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• Cigarette Debate Lingers 

And when you live in close quarters, as in Rogers House and other senior housing complexes like it, Abbott said, the habit is hard to ignore.

At Rogers House, secondhand smoke has been cause for tension since at least 2004, when the Lebanon Housing Authority started requiring all new residents to sign a lease that prohibits smoking anywhere in the building.

That restriction also applied to the Housing Authority's other senior residences at Maple Manor and Lebanon Towers. But a handful of smokers have lived in the buildings prior to 2004, before the lease provision was added, and are not subject to the restriction.

Four years later, smoke in the buildings is still a problem, especially for residents who suffer from emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other respiratory ailments. Some residents call secondhand smoke a fact of life, but others, including Abbott, say they would like to see the building become completely smoke-free.

Abbott said smoke settles in the hall and wafts up through the front windows during summer

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