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Lessons Learned from Kanawha County Smoking Ban 

Now, the health department is taking a look back at its success and downfalls. Health Department officials said they've received a lot of positive feedback, but they don't ever expect to have a 100 percent compliance rate.

They've taken 12 business owners to court so far, but all of those cases are still pending. Environmental services director Anita Ray said she wishes they would have educated the public more on the dangers of smoking before they passed the ban. Complaints are still coming in, especially from businesses losing big money.

"I believe we've given it more than a chance, and we have not seen our business come back," said Rich Treslar, executive director of casino operations.

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Lawmakers still support smoking ban 

If officials of Tri-State Racetrack had any hopes for a legislative exemption from a countywide smoking ban, they may already be in the ashes.

Several Kanawha County legislators, Republicans and Democrats alike, defend the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department's smoking ban, which was expanded July 1, 2008, to include bars and gambling parlors, including Tri-State Racetrack in Nitro.

They say the Legislature gave counties the authority to impose such rules, and it would make lawmakers look weak and irresponsible to reconsider the issue or make exceptions.

For several months Tri-State executives have been blaming dwindling revenues on the county's tough new smoking ban. Racetrack officials say the facility should be exempt because state laws define table games as lotteries and the state as the owner of the operations.

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Tri-State hit hard by smoking ban 

After nearly a year, the countywide smoking ban continues to burn revenues at Tri-State Racetrack, says its general manager, Dan Adkins.

Smoking inside the Nitro facility has not been allowed since July 1, 2008, when the Kanawha County Health Department expanded its smoking ban to include bars and gambling parlors.

Since the ban, Adkins said the track has lost between $200,000 and $300,000 a week on slots revenues.

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Ex-WVa. mayor pleads guilty to smuggling tobacco into prison 

Former Mill Creek Mayor Diane Currence will avoid jail time as part of an agreement in which she pleaded guilty to charges of delivering contraband to an inmate at Huttonsville Correctional Center.

Randolph County Magistrate George Riggleman sentenced Currence to a community service program. Both the charges Currence pleaded guilty to are misdemeanors, and other charges have been dropped.

Currence was accused of bringing tobacco and other substances to a prisoner along with her daughter Kathryn and her son Jason.

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EDITORIAL: A wacky way to decide funding 

THE use of tobacco by underage teen-agers is said to be on the rise in West Virginia. If it rises too much, the federal government may reduce the state's funding for prevention efforts under the annual Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grants.

That's federal logic for you. If the need for a program rises, funding for it will be cut.

This would be like reducing aid to the state of California for unemployment compensation because the unemployment rate in California rose to 11.5 percent.

That's illogical.

There is also the problem of how this "data" was collected and what was measured to determine the rate of teen smoking in West Virginia. . . .

While it is good to try to measure the success of government programs, this does not seem to be an ideal way of measuring tobacco use by teens.

Besides, if tobacco use by minors is on the rise in West Virginia, efforts to stop it should be stepped up.

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Juvenile tobacco sales up in W.Va. 

-Rates of tobacco sales to underage customers have been creeping up over the past five years, and state health officials worry that West Virginia could lose millions in federal funding if that trend continues.

"No tobacco is supposed to be sold to kids," said Bruce Adkins, director of West Virginia's Division of Tobacco Prevention. "We know, and West Virginia is an example. We have a fairly high rate of illegal sales to youth."

Random inspections of retailers show that 17.9 percent sold tobacco to minors last year, according to the Fiscal Year 2009 Annual Synar Report for West Virginia. The study is named for former Oklahoma Congressman Michael Synar and federal legislation to ban sales of tobacco products to people younger than 18.

The Fiscal Year 2009 West Virginia data reflected inspections at 458 outlets, of which 82 were found in violation, the study showed.

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W.Va. health officials laud new tobacco law 

A new tobacco control law that requires more disclosure of ingredients, restricts advertising and regulates fruit and candy flavors in products is an essential move toward improving health in West Virginia, state tobacco prevention officials say.

"Tobacco use kills more than 3,800 West Virginians every year, and so many more are ill or sick because of their addiction to nicotine," said Bruce Adkins, director of the state Division of Tobacco Prevention. "This bill is going to help all that." . . .

Adkins and other tobacco prevention officials were supportive of provisions in the new law to limit marketing of tobacco products that might appeal to minors, because they estimate about 4,000 youth each year start using tobacco in the state.

"The legislation is going to give the FDA the power to ban fruit- and candy-flavored cigarettes, which are appealing to first-time smokers," said David Deutsch, manager of the state Division of Tobacco Prevention-Youth Program.

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FACEOFF QUESTION: Should the government require restaurants to ban all smoking?  

By Kent Moreno:

Allow me to cut to the chase. I believe that all restaurants should be smoke free. I also believe that all bars should be smoke free. When it comes to issues of personal choice, within limits, as long as the person is hurting no one but themselves, I have a very strong libertarian streak. . . .

Until someone invents a benign, pleasant smelling tobacco, we are going to have to rely on a smoking ban in restaurants (and hopefully bars) to protect nonsmokers and especially children from the health risks associated with second hand smoke. This may mean some inconvenience for smokers but that's life.

By Stephen Smoot:

I do not smoke cigarettes. I do not like cigarettes. I do not want my children to smoke cigarettes. . . .

The precedent set by granting power to non elected boards is frightening, especially since they have ventured from protecting the public into social engineering. That does not mean that all their authority ought to be removed. We do need to have basic standards for cleanliness set and enforced. However, their authority should be much more strictly delineated or at least half of their members ought to be elected officials of some stripe. Citizens of a free society must question the source of this authority and demand ways to force them to be accountable. Otherwise, what incentive do they have to consider the public? Where does their authority stop?

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Mother Inspires Anti-Tobacco Initiative  

A program to educate local students about the dangers of tobacco was inspired by an Ohio County woman - a 29-year-old mother of five children who is not expected to live much longer.

Ohio Valley Medical Center announced Thursday it will receive a $9,000 grant from the American Cancer Society in support of its effort to warn children in Ohio and Marshall counties of the consequences of smoking.

OVMC is one of 19 recipients of funding in the seven-state region from Georgia to Delaware.

The program is an effort to prevent children from ever smoking . . .

The program was initiated by medical oncologist Nadeem Ikhlaque, who is the physician liaison with the OVMC Cancer Committee.

Ikhlaque decided to organize the effort after treating an Ohio County woman who has been smoking since age 9. He said the woman's lung cancer can be attributed only to her 20 years of smoking.

Ikhlaque said the woman's children likely will become smokers, even though smoking eventually will claim their mother's life.

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One Kanawha County bar celebrates smoking ban, clean air 

Many bar owners are grumbling about Kanawha County's smoking ban, but at least one embraces the idea.

"I have not noticed any losses [in business]," said Bill Smeedy, who has owned and operated The Cold Spot in North Charleston for 35 years.

"I've noticed an increase in people who don't smoke starting to frequent the place," he said

On Thursday, Smeedy helped members of the Kanawha Coalition for Community Health Improvement celebrate the county's Clean Indoor Air Act by giving away West Virginia Power baseball tickets and putting up stickers for the coalition's Eat, Drink and Breathe Easy campaign.

Coalition director Judy Crabtree said the campaign is designed to encourage nonsmokers to go out to local bars and other establishments.

"Our focus is to build patronage," she said. "Now that we have smoke-free [bars], we need to get the information to our nonsmokers."

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Smoking ban bosses bungle 

The ban on smoking has opened a new can of worms in Kanawha County with the request of health authorities for police to escort inspectors on their rounds to check bars for compliance.

But on second sober thought, neither can nor worms are new in this case of prohibition against a commercial product. In the days of old, King Solomon said there was nothing new under the sun.

Today's smoking ban recalls prohibition against the sale of liquor in the country, and even later, prohibition against the sale of liquor by the drink in public and private places in West Virginia.

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WV Tobacco Quitline Calls Up 19%  

According to the West Virginia Division of Tobacco Prevention for the Bureau of Public Health, they've already seen a dramatic increase in the number of smokers calling the quitline.

"This tax has really helped out prompting me to look more towards quitting," says Morgantown resident David Hickman.

Many smokers have thought the same thing as Hickman.

The West Virginia Tobacco Quitline has seen an increase in recent months.

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1 Kanawha County bar celebrates smoking ban, clean air 

he idea.

"I have not noticed any losses [in business]," said Bill Smeedy, who has owned and operated The Cold Spot in North Charleston for 35 years.

"I've noticed an increase in people who don't smoke starting to frequent the place," he said

On Thursday, Smeedy helped members of the Kanawha Coalition for Community Health Improvement celebrate the county's Clean Indoor Air Act by giving away West Virginia Power baseball tickets and putting up stickers for the coalition's Eat, Drink and Breathe Easy campaign.

Coalition director Judy Crabtree said the campaign is designed to encourage nonsmokers to go out to local bars and other establishments.

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Kanawha Health Board Taking Smoking Ban Seriously 

The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department is stepping up it's game when it comes to the Clean Indoor Air Regulation.

During Tuesday's board of health meeting, the board discussed two separate incidents back on April 13 where sanatarians doing rounds were verbally threatened at establishments.

The Executive Director will now seek assistance from both Charleston Police and the Sheriff's Office to be accompanied on evening rounds.

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• Health inspectors checking smoking ban request police escorts 

Kanawha-Charleston health officials want city police or sheriff's deputies to accompany health inspectors on smoking inspections to keep potential conflicts with bar owners or patrons from raging out of control.

Kanawha-Charleston Health Department director Dr. Rahul Gupta told members of the county health board Tuesday that health officials recently stepped up enforcement efforts for the countywide smoking ban by sending health inspectors to bars and other establishments at night and on weekends.

But the change has not been without problems.

Health Department Sanitarian Maryanne Kraynanski told health board members that she and another sanitarian went to 12 different places on the evening of April 13 looking for violations of the smoking ban, and felt unsafe in two of them.

At one bar, she said three people were smoking when she walked in. Although the three left, Kraynanski said the bartender told her to "be careful in the parking lot" when she left.

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