for smoking" in the War Memorial Building suite he shares with state Rep. Parkey Strader, R-Knoxville, who has been absent recently while undergoing treatment for cancer.

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Illegal smoking lounge at the state capitol? 

A state legislator from Maryville is taking heat that he is responsible for illegal smoking at the state capitol.

State law prohibits smoking in public buildings, but NBC affiliate WSMV reports folks have been spotted lighting up in a make-shift smoker's lounge of sorts in Rep. Joe McCord's office suite.

WSMV reported that room was equipped with an air filtration device. There were also liquor bottles stacked inside a cabinet there. There is no prohibition against alcohol in the lawmakers' offices.

WSMV reporter Jeremy Finley tried to confront McCord on-camera about the smoking there, and McCord made it clear he was not interested in talking on-camera.

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• State Rep. McCord says he allowed smoking in state office 

State Rep. Joe McCord, R-Maryville, has run afoul of a law prohibiting smoking in state buildings.

McCord acknowledged Tuesday that he and others had been smoking in his legislative office suite in violation of state law.

"The answer is yes," he said. "People have smoked in my office. That started back in January. Some secretaries asked if they could smoke in the office (instead of going out in the cold). I said, 'That's up to you,' I should have told them no. ... It really doesn't matter what I think of it. That's the provision of the law."

McCord confirmed he had smoked, too.

"I have smoked before," he said. "I don't smoke much, but I have smoked before."

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• I-Team: Do Lawmakers Skirt Smoking Law?  

The I-Team has discovered that some state lawmakers may not be abiding by a law meant to affect all Tennessee residents.

Video: I-Team Spots Smokers Inside State Building

Everyone, including the thousands of state workers in Nashville, have to walk outside to specified areas if they should want to smoke.

State law prohibits smoking inside state buildings, but for those who want to skirt the law and know the right people, there's a room upstairs for them. . . .

Finley said McCord's is the only office about which the I-Team received complaints. McCord shares the conference room with Rep. Park M. Strader, R-Knoxville. Strader has been out of the state and Legislature recently for cancer treatment.

It's unclear if there are other offices set up for smoking.

Could McCord or any of the people smoking in the smoking room face repercussions?

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Life: Colleges aim to tame smoking on campus  

Fullerton College passed a ban for students earlier this month, but it's is only the latest among dozens of two-year schools around the country now nixing tobacco on campus. Even one community college in North Carolina - epicenter of the tobacco industry - is in the process of going smoke-free.

"California is leading the nation, definitely," said Kimberlee Homer Vagadori, college project coordinator for the California Youth Advocacy Network. "We have a lot more campuses and a lot more work to be done."

Unsurprisingly, many smokers are skeptical if not downright hostile to the changes.

"People who want to smoke are going to do it anyway," Fullerton College student Melissa Baker, 19, said. . . .

Around the country, other colleges from Maine to New Jersey to Missouri are also becoming smoke-free.

"The tobacco-free campus movement is real and is changing the way community college students, faculty and staff are thinking about a healthy campus environment," said Ty Patterson, vice president of student services at Ozarks Technical Community College in Springfield, Missouri. . . .

The American Cancer Society publishes a how-to guide for campuses that want to prohibit smoking. Among the recommendations: Find students to spearhead the effort. Phase it in slowly. Combine it with stop-smoking programs.

There's a hierarchy of non-smoking campuses. In California, for example, nearly 40 of the 110 community colleges require outdoor smoking to be limited to designated areas.

Other schools ban smoking on the main campus but permit it in parking lots

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Fatal Fire Investigation Continues In Sullivan County  

The investigation continues into a deadly weekend fire that claimed the life of one woman in Sullivan County. . . .

Authorities tell Your Tri-Cities News Source, the woman was a smoker and they believe oxygen lines near the couch fueled the fire.

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Cigarette, medical oxygen may have led to fatal fire in Bloomingdale 

A Kingsport woman was killed early Saturday morning in a fire that an investigator with the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office says was started from a possible combination of a cigarette and medical oxygen.

Judy Fay Winegar, 64, of 188 Bancroft Chapel Road, was found by her son in the kitchen of her mobile home with severe burns to her body. Arson investigators arrived at the scene and discovered the fire started at the couch in the living room where the victim usually slept.

Police were told that the victim did smoke and oxygen lines were found near the couch area

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• State sues Native American company over tobacco sale ($$) 

The state of Tennessee has sued Black Hawk Tobacco Inc. of California over the sale of three cartons of cigarettes.

The cigarettes are produced by Native Americans on the Agua Caliente Reservation in Southern California, according to the company's Web site.

Robert E. Cooper, Tennessee attorney general, filed the lawsuit this month on behalf of Reagan Farr, the state's tax commissioner. The lawsuit asks that Black Hawk Tobacco be fined for the sale of the cartons.

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Bills regulating smoking falter 

Bills to outlaw smoking inside cars and outside hospitals died in a House committee Tuesday with critics contending that they amounted to unwarranted government interference.

State Rep. Richard Floyd sponsored the bill to ban smoking in motor vehicles when children are passengers.

The Chattanooga Republican said he was inspired by a teacher's tales of youngsters arriving at school coughing and with red eyes after riding with smokers.

"They're strapped in and can't help themselves," he said.

But after Floyd's presentation to a subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee, no member of the panel would make the necessary motion for passage of the bill, HB441. That left it dead in the subcommittee, which has now closed for the year.

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Several anti-smoking bills fail in agriculture committees 

A proposal that would prohibit smoking within 25 yards of a hospital was among several that failed in House Agriculture committees and are likely dead for the session.

The measure sponsored by Rep. Johnny Shaw, a Bolivar Democrat, failed 9-6 in the Agriculture Committee on Tuesday, while the others either failed or were taken off notice in an earlier subcommittee.

The companion to Shaw's measure failed in the Senate earlier this month, even though Shaw said it would have been reconsidered had the measure passed committee.

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Several anti-smoking bills fail in Tennessee House Agriculture committees 

A proposal that would prohibit smoking within 25 yards of a hospital was among several that failed in House Agriculture committees and are likely dead for the session.

The measure sponsored by Rep. Johnny Shaw, a Bolivar Democrat, failed 9-6 in the Agriculture Committee on Tuesday, while the others either failed or were taken off notice in an earlier subcommittee.

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