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Earlier this year, we convened a 15-member committee of students and staff to review UT Arlington's current policy regarding tobacco use on campus and to explore the possibility of advancing a tobacco-free initiative for the University.
Jean Hood, vice president for human resources, chaired the Tobacco-Free Campus Initiative Committee. For almost eight months, the committee conducted a thorough assessment of issues and attitudes related to the use of tobacco products on campus. . . .
In September, the committee issued its findings to the campus community and forwarded its final recommendations to me. After the final report was issued, the committee welcomed additional input and responses from students, faculty, and staff. We received 205 responses.
Having weighed all of the information and input on the matter, I am satisfied that the committee has thoroughly researched and considered this issue. Therefore, I accept and concur with the committee's recommendations to make UT Arlington a tobacco-free campus.
We are not telling anyone they can no longer use tobacco. That was never the intent, and it is not the case. Use of tobacco products is a personal choice. With the new policy, we're simply saying that the use of tobacco on campus will not be permissible and that we will become a tobacco-free campus by August 1, 2011.
Meanwhile, during the next 21 months leading up to August 1, 2011, we will address issues of enforcement. During this time, we also will be more vigilant in enforcing our current policy, which prohibits smoking within 50 feet of any campus building.
The one exception--and this is the only element of the recommendations that I would like to clarify--is that we will allow individuals to use tobacco products in their personal vehicles, provided they do so with the windows closed and properly dispose of waste material. No use of tobacco products will be permitted in University-owned vehicles, regardless of whether they are on campus or off campus.
Additionally, I am pleased to report that the University is offering support for anyone who wishes to stop using tobacco.
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A sharply divided Waco City Council on Tuesday voted to tighten city smoking ordinances after hitting a 3-3 deadlock on a more comprehensive smoking ban.
The council also approved a resolution Tuesday that will remove Dumpster-style bins from alleys and provide those customers with curbside trash collection.
The new smoking ordinance eliminates several exemptions in the current smoking ordinance but preserves exemptions for existing bars as well as restaurants with sealed-off smoking sections. Mayor Virginia DuPuy said she thinks a comprehensive smoke-free ordinance eventually will pass and ban smoking even in those places.
Tobacco Town started carrying the products a few months ago. They come with nicotine and without. Distributors say they're becoming more popular.
"A lot of bars and restaurants are in favor of it actually," said Jim Jinright, an electronic cigarette supplier.
Not all bars are smoke-free, but the trend is heading that direction. The Dallas ban took effect in April.
"I've actually had to stop people a couple of times and say oh no, no, no. There's no smoking in here," said Nicole Strawbridge, a bartender at Al's Hideaway.
Now many smokers have to go outside or find an alternative.
'You're more than welcome to bring your electronic cigarettes in here, feel free to light up, or turn it on or whatever," Strawbridge said.
The assistant director for Dallas City Code Compliance says there's nothing about electronic cigarettes on the books, so they're not prohibited in bars. That could change, because he's asked the City Attorney whether the code should be updated. It's currently under advisement.
It's also important to note opposition from health organizations.
Smoking in public places, places of employment and some outdoor areas will be prohibited here under an ordinance adopted Monday by Palestine City Council. Bars, nightclubs and some other places are exempted from the smoking ban.
The ordinance further makes it unlawful to smoke within 20 feet of outside entrances, operable windows and ventilation systems of enclosed areas where smoking is prohibited.
In an unrelated action, the council extended hours for the sale of mixed beverages to 2 a.m.
The nonsmoking order, passed by a majority of councilmembers with two nay votes, makes employers responsible for providing a smoke-free workplace for employees.
It charges the owner, manager or other persons in control of a public place or a place of employment to post "No Smoking" signs conspicuously at the entrance.
The Texas treasury lost $19.5 million through an investment in the Ponzi scheme run by convicted financial swindler Bernard Madoff.
The money was part of a $224.5 million investment the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Co. had with a Texas-based hedge fund called Austin Capital Safe Harbor. Austin Capital closed in May due to losses it suffered in one of Madoff's scam investment funds.
Comptroller Susan Combs chairs the Treasury Safekeeping Trust, which manages $50 billion in tobacco lawsuit settlement funds, TexPool investments for 2,000 local governments and Treasury Pool for managing state funds.
Combs spokesman R.J. DeSilva said the $19.5 million was written off last December after Austin Capital notified the state the money had been lost when Madoff's Ponzi scheme collapsed. The treasury had been investing with Austin Capital since 2006.
Citing a state law designed to shield businesses from government regulation, a group of bar and restaurant owners is challenging a sweeping city ban on tobacco smoking set to become law Jan. 1.
In a letter to the city's attorney, the Galveston Bar and Tavern Owners Association asked the city to conduct an assessment of how the ordinance would affect its member businesses.
Such an accounting, called a "Takings Impact Assessment," is required under the state's Private Real Property Rights Protection Act, the association argues.
The association wants to negotiate with the city to amend the ordinance, which will prohibit lighting up in bars, restaurants, private clubs and even tobacco shops.
Failing that, the association plans to take its complaint to the Texas attorney general, according to the letter.
But the group has a tough fight ahead trying to prove the ban denies its members economic use of their property, constitutional law experts and observers of legal battles sparked by smoking bans said.
A Dallas woman has filed a lawsuit seeking six figures from a former neighbor and landlord for damage she says was caused by cigarette smoke wafting through adjoining walls of her high-end townhome.
"Smoking is not a right, it's a privilege," said Chris Daniel, a retired nurse. "I'm sorry that people smoke. I think it's foolish, but when it comes into my house and hurts my health and my daughter's health and our belongings, it's a different issue."
The case is being watched by townhouse industry groups across the area.
A manager and attorney for Estancia Townhomes, a 52-building community near Prestonwood Country Club in North Dallas, said it's unlikely the Daniels sustained any smoke damage. There is a solid, two-hour fire wall from the foundation to the roof between each of the homes. . . .
Chris Daniel and her daughter, Cary, say in the lawsuit that a construction defect is allowing smoke to migrate between the units.
After a year of stinging eyes, breathing difficulty and sinus pain, they moved out of Estancia and into the Homewood Suites in Addison. Last week, movers wearing surgical masks loaded trucks with their belongings.
The Daniels said furniture will need to be reupholstered, artwork restored and closets full of clothing dry cleaned. The bills are still piling up.
When the city’s smoking ban took effect three months ago, some bar owners vowed to fight it, saying it would hurt alcohol sales and they would be forced to lay off employees.
That hasn’t happened, many bar owners say, the lawsuit some were considering hasn’t materialized and no citations have been issued for violations.
“People get up and leave the bar a lot but they come back,” said House of Rock owner Casey Lain, who placed a large, outdoor ashtray on the sidewalk after the ban took effect June 15. “I can’t say that we have seen a big change in business though.”
That backs up analyses done by cities that have passed smoking bans for bars, including a Houston study conducted in 2007 that found the bans don’t impact alcohol sales.
The parents of Carter Albrecht, a Dallas musician who was shot to death during a bizarre episode that was allegedly fueled by Chantix side effects, have filed suit against Pfizer, Inc. According to a CBS 11 report, the lawsuit claims Pfizer did not disclose the risks of Chantix or provide adequate warning of possible side effects when Albrecht began taking it in an effort to quit smoking.
Albrecht's death occurred in September 2007, just a week after he began taking Chantix. Shortly after beginning Chantix therapy, Albrecht began complaining of vivid dreams. According to a Dallas Morning News article published after his death, Albrecht had lashed out violently towards his girlfriend on the night he died – something she said had never occurred before. Albrecht’s girlfriend told the Morning News that he seemed confused and terrified, and looked at her as though he did not recognize her. Somehow, Albrecht ended up at the home of a neighbor, banging violently on the back door. A call was made to 911, but before the police arrived the terrified neighbor had fired a warning shot from his rifle, which accidentally hit and killed Albrecht.
In their lawsuit, Albrecht's parents allege that their son's use of Chantix played a "direct and proximate" role in his death. According to the Dallas Observer, the Albrecht's are hoping that by filing the lawsuit, they will "remind Pfizer they have to keep the public informed of the risks associated with this drug."
Albrecht's parents also acknowledge that Pfizer's attorneys will likely make an issue of their son's alcohol use (his blood alcohol level was three times over the legal driving limit) on the night of his death.
(Fortune Small Business) -- Want to plunge into the modern American melting pot? Try the offices of Social Smoke, a hookah manufacturer in Arlington, Texas.
Here a silk Persian rug and a piece of Arabic calligraphy, The 99 Names of Allah, share wall space with a signed photo of a Willie Nelson impersonator. There's a Chinese green tea set in the conference room, and Mom's homemade enchiladas are chilling in the fridge. Abrahim Nadimi, director of sales and marketing, is tapping a bobblehead doll of Dwight from the TV show The Office. "Welcome to the 21st century," he says. No kidding.
Social Smoke is growing gangbusters, and its success says a lot about the new international, cross-cultural landscape of American small business. It is run by Abrahim's father, Sayyid Nadimi, 51, who emigrated from Iran before the 1979 revolution, and his U.S.-born sons.
The Nadimis are tapping into America's deepening love affair with an ancient Middle Eastern tradition: hookah smoking. The company makes "authentic" Iranian and Egyptian hookahs in China, having tried and mostly failed to source them in the Middle East. Yet Sayyid is anxiously watching developments in Iran -- and praying the U.S. government will soon let him sell his product back to his homeland. Social Smoke is one of the largest and fastest-growing suppliers in the international hookah market.
A federal lawsuit has been filed in Dallas on behalf of local musician Carter Albrecht against Pfizer, the maker of the stop-smoking drug Chantix.
Albrecht was shot and killed September 3, 2007 while banging on his neighbor's door. Albrecht had been drinking.
Albrecht's girlfriend, Ryann Rathbone, said he had become increasingly erratic after he started taking Chantix to quit smoking. She said vivid, often frightening dreams were an immediate side effect.
After using the prescription medication for a week, Rathbone said Albrecht began hallucinating, lashing out at her physically and verbally.
A News 8 investigation revealed thousands of similar reports of potentially dangerous psychiatric side effects. Pfizer later added a black box label, warning of serious neuropsychiatric side effects.
The Conroe City Council has adopted a comprehensive smoking ban in nearly all enclosed, public places in the city, including bars, restaurants and parks.
Next month, the council will consider extending the ban to private businesses. It also will discuss whether smoking should be allowed on outdoor patios at restaurants, which is prohibited under the new ordinance passed by the council Wednesday.
"Personally, I would have liked to see a complete smoking ban," said Councilman Jim Gentry. "I really believe in limited government, but I have to do what the people want me to do. I received a lot of correspondence on the issue, and that's what people want me to do." . . .
The only exceptions to the new law are retail tobacco shops, private clubs, theatrical performance or bingo halls that offer separate rooms for non-smokers. Hotels and motels are permitted to designate up to 20 percent of their rooms for smoking, but once that percentage has been set, it may not be increased.
It took three separate votes - not counting one on a separate amendment - Thursday morning for the Conroe City Council to pass an ordinance that bans smoking in all enclosed, public places.
It will go into effect 10 days after the vote, but enforcement will not begin until Jan. 1.
Council members also could approve an amendment that would prohibit smoking in private workplaces. City staff will work on a proposal and must bring it back to the council within 30 days for a vote.
The smoking ordinance has been discussed since Mayor Webb Melder brought up the subject in June. Council members fine-tuned it during Wednesday's workshop. Changes included a complete ban in city parks and within 20 feet of an entrance, operable windows and ventilation systems that feed into enclosed public places.
The ordinance will be effective only within city limits, not its extraterritorial jurisdiction, City Attorney Marcus Winberry said.
For owners of restaurants and bars that will not be permitted to allow smoking indoors, that 20 feet could make the difference in the survival of their business.
The Galveston City Council adopted a comprehensive smoking ban Thursday, forbidding people from lighting up in bars, restaurants, private clubs and tobacco stores.
Council members Karen Mahoney, Elizabeth Beeton and Tarris Woods joined Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas, who championed the ban, in voting for the ordinance. Council members Danny Weber and Susan Fennewald voted against it. Councilwoman Linda Colbert was absent.
The ban will take effect Jan. 1.
The adopted ordinance is more restrictive than the regulations the council previously discussed, a compromise that guaranteed its passage.
Provost Umphrey attorneys Bryan Blevins and John Cowan have recently filed a class action in federal court over light cigarettes.
Earlier this month, the Southeast Texas Record reported on a lawsuit filed in Arkansas alleging that the country's largest tobacco companies have been misleading consumers on the actual nicotine and tar content of their light cigarettes.
Blevins' suit, which was filed July 20 in the Eastern District of Texas, mirrors the Arkansas suit and accuses Philip Morris, Altria Group and Reynolds American of deceiving consumers.
The Provost Umphrey law firm was also involved in the filing of the Arkansas suit.
The proposed class is represented by Jefferson County resident David Charles V. Hanson III, who claims the defendants misled him into believing light cigarettes were less harmful than regular cigarettes.
According to the suit, Hanson started purchasing various brands of cigarettes in the 1950s.