Haunt goes up in smoke

Haunt goes up in smoke
Bob Shields

ONE of my favourite little bars in all the world has sadly been ruined. Yes . . . the smoking ban has claimed another victim.

The Casino Bar at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam holds happy memories for me.

Many a Daily Record adventure or Tartan Army trip began and ended with a beer and smoke at this friendly wee watering hole. But not any more.

Yet another airport has chosen to impose a total ban - while still making fortunes on cigarette sales in its duty free shops.

Yes, smoking stinks. But so does this blatant mix of discrimination and profiteering.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk

Smoking Ban Proves Costly For Ohio Counties

Smoking Ban Proves Costly For Ohio Counties

TOLEDO -- County health departments are running up steep bills in their efforts to stamp out smoke across Ohio.

A year after the state's smoking ban went into effect, some county health departments have found enforcement to be too costly, with at least a dozen local entities turning over inspection and violation duties to the Ohio Department of Health.

Under the law that went into effect last May, local health departments receive 90 percent of fines collected from businesses and individuals. The fines range from $100 to $2,500 and were intended to fund enforcement, but the state has collected a total of just $30,000 from local health departments around the state.

That amount falls far short of easing the financial burden placed on local departments, officials said. The Toledo-Lucas County health department alone has spent $40,000 hunting down violators, while banking just $630 in fines. Costs stem from overtime, mileage and other added expenses.

"It is a (financial) concern, and we've voiced that concern to the state," said Alan Ruffell, the county's director of environmental health.

Officials have received 29,714 violation complaints across Ohio, according to statistics compiled by the state.

In Erie and Ottawa counties, officials hired a part-time contract employee to help lower costs. That position alone costs nearly $16,000 a year, Erie County Health Commissioner Peter Schade said.

Counties struggling to enforce the ban can choose to turn over enforcement to the state with 30 days' notice, said Ohio Department of Health spokesman Kristopher Weiss. But state health officials are working with local departments to make the process more efficient and less costly, he said.

Inspectors should be able to write tickets and hold civil hearings, instead of being forced to navigate cumbersome, paperwork-intensive procedures, said Brad Espen, Wood County's director of environmental health.

Other officials say warning letters and fines should not be sent as certified mail, which is time-consuming and costly.

"You just get buried in it," Espen said. "By the time you collect $100, you've already spent way more than that."
http://www.newsnet5.com

Bill would allow landlords to ban smoking in Calif. rentals

Bill would allow landlords to ban smoking in Calif. rentals
By STEVE LAWRENCE

California apartment complexes could be declared smoke-free zones under legislation that's scheduled to be considered this week by a state Senate committee.

Sen. Alex Padilla says his bill would ensure that owners of rental housing have the option to ban smoking.

"The way the law is (currently) written..., it's not explicit for landlords to declare smoke-free housing units without being sued," he said. "We're trying to make the law a little more clear, a little more explicit."

The bill, scheduled to be heard Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, would allow landlords to ban smoking on all or a portion of their property, including in any building on the site.

Tenants could continue to smoke inside their homes until their pre-smoking ban rental agreements expired. A violation would be considered a breach of the agreement and could lead to eviction.

The bill includes several findings about the health effects of tobacco use, including the fact that an estimated 38,000 Americans die each year because of breathing second-hand smoke.

"We need to recognize the rights of nonsmokers," said Padilla, a Los Angeles Democrat. "We share the same walls, the same ventilation units."

Debra Carlton, a spokeswoman for the California Apartment Association, a landlords' group that supports the bill, says apartment owners can face lawsuits no matter which way they go on the smoking issue.

"Smoking has become a source of conflict between smokers and nonsmokers," she said. "Some owners who have set nonsmoking standards are challenged by smokers who claim they have a right to smoke on their own property.

"At the same time, owners who don't set nonsmoking standards have been sued by tenants."

Padilla's bill takes a middle-of-the-road approach that some health groups think doesn't go far enough. Some advocates for the poor, however, think it goes too far.

It could result in month-to-month renters, many of whom are poor, having as little as 60 days to quit smoking or find new places to live, said Cindi Alvidrez, a legislative assistant with the Western Center on Law and Poverty, which lobbies on behalf of the poor.

"What we don't want to see happen is having low-income families evicted and losing their rent-control protections when other means to prevent or quit smoking haven't been addressed," she said.

Bill Phelps, a spokesman for the Altria Group, owner of Philip Morris USA, said the nation's largest tobacco company has not taken a position on the bill.

California already bans smoking in enclosed workplaces, including restaurants and bars, and near the entrances to state buildings and around children's playgrounds.

A bill signed last year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger bars smoking in motor vehicles carrying children.
http://www.bakersfield.com

LaBeouf smoking charges dismissed

LaBeouf smoking charges dismissed

Shia LaBeouf appears in the next Indiana Jones film with Harrison Ford

Charges against actor Shia LaBeouf for breaking a smoking ban have been dismissed by a Californian judge.

Last month the 21-year-old Transformers star pleaded not guilty to the charge, after a judge issued a $1,000 (£505) warrant for his arrest.

The warrant, which was later dismissed, was put in place when the star failed to appear at a court hearing.

No further details were given of the alleged offence or location. The star's lawyer was not available for comment.

If LaBeouf had been found guilty, he could have faced up to six months in jail.

The actor will next be seen in Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull alongside Harrison Ford.

http://news.bbc.co.uk

Clinton bar owners merge efforts to fight smoking ban

Clinton bar owners merge efforts to fight smoking ban
CLINTON, Iowa — At times it resembled a political rally, a revival meeting and a telethon all rolled into one.

But the theme of Thursday’s meeting of bar owners from across Iowa was clear: If they hope to defeat the state smoking ban, bar owners must pool their resources.

The meeting was hosted by the Clinton Organized Bar and Restaurant Association, or COBRA, but drew about 70 bar owners and patrons from as far away as Fairfield, Keokuk and Blairsburg.

COBRA President Jon Van Roekel said the purpose of the meeting was to merge five to seven separate efforts throughout the state into one organization and raise money to hire an attorney and seek an injunction to stop the state from enforcing the new smoking ban, which goes into effect July 1.

The new law bans smoking in Iowa bars, restaurants and most workplaces, with the exception of casino gaming floors and the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown.

Twyla Peacock, owner of Tillie’s Tap in Keosauqua, seemed to sum up the feeling in the room about the Iowa legislature.

“I have said the F-word more the last few weeks than I have in my entire life,” she said to cheers from the room at the Odeon, a Clinton tavern. “They’re going to drive me out of business, and I’m not going to stand for it.”

Van Roekel said COBRA is merging its efforts with those of Brian Froelich, owner of Fro’s Pub and Grub in Wilton, who is organizing a group called the Iowa Bar Owners Coalition, or IBOC

Froelich said by passing the law, the legislature violated the rights of small business owners and put their businesses in jeopardy. He said he already has heard from some of his customers that they plan to build bars in their basements if they are not allowed to smoke in bars.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m a little scared,” he said.

Van Roekel said if every food and liquor-license holder in the state pledged $200 to the effort, IBOC could raise enough money to fight the issue all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. Van Roekel said he wants the issue to go that far so Iowa’s law can be a test case on the issue.

Bar owners took turns at the microphone, criticizing the law and pledging money to the effort in amounts up to $1,000.

Marty Maynes, owner of The Union in Iowa City, said he has contacted several bar owners in Iowa City and Des Moines, and said organization was the key to defeating the law.

“If we all would have banded together like this from the beginning, this law never would have been passed,” Maynes said.

Kat Barrick, co-owner of the Silver Dollar Supper Club in Blairsburg, said she brought with her the names of 27 other bar owners willing to donate money, and said her bar is accepting donations for a “slush fund” to pay the fines of the bar if its patrons are caught smoking.

Nicole Baker, chairwoman of the Clinton County Republican Committee, also attended the meeting to encourage Iowans to vote out the legislators who voted for the bill.

That message was echoed by Les Shields of Clinton, who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican in 2006 against Rep. Polly Bukta, D-Clinton, who voted in favor of the bill.

Shields said bar owners are smart people who know what is best for their businesses.

“They don’t need government telling them how to run their businesses,” he said.

A meeting for those interested in supporting IBOC’s efforts will be held at 4 p.m. May 4 at the Knights of Columbus hall at 1111 W. 35th St. in Davenport.

Steven Martens can be contacted at (563) 659-2595 or smartens@qctimes.com.
http://www.qctimes.com/

Where Did All the Bingo Players Go?

Where Did All the Bingo Players Go?
By STEPHANIE STROM
In Minnesota, which adopted a statewide ban on smoking in all indoor workplaces in October, revenue from all charity gambling dropped nearly 13 percent in the last quarter of 2007, compared to the same quarter the year before, according to state officials. More than half of the drop — the equivalent of about $100 million annually — was attributed to the new law, they said.

Charlie Lindstrom, who runs the bingo nights at an American Legion post in Fergus Falls, Minn., said some of his former customers now drove to casinos on Indian reservations, where they can puff away, or across the border to Fargo, N.D., where veterans’ organizations are exempt from that state’s smoking ban.

On a good night, Mr. Lindstrom said, bingo at the post used to attract 50 to 75 players. Nowadays it is more like 30 or 40.

“It’s had a profound effect on us here,” Mr. Lindstrom said. “We’ve sponsored several baseball teams here in the past, but we can’t give as much now because the smoking ban has really reduced our revenue.”

Mr. Lindstrom is not alone. Managers of charity bingo games in California, New Jersey, New York and Washington State also say their states’ smoking bans have forced cutbacks in their budgets and in their support for various causes.

Few believe they can cultivate new nonsmoking players. They say smoking goes with bingo like peanut butter with jelly. Michael J. Surwill, bingo chairman at Elks Lodge No. 2501 in Ocean Springs, Miss., estimated that smokers outnumbered nonsmokers three to one at the lodge’s weekly game.

Last year, his bingo game produced $23,000 that supported a shelter for abused women, a drug awareness program and a camp for young cancer survivors, Mr. Surwill said, adding, “I’m sure we wouldn’t raise nearly that much if we banned smoking.”

Veterans’ organizations like the American Legion, fraternal groups like the Shrine and Moose clubs, local drum and bugle corps and churches have long depended on revenue from gambling, though it has been on the decline — and not solely because of smoking. A proliferation of casinos on reservations, changes in state gambling regulations and, now, a faltering economy have all played a role.

Some advocates of smoking bans said the costs of smoking to the state in terms of public health and productivity greatly outweighed the losses to charity. And some argue that the revenues will return in over the long run.

“Around the country,” said State Representative Thomas Huntley, Democrat of Duluth and a chief sponsor of Minnesota’s Freedom to Breathe Act, “whenever places have put in smoking bans, there is a six-month period where there is a drop in business in bars and restaurants, which is where this gambling takes place, and after that, it starts to rebound.”

But bingo managers in states where bans on smoking have been in effect longer say nonsmokers cannot make up for the decline in revenues from smokers. Instead, they say, their industry has undergone a wave of forced consolidation.

“We actually benefited from it, but for the wrong reason — my competition was forced to close,” said Clyde Bock, bingo manager for the Ruth Dykeman Children’s Center in Seattle.

When Washington’s ban on smoking took effect in 2005, Mr. Bock was able to partially enclose a porch where bingo players could still smoke, and he got it approved as a separate facility. “It cost me $8,000, but it protected my customer base,” he said. “Other games weren’t so lucky.”

Still, revenues are down. In 2006, the bingo operation at the children’s center, which then belonged to Big Brothers Big Sisters, generated about $325,000 a year, after expenses, and employed 17 people. A year later, under the auspices of the center, it produced $150,000 and employed 13 people.

“People underestimate the impact smoking bans will have,” Mr. Bock said.

Washington used to be home to 100 bingo halls that raised money for charity. Now there are fewer than 20.

Bret Rios, director of operations for the Blue Devils, a nonprofit drum and bugle corps in Concord, Calif., says his organization, too, has felt the effects. “A lot of people who play bingo like to smoke,” Mr. Rios said

Bingo is the largest source of revenue for the Blue Devils, which operates musical groups that involve more than 500 children each year. In 2005, bingo provided $1.2 million for the organization’s activities, covering more than half its costs.

Mr. Rios said bingo revenues were down about $10,000 a month since Contra Costa County imposed more stringent restrictions on smoking in 2006. Attendance at the nightly games has fallen to about 225 on average, compared to 300 or more before the ban took effect.

The Blue Devils had spent roughly $70,000 to create a specially ventilated separate room for smoking bingo players, which the county ordered closed under its new regulations. The organization replaced it with a covered patio in its parking lot, but smokers are not happy with it, Mr. Rios said.

“You’ve got to get up and down, up and down, to go out and smoke,” said Judy Aiello, 53, who has played bingo at the Blue Devils parlor for about 20 years.

Ms. Aiello said friends who used to play at the Concord center now went to American Indian-owned casinos or bingo parlors in the adjacent county, which has less stringent smoking restrictions than Contra Costa.

Ms. Aiello and other smokers also spoke of tensions between smokers and nonsmokers. Some nonsmoking bingo players have complained that the smell of smoke wafts in from outside, and the Blue Devils group was recently forced to place notices at entrances, reminding smokers that the county forbid them to light up within 20 yards of doorways.

“Why do all the nonsmokers have all the rights and the smokers have none?” said Rhonda Convino, 37, who smokes but has remained loyal to the Blue Devils games.

Mr. Rios said he felt caught between a rock and a hard place.

“I’m not a smoker, and I’m not fond of smoking,” he said. “I wouldn’t go to a place that smelled of smoke and spend a lot of time there. But they’ve gone way too far — you know, they’re even thinking about passing a law that would make it illegal to smoke in your own home.”

Told about that idea, Representative Huntley of Minnesota chuckled. “I don’t think I’ll take that idea up,” he said. “I’m still pulling the knives out of my back from the last time.”

Smoke rebel reveals plan for flats

Smoke rebel reveals plan for flats

By Joe Robinson
THE pub belonging to Blackpool's smoking ban rebel landlord could be gutted to make way for new flats.
An application has been submitted to turn the Happy Scots Bar and Delboy's Sports Bar into 12 two-bedroom flats and five shop buildings.

Owner Hamish Howitt says the development will have a real "wow" factor and contribute to regeneration in the run-down Foxhall area. He plans to open a new pub elsewhere.

But the controversial licensee, who has been convicted of flouting the smoking ban ever since it came into force on July 1 last year, has pledged to continue his fight against legislation.

Mr Howitt, 55, of Park Road, says even if the application is successfully and his two current bars close, he will still challenge the smoking ban at the European Court of Human Rights.

"It won't stop," he said.

"I couldn't start all this and not go through with it and I'm still going to exhaust all legal processes and try to fight the ban all the way to Strasbourg and the European Court of Human Rights.

"I will open another pub and I'm going to call it Smokies.

"The day my battle against the ban is won, I will never serve another pint again.

"I love Blackpool and I believe these flats and shops will help with the regeneration in the area nearby which will benefit everyone."

The project will, if plans are approved, be funded and overseen by Mr Howitt's mother and father-in-law, Peter and Jo Mountain, who will lease the pub back to the Howitt until he can find another premises.

Mr Howitt still faces a number of outstanding charges relating to his defiance of the smoking ban.

He allows customers to smoke in one bar while the other is totally non-smoking, which Mr Howitt says gives his customers the freedom to choose.

As a non-smoker himself, he maintains his stance is a political one and says he has no issue with the courts but claims his conscience will not allow him to send his customers, many of whom are elderly, outside to smoke.

Last week, an appeal against the closure of his bar by Blackpool Council Licensing committee was upheld by Blackpool Magistrates' Court.

Refused

However, in another hearing, the committee refused an application by Howitt to take over as the pub's designated premises supervisor and put his name above the door to prevent his wife Jo from being charged with breaking the ban.

Mrs Howitt is currently the designated premises supervisor for the smoking bar and will soon appear in court to face a number of charges of failing to prevent smoking in a smoke free premises.

A decision on the plans is expected to be made in July.
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/

Landlord fined for flouting smoking ban

Landlord fined for flouting smoking ban
By David Horne

A licensee who admits he flouted the anti-smoking law in his pub and restaurant for nearly two years says he will now toe the line after a big court bill.

Gerry Stonhill was handed fines and costs of £5,765 at Witney Magistrates' Court but revealed this week that a customer has already given him a £500 cheque towards it.

He told the Oxford Mail that he still thought the law was "stupid" and that there were "plenty of others out there who think the same."

Mr Stonhill, owner of The Mason Arms in South Leigh, last week admitted six separate offences brought by West Oxfordshire District Council under the Health Act 2006.

One of the fines was for his own lighting up in a smoke-free area.

"My customers know I think the law is stupid and I have flouted it well and truly for nearly the past two years," said Mr Stonhill.

"But I have had my spanking and I've now had to put a line under it."

The landlord, who has built up a reputation for celebrity customers and some of his own "house rules," was given three separate fines of £500 for failing to prevent smoking in a smoke-free area, along with fines of £200 and £50 for not displaying the correct No Smoking sign, and smoking in a smoke-free area himself.

Council costs of £4,000, covering officer investigation time, were also awarded against him.

Mr Stonhill added: "Only a few days after the case, one of my very good customers came in and wrote me a cheque for £500, which is very nice.

"The whole thing is a bit of a laugh when I think of it. The prosecution had lined up two or three people who had come here to have dinner. I've got the receipts for their bill and they've landed me with this.

"I've always said I am against the law, it's a waste of time, there are much more important things to do. There should be a choice. There's plenty of others out there who think the same.

"Some guy who has been out there digging a trench all day wants to have a pint and a smoke at the end of it. I can't see what's wrong with that."

The 2006 legislation requires that almost all enclosed public places and workplaces are to be kept smoke-free, and carry suitable advice signs. Failure to comply can lead to a fixed penalty notice, or prosecution.

Despite the law being in force for nearly 21 months, Mr Stonhill was the first prosecution brought by local councils in Oxfordshire.

As well as his objection to the smoking laws, Mr Stonhill has also been reported as having unfavourable views about vegetarians, dogs and mobile phones at The Mason Arms.

Barry Norton, leader of the council, said: "I am pleased he now says he is going to abide by the law."
http://www.oxfordmail.net

Landlady first to be fined over smoking ban

Landlady first to be fined over smoking ban

A CARNFORTH landlady has become the first licensee in our district to be fined for failing to prevent smoking in her pub under the new smokefree laws.
But Rozalynd Boyd, licensee of the Queens Hotel, told The Visitor she felt it was "extremely difficult" for licensees to stop customers lighting up.

Rozalynd was fined £100 and ordered to pay a contribution towards costs of £250 at Lancaster Magistrates' Court after she admitted failing to prevent smoking in her pub.

An environmental health officer visited the Queens on February 13 and noticed a woman lighting a cigarette on the premises.

"I pleaded guilty because it was my responsibility, but there were mitigating circumstances and I do think it was unfair," said Rozalynd.

"I was out shopping at the cash and carry and my barmaid had only nipped upstairs when the woman decided to light up. The officer visited while I was out, so we were just unlucky, it was just one of those things.

"For the onus to be entirely on licensees makes it very, very tough. He cautioned the woman but didn't take any of her details.

"If we see people smoking we tell them to leave, but it's very difficult to police these things, especially when it's busy and all hands on deck behind the bar.

"I've got extra bar staff on, we've put in a smoking shelter and put up all the relevant notices. We've done everything we've been asked to do."

The court heard that an anonymous complaint was made to Lancaster City Council's Environmental Health service in January alleging that smoking was taking place in the pub.

A letter was then sent to Mrs Boyd, advising her that a complaint had been made and advising her of her responsibilities under the law.

Following a further allegation that smoking was still taking place on the premises an environmental health officer then visited the Queens.

"The honeymoon period for smoking in public places and workplaces is over," said Coun David Kerr, council cabinet member with responsibility for environmental health.

"The council will be taking enforcement action if further complaints made to the council are found to be justified.

"Smokers themselves can also be served with £50 fixed penalty notices if found smoking in public places, workplaces and work vehicles such as vans and taxis."

The new laws, which came into force on July 1, 2007, made it illegal to smoke in enclosed public places such as pubs and restaurants.

A council spokesperson confirmed that the smoker had not been fined in this instance, because the local authority guidance recommends that enforcement action should initially be taken against the person concerned with the management of a premises.
http://www.thevisitor.co.uk/morecambe-news

Blackburn cafe owner faces new smoking ban charge

Blackburn cafe owner faces new smoking ban charge
By Tom Moseley
THE MANAGER of a Blackburn Shisha cafe has been accused of flouting new anti-smoking laws for a second time.

Muhammed Jaber pleaded not guilty to failing to stop people smoking in the Sahara Cafe on Darwen Street on October 26 and obstructing an enforcement officer.

Last month Mr Jaber, 53, of Arncliffe Avenue, Accrington, pleaded not guilty to similar a charge relating to September 2007, claiming Blackburn with Darwen council was trying to make an example of him.

Council bosses said they "did not take any pleasure in launching court proceedings" but that they were "just doing our job".

The two cases will be heard in separate hearings at Blackburn magistrates court in June.

After the previous case came to court, Mr Jaber insisted nobody had used the traditional Middle Eastern-style pipes in his cafe since smoking in public places became illegal last July.

But he said he the ban had had a devastating effect the ban on trade, with takings plummeting 70 per cent.

Shisha is an ancient Middle Eastern tradition in which fruit-scented tobacco is burnt using coal, passed through an ornate water vessel and inhaled through a hose.

Mr Jaber, who moved to Blackburn 22 years ago from Palestine, said he sold coals, flavoured tobacco or herbal fruit pulp and hired out the water-filtered shisha pipes to punters, but did not allow smoking inside anymore.

He said: "We tried to comply with the law. A lot of our customers come in to buy Shisha and want to smoke it in here but we do not let them.

"The smoking ban has affected everyone, not only me. But this is part of our culture."

Following the ban, campaigners lobbied the government to make an exception to the law - which banned smoking in enclosed public spaces - for Shisha.

But Chris Allen, head of environmental health and trading standards at the council, said: "Shisha smoking is far more dangerous than cigarette smoking. At the end of the day no-one is above the law of the land. All we are doing is enforcing the legal requirements. We don't take any great pleasure in this, we are just doing our job."
http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk

Beijing drops restaurants from proposed smoking ban, state media reports

Beijing drops restaurants from proposed smoking ban, state media reports
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


BEIJING - Beijing has backtracked on a proposed public smoking ban, saying restaurants will no longer be included due to concerns it will hurt their business, a state-run newspaper reported Monday.

Restaurants, bars and Internet cafes will be exempt from a recently announced ban on smoking in public places to start May 1, the China Daily reported.

They will now be asked only to have separate smoking and nonsmoking areas, it said.

"Originally, we wanted restaurants to keep 70 per cent of the areas smoke-free, but owners of Chinese restaurants - both big and small - worried the plan would hurt their business," Zhang Peili, an official with Beijing's municipal government supervising the rule, told the paper.

"It is difficult for us to control smoking in restaurants. It's just part of the culture," he said.

China is home to 350 million smokers - a third of the global total.

Beijing pledged to hold a smoke-free Olympics and last month proposed a smoking ban in government offices, sports venues, hospitals and museums.

Last week, Chinese media reported it would also be extended to elementary, secondary and primary school campuses.

Last October, Beijing banned smoking in the city's 66,000 taxis, threatening drivers with a $29 fine if they are caught.

In 2005, China ratified World Health Organization rules that urged it, within three years, to restrict tobacco advertising and sponsorship, put tougher health warnings on cigarettes and raise tobacco prices and taxes.

It also agreed to curb secondhand smoke, prohibit cigarette sales to minors and clamp down on smuggling of cigarettes.
http://www.thecanadianpress.com

Smoking ban fuels domestic violence'

Smoking ban fuels domestic violence'
By Emilie Bradshaw
The smoking ban is to blame for high levels of domestic violence in some parts of Preston, according to the city's top policeman.
Figures for the last quarter show domestic violence accounts for as much as 40% of violent crime in some suburban areas in the east of Preston including places such as Ribbleton and St Matthews.

The overall average in Preston is 23%.

And one theory is it could be down to a change in people's social drinking habits following last year's smoking ban.

Preston's Chief Supt Peter White said: "We are having reported to us by the licensing trade that the smoking ban is really affecting business in pubs and we know from our patrols in the city centre the pubs don't seem to be as busy.

"We know pubs are closing. A lot of the licensees are quoting the smoking ban and price of alcohol in pubs.

"We also know, relatively speaking, alcohol in supermarkets is very cheap and we also know statistics are showing we have not reduced domestic violence as quickly as the ban has reduced crime in the city centre.

"I don't particularly think it's a leap of faith to suggest one of the reasons crime is going down in the city centre and not going down elsewhere might be people's social drinking habits are changing."

Chief Supt White added: "It would seem sensible that some people will stay at home and drink more because it's cheaper to do it that way.

"That may lead to dispute between partners and therefore domestic violence."

Because domestic violence is often a hidden crime that takes place in the home, police say the increased reporting of incidents could also be seen as positive as the increase may just be that more victims are seeking help.

Chief Insp White said a lot of work was being done to address domestic violence and urged people to come forward and report it.

Director of Preston Women's Refuge, Valerie Wise, said: "It's horrendous that 40% of violent crime cases in some parts of Preston are related to domestic violence.

"I think sometimes people use drink as
an excuse and as far as I'm concerned, there's no excuse.

"If people can't hold their alcohol they shouldn't drink. They know if they have got a problem from that perspective.

"Domestic violence is a deliberate act and so can't be excused by having a drop too much to drink."

In February the Evening Post revealed another leading policeman had blamed the ban for pushing violent crime onto the city's streets.

Insp Steve Evans said a sudden increase in smokers lighting up outside pubs and restaurants since the ban had "provoked" trouble in the city centre.
http://www.lep.co.uk

Campaigners call on MSPs to license tobacco sales

Campaigners call on MSPs to license tobacco sales

ANTI-SMOKING campaign group ASH Scotland has urged MSPs to license all businesses selling cigarettes.
The Scottish Government is currently looking at proposals aimed at reducing the harm done by smoking to people's health, and particularly children.

It has released a study which show that by age 15, half of young people have tried smoking.

A licensing system would see retailers risk losing the right to sell cigarettes if they were caught selling to anyone under 18.

ASH Scotland's chief executive, Sheila Duffy, said: "We must tackle this epidemic head-on. The long-term health effects of childhood smoking are well-known – for example, someone who starts smoking at 15 is five times more likely to get lung cancer than someone who starts smoking at 24, and 15 times more likely than a non-smoker.

"These results show that health education on its own is not enough. ASH Scotland is calling on the Scottish Government to take bold steps to prevent a new generation getting hooked on tobacco.

"We need to see speedy progress towards a positive licensing scheme.

"Our polling shows that 89 per cent of Scots would support this measure."
http://news.scotsman.com

Mayoral candidates tussle over smoking ban

Mayoral candidates tussle over smoking ban
Boris Johnson has been tackled about donations from the tobacco industry
A seemingly straight-forward comment from Tory candidate for Mayor of London Boris Johnson about the smoking ban has started a row about donations to his campaign.

In an online question and answer session for The Sun newspaper yesterday, he was asked: "are you still against the smoking ban in pubs and clubs? If so, what, if anything, do you propose to do about it?"

Mr Johnson replied: "What is the point of having local democracy if we don't leave decisions like this to a local level?

"If I had my way, we would have an online referendum in London about whether to give boroughs back the power to give discretion over smoking to pubs and clubs."

Mr Johnson later issued a clarification, saying that he was expressing his personal view.

"Personally I do not like smoking and believe that pubs and clubs are better places since the ban came in.

"My point was that I believe laws like the smoking ban should have been decided at a local level rather than a national level. It is not within the power of the Mayor to have a referendum, nor will I be lobbying for the power to grant one."

Labour candidate Ken Livingstone, who is seeking a third term in office, said that Mr Johnson has declared he accepted a payment of £5,000 to £10,000 from the Tobacco Association in June 2007, and no politician should be prepared to accept a donation from that industry.

"The smoking ban is one of the biggest contributions to health we have seen in recent years," he said.

"Boris Johnson's position wishing boroughs had the power to overturn the smoking ban shows how hopelessly out of touch he is and unsuitable to the Mayor of a modern, forward looking city like London.

"It is made worse by the fact that it follows a donation from the tobacco lobby.

"London wants a Mayor who understands the importance of the ban on smoking in public places and supports it, not one who in reality opposes it and supports ways of getting round it. Boris Johnson is putting the health of Londoners at risk."

The Livingstone campaign highlighted a Daily Telegraph column written by Mr Johnson in June 2005.

"It is extremely difficult, statistically, to contract a cancer from passive smoking," he wrote.

"Far more difficult than contracting HIV, and no one is going to ban HIV sufferers from having sex."

Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate, Brian Paddick accused his Tory opponent of being either out of touch with the voters or "in the pocket" of the tobacco industry.

"First of all Boris Johnson says that he will overturn the smoking ban," he said.

"How can Londoners trust someone who has received money from the tobacco industry to be objective about the smoking ban? Most Londoners agree with this initiative.

"Then he issues a press release denying that he ever meant what he said. As with his comments on whether or not he snorted cocaine, Johnson continues to drop himself in it and his team have to follow him with a bucket and shovel."

The Mayoral race has been enlivened by personal attacks in recent days, as election day on May 1st approaches.

Yesterday Mr Paddick branded Mr Livingstone a "nasty little man."

"Do you want somebody who is a really nasty little man in the shape of Ken Livingstone, very unpleasant and rather nasty, or somebody who just appears to be somewhat eccentric but otherwise really harmless as an individual, except I wouldn't trust him to run anything for me?" he told the Evening Standard.

In his campaign literature he brands Boris Johnson a "clown."

Speaking to a group of gay supporters last night, Mr Livingstone accused Mr Johnson of "pandering to xenophobia" during his time as a Brussels correspondent for the Daily Telegraph but did not personally attack the Lib Dem candidate.

"I will not try to discourage anyone from voting for Brian Paddick," he said.

"I think a lot of people would say I want to register the fact that a gay man can get hundreds of thousands of people voting for him. But this is not like other elections. There is no such thing as a wasted vote. You get two votes.

"You can register a vote for whatever candidate you want. You then get a second vote, which is to choose between the frontrunners."

Londoners will go to the polls to elect a Mayor and the 25-member London Assembly on May 1st.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk

Citizens react to proposed smoking ban

Citizens react to proposed smoking ban

By MATTHEW STOFF
The Daily Sentinel

Debates across the city have some people fuming and others breathing sighs of relief over a proposed ordinance that would prohibit smoking in local restaurants, bars and other public places.

"I think it (stinks)," said one man who declined to give his name. A two-pack-a-day smoker, he said restaurants and bars are some of the few locations left where smokers could still light up away from home.

Judy Kell supports the ordinance, which she says would make her outings more pleasurable.

"I was a smoker and I have quit. It is nice to be able to go in a place and not smell it," she said.

Fredrick Grahm doesn't smoke, but had strong opinions about keeping the rights of those who do intact.

"I think it's unfair to create such restrictions on people that are hooked on nicotine," he said. "Nicotine is a drug. It's like booze and alcohol. People go in for a beer, and we don't say they should be a certain distance from fumes from alcohol, so why fumes from nicotine? It's crazy. I think it's totally unfair."

Inversely, David Smith said he supports the ordinance because he supports the rights of non-smokers.

"Smoking should be banned in all public places. It should be banned in restaurants as well, and if smokers want to go outside that's fine. But inside, where non-smokers are, smokers' rights end where a non-smoker's nose begins."

The city commissioners, who will vote on the ordinance at their meeting tonight, have fielded a similar range of comments from citizens, opining and inquiring about the issue.

Mayor Roger Van Horn said he's heard only a few remarks against the smoking ban, mostly coming from nightclub and restaurant owners.

"I think by and large, I have heard many more for it than against," he said. Of particular concern to them, Van Horn said, were measures preventing smoking on outdoor patios and seating areas.

Southwest Ward Commissioner Billy Huddleston Jr. said although most of the input he's heard has come from non-smokers supporting the ban, he's also heard criticism of the no outdoor smoking provision. Huddleston said "there's a good possibility" he would make a motion to amend the ordinance to exclude the outdoor areas from the ordinance.

"I hope that we can come up with something so that these kinds of establishments can be allowed to build outdoor facilities," he said. "I'm trying to look out for the non-smoker, the smoker and the businessman."

Travis Morris, representing the Southeast Ward, said he hasn't received any calls from people opposed to the rule.

Northwest Ward Commissioner Don Partin said he's gotten pressure to delay the vote to allow for more debate, but would probably not make such a motion. Other's have merely "voiced concern," he said.

Northeast Ward Commissioner Randy Johnson said he supports the smoking ban, even though he's fielded plenty of calls opposed to it.

"I know the concerns of the people in the restaurant business and the nightclub business. Their concerns are valid — they don't know what's going to happen. (But) There are statistics to prove it does not have an adverse effect on your business," he said. "I can't see this being a bad thing. I'm not changing."

Citizens who have not contacted their elected official will still have an opportunity to be heard. Although Tuesday night's commission agenda does not call for a formal public hearing, Van Horn said he will solicit public comments because "it's the right thing to do."

"We will be listening to as many people — within reason — that want to talk on either side," he said. "One way or another I'd like to see it get decided."
http://www.dailysentinel.com

Phil Johnson: Bugger England!

Phil Johnson: Bugger England!
15 April, 2008

By Phil Johnson

Years ago the good lady and I stayed in Bognor Regis for a few days, sampling sun, sea and sand by day and local pubs by night.

I remembered one particular night was an absolute barrel of fun: yes fun! A pub on a corner full of people, full of laughter, full of music - and full of ashtrays, but nobody seemed to object to the smokers then.

Recently, a reader's comment from a lady named Caroline intrigued me greatly and upon research found that this lady, with her husband Peter, now run that very pub on the corner of Laburnam Grove.

It is called "The Family Tree", but one could say that its branches have been severely lopped. From that heady night of memories comes now another tale, a very different tale, in fact a most woeful tale indeed!

Peter & Caroline kindly spoke to me about their home, their business and most importantly, their life.

They took the pub on nearly two years ago, a thriving business, just as it was some ten years ago when Mr & Mrs J well and truly sampled the delights within. Happiness prevailed. Nearly two years on and happiness has been replaced by gloom and desperation.

How could this happen? They seemed perfectly nice people to talk to, well spoken, polite and knowlegeable about their chosen profession, so why the air of despair?

I was told the following:- "When we started we had one full time staff and four part-timers. Now we are down to one part-timer two nights a week. We used to regularly have up to 150 customers on Friday and Saturday nights, now we are extremely lucky to get 50. We've had tribute bands but to no avail - it was just a waste of money.

"On Sundays we used to have people queueing outside, now, the wind of change blows in when we open the doors! We used to average £500 of a Sunday dinnertime, last week's takings were £45 and we shut at 4pm as there was no point wasting electricity any longer.

"We open every day at noon but we only see stragglers. We now shut at 9pm latest Monday through Thursday because business is that bad. We live here, it is our home, our children's home, our business, our life and we have been badly let down by this government of ours that is supposed to be for the working classes!"


Peter took over from his tearful wife and I could do nothing but apologise profusely for causing her such upset. He continued to explain that takings were now down £3,000 per week, people simply didn't come anymore. They had created a patio for smokers, decking, seats, outside heaters the lot - but they still don't come.

If the smoking law kills the tourist trade off this summer Peter & Caroline will be bankrupt, unemployed and worse still, homeless.

The Chancellor, Mr Darling is without doubt banned from their beleaguered hostelry. Well, as long as it remains open he is!

Have you ever had that awful feeling you shouldn't have made that call? I was distressed; I cannot imagine their state of mind.

It is so sad to see good honest, hard working people destroyed by their own government - a government that promises health, wealth and happiness, a government that is supposed to care for its voters.

From what Peter & Caroline have told me, had they had the freedom to choose they would have used a fraction of the money spent on the outside space to create a smoking room. And they would still have been in a strong business position. They have a 3rd room at the back of their pub which would have been ideal.

George V famously said "bugger Bognor". It would seem from these honest, hard working people that this government has uttered something similar. Except it is not "bugger Bognor" anymore. It's "Bugger the pubs","Bugger the people" and "Bugger England"!
http://www.thepublican.com/story.asp?storycode=59387

The air's clearer but verdict on lighting up law still in a fug

The air's clearer but verdict on lighting up law still in a fug

One year on from the introduction of the smoking ban in Wales and public opinion across our region remains divided
TOMORROW marks the first anniversary of the implementation of the smoking ban in Wales.

The new regulations came into force at 6am on April 2 last year, making it illegal to light-up in any 'enclosed' or 'substantially enclosed' business or public place.

Today, the Leader asks landlords in Wrexham and Flintshire if the ban has hit trade and if it has made a major difference to pub goers in both counties.

According to health experts, the ban has already started to show short-term benefits to the health of the nation and there are expected to be significant long-term benefits.

Jean King is Cancer Research UK's director of tobacco control. Her work within the charity focuses on "trying to reduce the harm caused by tobacco".

She said: "The Government estimates that over one million people have tried to quit since the ban came in.

"There have been notable health benefits, particularly respiratory benefits for bar staff and studies in Scotland and France have shown reductions in acute heart problems since the smoking ban came in there.

"In terms of cancer, it is a long term thing and we would expect to see the benefits over the next decade. The legislation has been a major step in 'de-normalising' smoking.

"This was a real milestone, but it is by no means the end of the story. It is important that we have the support in place to help people give up and also that we make sure that young people don't take up smoking."

The ban has brought about a number of changes and has had an effect on us all.

Anyone caught flouting the ban faces a fixed penalty of £50, which can rise to £200 in cases of prosecution and conviction.

Managers and landlords face a higher penalty of up to £2,500 if they fail to prevent people smoking on their premises.

If you want to have a quick smoke before you embark on a long train journey, for example, you can't – not on the platform at least. Smoking within any train or bus station is against the law.

Up and down the country, small crowds of people gathered outside pubs are now a common sight and a new phenomenon of people smoking and 'flirting' – known as 'smirting' – has developed.

There is no longer the stench of stale tobacco smoke in your local pub and the nation's bar staff and pub-goers can now breathe a little easier.

Some smokers might tell you that the ban has led to them cutting down on the number of cigarettes they smoke and even quitting.

There remain, however, people still critical of the ban. Many blame it
for a fall in business and even the closure of many pubs.

Other establishments, such as clubs and bingo halls, have also reported business being adversely affected by the ban.

Smokers may complain about having to brave all weather conditions if they wish to have a cigarette when on a night out, while, on the other hand, residents leaving near a pub may complain about increased noise because of people smoking outside.

The ban is now part of everyday life and seems to have been accepted by and large.

Wrexham Council, for example, has not had to prosecute anyone under the legislation since it was introduced 12 months ago, nor has it issued any fixed penalties.

There have been 1,061 inspections carried out since April 2007. Six written warnings have been issued for signage, six written warnings to premises for not preventing people smoking and 13 to individuals
smoking.

The council's chief housing and public protection officer, Andy Lewis, said: "Overall we have been very pleased with the positive and responsible approach taken by owners of businesses, the vast majority of whom have complied with the new legislation."

The Evening Leader spoke to landlords and members of the public in Wrexham to get their views on the ban, one year on.

Carl Tunnah, a non-smoker from Wrexham said: "I think that landlords should be given the choice.

"If there is food involved, then fair enough, but if not, then it should be down to the landlord's choice."

Mark Rogers, a smoker from Brynteg, said: "I think it should be up to the landlord to decide.

"If there were smoking and non-smoking pubs, then we would have a choice. The ban hasn't made me cut down."

John Adamson, a smoker from Brymbo, said: "I think it's stupid. We should have had a vote on it, rather than the Government telling us what to do.

"It would be better having a choice – smoking and non-smoking pubs."

Kim Birch, manager at Yales Cafe Bar, connected to Central Station, Wrexham, said: "The owner also owns South Central and I think it has affected takings there and we have noticed that town is quieter.

"People are quite happy to go outside to smoke. Central Station has a smoking area. They put a lot of money into that and I think that helped maintain the number of people coming to the club.

"Obviously it is healthier, but I don't think that it has made that much difference as far as the staff are concerned."

Samantha Voss, supervisor at 1 to 5, Wrexham, said: "There hasn't been an effect on takings. We have a large outdoor area with heaters and also the terrace, which is covered so that people can go outside to smoke, even when it's raining.

"The staff do prefer it since the ban came in. I'm a smoker and I prefer it."

Rachel Povey, landlady at the Seven Stars in Wrexham, said: "We have
noticed a downturn in business ever since the ban came in.

"The cold winter weather hasn't helped. We aren't able to put up a smoking shelter because we are on the road and it is a listed building."

Larry Leadbetter, landlord of the Bridge Inn at Pontblyddyn, near Mold, said: "It's not just the smoking ban affecting business; it's a
combination of five or six things but the smoking ban has stuck the
knife in.

"There's the smoking ban, the rates, the high price of alcohol, the supermarkets selling it cheaper – it's absolutely destroying us.

"The industry is teetering on the brink of collapse. It's very, very sad – we are working for nothing.

"I'm fortunate because I have quite a good community pub but the industry is failing – it's on its knees and the Government is destroying it."

But Simon Baker, landlord of the Ha
lfway House in Connah's Quay, said of the ban: "It hasn't really affected us.

"Our company has provided us with an adequate solution to the problem.
"We've got a parasol with chairs underneath and heaters. We had no problems once the ban was enforced."

Rob Davies, landlord of the Upper Shippe in Bagillt, said: "Over the last year, we have seen a 40 per cent drop in business at least.

"It's not just the smoking ban. On top of that, the Government is trying to close pubs with the duty increase and by not doing anything about the supermarkets."

Tracy Johnson, landlady of the Black Horse Inn in Buckley said: "I would say trade has gone down to about 70 per cent – maybe more.

"People don't want to come out and stand in the cold to have a cigarette.

"Apart from that, you've got the supermarkets selling cheap cases of beer and people are staying at home where they can smoke."
http://www.chesterstandard.co.uk

Smoking OK at Oktoberfest

Smoking OK at Oktoberfest
Due to the Bavarian Cabinet plans announced steps early last week to relax a smoking ban that came into force in January, visitors at the Munich Oktoberfest will be able to smoke cigarettes in the crowded beer tents this year. Under the reprieve, beer tents and those serving wine or used for special functions will be exempted from the smoking ban for 12 months. “From January 1, 2009, the smoking ban will be enforced in the tents,” said Bavarian Prime Minister Guenther Beckstein.
http://www.neurope.eu

Nederland council snuffs smoking ban

Nederland council snuffs smoking ban
By DENNIS KUTAC, The Enterprise

NEDERLAND - Smokers won't have to worry about where they light up in Nederland, but Mayor R.A. "Dick" Nugent said that doesn't mean smoking restrictions can't be brought up at later time.

Advertisement
Nederland council members stubbed out a possible citywide smoking ban in public places in a 4-1 vote Monday.

Nugent said local officials visited with representatives from other cities with smoking bans and studied their ordinances.

Ward 4 Councilman Bert Rogers, who voted in favor of pursuing a ban, said he disagreed with some residents in the community who said it was a case of "big government" stepping in.

Rogers compared the resident-driven smoking ban issue to instances when the city has put up stop signs in neighborhoods at the request of residents to slow traffic and prevent accidents.

He said it's a matter of protecting the public.

Other council members had concerns and agreed that enforcing it would be the main issue.

"It seems like it would be difficult to enforce it. Who do you leave that up to?" said Ward 1 Councilman Robert Sawyer.

City Manager Andre Wimer said enforcement potentially would be the business establishment's responsibility.

"I think the national chains are pretty accustomed to ordinances in other cities that have some type of smoking ban," Wimer said.

"There would be a lot of things to think about though if this issue was pursued."

An unresolved issue is at whom a smoking ban would be directed.

Officials first began to discuss a possible citywide smoking ban in December when a resident, Crystal Foxworth, asked that city consider such an ordinance. Its features would stop smoking anywhere up to 25 feet away from a building's entrance; at football games, parks and other places where children gather; and hotels and motels. She was not at the meeting and could not be reached for comment Monday after the vote.

In January and February, council members welcomed public comments about a smoking ban during the regular meetings from residents of Nederland as well as the surrounding communities.

Wimer said 31 people addressed the council and 10 of them spoke in opposition to it. The remaining 21 spoke in favor of it and of that 21, nine lived outside the Nederland city limits.

Nederland has about a half-dozen dine-in restaurants - most of which are along FM 365, the city's boundary with Port Arthur, according to The Enterprise archives.

Port Arthur city officials also have discussed a ban, but haven't taken any action.

In Beaumont, a ban has been in place since July 2006 and opponents to it mounted an unsuccessful petition drive to put the measure to a local vote, according to The Enterprise archives.

Several restaurants adjusted by building required separate areas or becoming private clubs. During the first year, 23 citations were issued for violations.

Some defunct businesses claim the smoking ban was one factor in their closing either because of a drop in business or the costs to comply with the ban.

Other cities have passed smoking bans of varying degrees across the state, including Alvin, Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Lubbock, New Braunfels, Odessa, Robinson, Schertz and West Lake.
http://www.southeasttexaslive.com

‘Cigs ban stubbed out business at my pub’

‘Cigs ban stubbed out business at my pub’
By Gavin Havery
A LANDLORD is blaming the closure of his village pub on the introduction of the smoking ban last year.

Alan Davision has run the Red Oak, in Lowland Road, Brandon, near Durham, for 13 years.

But he called last orders two weeks ago. He said it was because the Government's decision to outlaw cigarette smoking in bars and clubs.

He said: "I had built a good trade with lots of regulars and used to put on entertainment night, but the smoking ban definitely changed things.
"People do not want to go outside to smoke.

"It is freezing and they are just nipping out for a few drags then coming back in.

"It is not the way people want to spend their night, so they are just not going to pubs as much."

The smoking ban came into force on July 1 last year, making it a criminal offence to smoke in enclosed public places.

Some pubs have created outdoor smoking shelters, but others did not have the space to do so.

Mr Davison predicted that more rural pubs will close.

He said: "It is sad for the trade, but I think a lot more public houses are going to end this way "This is the state of things to come."

Mr Davison has won planning permission to have his pub demolished and plans to sell the land to a housing developer.

Durham City Council has approved the plan.

Councillor John Turnbull is a Durham City and a Brandon Parish councillor but does not sit on the planning committee.

He said: "It is a another loss for the community and we have already lost a working men's club.

"It was a good facility and the pub used to do meals for pensioners, which allowed them to get out of the house.

"It was a place people could go to meet up with friends and enjoy a drink and now they will have to go elsewhere. We've lost one of our few social gathering spots."
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk

Pro-smoking website redirected to 'baccy free zone

Pro-smoking website redirected to 'baccy free zone
DNS attack provokes cacophony of hacking coughs

Hackers attacked the websites of two organisations campaigning against the smoking ban last week, redirecting UK users to the NHS Smokefree site.

The attack, which targeted British organisation Freedom2Choose and Forces International, lasted 11 hours. Freedom2Choose webmaster Steven Cross said the redirect appeared to have been caused by a DNS poisoning attack.

"One hour after the attack we received a phone call about what was happening, but there was not much we could do since it was not our server that had been attacked," he explained.

Freedom2Choose vice chairman Andy Davis said (without apparent irony): "It appears that Freedom2Choose has annoyed someone high up - it seems they don't want the truth to get out."

Both groups claim the smoking bans are based on fraudulent scientific claims about passive smoking. "Five out of six studies show second-hand smoke to be entirely harmless," says Davis.

A spokeswoman for Freedom2Choose told The Register the organisation was funded by members and run by volunteers. It has 85 members who pay £10 to join.

Forces International president Stephanie Stahl said: "To redirect our UK visitors to an anti-smoking website shows that the anti-smoking movement must be very nervous about the information our pro-freedom groups provide. Domain names are sacred on the free-spirited information super highway - we trust that those responsible for this serious violation will be identified and held accountable."

No one has been fingered as the author of the attack but, much to the relief of the tobacco-fanciers, both sites are working now. No matter how healthy the NHS Smokefree site may be, its content will never be as amusing as reading the claims that the smoking ban is a case of "social engineering", or that the ban in NY is "causing all kinds of problems [and] 'bad vibes'".
http://www.theregister.co.uk/

Smoking pub in 'last chance saloon'

Smoking pub in 'last chance saloon'
By Chris Visser and David Coates
A club manager has been told she is in the last chance saloon after becoming one of the first in Preston to be caught flouting anti-smoking laws.
Donna Stevens has been threatened with prosecution if members at Fishwick Ramblers Working Men's Club light up again.

She has been hit with a final warning letter amid threats by council bosses that it is the "final stage before prosecution".

But Ms Stevens, boss of the Mornington Road club, has hit back, saying pubs and members clubs are being crippled by the ban which came into force in July last year.

She said a few members "taking the Mick" in February was to blame for her being hauled before council officials.

The manager said: "A council official came in just as we were sorting the situation out with the members who had been smoking but he was not interested in any explanations and called me for an interview.

"I know the law is the law but my view is that we are a members only club and if people do not like people smoking, they do not have to become a member.

"We are suffering the effects of the ban like everyone else, no-one likes standing outside in the cold during the winter but hopefully that will improve in the summer when the weather gets better."

Preston Council said two people were issued with £50 fixed penalties since the ban – which prohibits smoking in public places – came into force.

A council spokesman said: "On the whole Preston has responded very well to the smoke free legislation with most premises now operating as smoke free. This is reflected in the low level of enforcement notices and fixed penalties which we have had to issue."

A spokesman for South Ribble Council said the authority had issued two fixed penalties and "several warning letters".

She said: "Our emphasis in the first few months has been in contacting and educating employers. Now that's been in position for a few months, we are turning towards enforcement.

"I would expect the number to rise in the next few months unless everybody is being good."

Fylde Council said the authority had "only issued several warnings" while Chorley Council is taking legal action against a non-payment of a fine.

Elspeth Lee, Cancer Research UK's head of tobacco control, said: "The legislation was introduced to protect workers and the public from secondhand smoke. Research shows the health of bar workers has improved dramatically."

Blackpool landlord Hamish Howitt was the first publican in England to be convicted for breaching smoking ban legislation last November.

The Happy Scots Bar owner recently failed to overturn the ruling using human rights law.
http://www.lep.co.uk

Tacklers' club fined over smoking ban breach

Tacklers' club fined over smoking ban breach

A CLUB in Colne is the first licensed premises in Pendle to fall foul of the ban on smoking.
Steward Peter Valentine (54), who has run The Tacklers', in Knowsley Street, for two years, was prosecuted for allowing smoking lock-ins at the club on three weekends in October and November.

He appeared at Reedley Magistrates' Court, where he was fined £315 after being caught by health inspectors allowing customers to light up after hours on November 2nd.

Pendle Council's Executive member for the environment, Coun. John David, said the fine should act as a warning to licensees. "I strongly criticise anyone who ignores public health and the national smoking ban like this," he said.
http://www.pendletoday.co.uk

Courtney Love banned from flight for smoking

Courtney Love banned from flight for smoking
The former Hole singer lit up a cigarette in a Virgin Airways first-class lounge as she and daughter Frances Bean waited for their plane to London.
But as a result, bosses at the unnamed airport decided she couldn't get on the aircraft and the pair had to wait for another flight.

Courtney said: "I had a cigarette in the first-class lounge – like two hits. And they wouldn't let me on the plane with my daughter. They made out I was a terrorist or something. It was embarrassing."

Courtney - the widow of Nirvana rocker Kurt Cobain - is not the first celebrity to get herself in trouble with flying authorities.
http://www.lep.co.uk/

Cig factory jobs to go as smoking ban hits

Cig factory jobs to go as smoking ban hits

UP to 75 jobs are to be axed by a cigarette filter company after bosses revealed turnover has been hit by the smoking ban and a global downturn.
Filtrona Filters, the world's largest independent supplier of cigarette filters is shedding almost 20 per cent of its workforce at Bede Industrial Estate in Jarrow as demand hits an all-time low.

Bosses at the company revealed the news to staff earlier this week, but it is not yet known who will lose their job.

There will now be a 30-day consultation period to decide which positions will go, leaving the 375 staff fearing the worst.

One machine operator, who fears he may be one of those at risk, told the Gazette today: "It's terrible news, but it can't be helped.

"We're not doing as well as we used to, and they don't need such a big work force any more.

"I've got a family to support, and I'm just praying I'm not one of the unlucky ones to lose my job. I don't know what I'd do.

"Morale is not very good at the moment. It's horrible not knowing."

Filtrona Filters, which has 12 branches worldwide, has struggled since the smoking ban was introduced in July last year, and its Richmond branch was forced to close down last year.

The factory makes filter tips for cigarettes, with much of its production being for the export market.

John Scollen, regional director for Europe for Filtrona Filters, said: "We've been experiencing some challenging trading conditions lately, and activity is down.

"The worldwide tobacco industry has been changing at an increasingly rapid pace.

"Increased smoking restrictions and taxation policies have generated declines in cigarette consumption in North America and Western Europe.

"In the meantime, in response to the reduction in volumes, the company is proposing a potential headcount reduction involving up to 75 redundancies across the plant.

"Unfortunately, we need to size the facility for the demand."

A senior union boss said he is "very worried" about job losses at Filtrona, one of the biggest employers in the area.

Tom Brennan, regional secretary of the GMB, said: "Any redundancies hitting the manufacturing sector is a matter of great concern to us.

"It appears the recent smoking legislation and the general downturn in the number of smokers is hitting the company.

"In response to this, Filtrona loo
ks set to move some of its production out of the area.

"But as the major union at the factory, the GMB will be attempting to mitigate any job losses at Filtrona."

Staff were told about the jobs axe this week, and statutory negotiations will be launched as part of the redundancy process.

Mr Brennan added: "At the last count, the factory employed between 350 and 370 people, and that makes it one of the largest employers in the area.

"We will do all we can to help those facing redundancy."

Jarrow MP Stephen Hepburn said: "Filtrona is a well respected local firm, which has provided good jobs and lots of employment to people in the area for many years.
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/

"It is very sad that people are being given their redundancy notices, but I will be working with Tom Brennan at the GMB and Coun Paul Waggott, leader of South Tyneside Council, to try and get something out of the situation."

Town suffers third pub closure

Town suffers third pub closure

The credit crunch and the smoking ban have been blamed for a series of pub closures in a Kent town.

Yates wine bar in Margate’s Cecil Square closed last week after eight years of trade - the third pub in the town to shut in recent months, following The Cottage in the High Street and The Wellington.

The popular chain is the latest victim of dwindling bar sales across the UK brought on by the smoke-free laws and increasing prices – its parent corporation, Laurel Pub Company, sold 293 of its sites to two new firms and put 90 loss-making pubs, including Yates Margate, into administration as a result.

Head of Thanet’s pub chain Thorley Taverns, Frank Thorley, sympathised with the closure and pointed out that Alistair Darling’s new excise duty was having a worse impact than the smoking ban.

He said: “We don’t take any satisfaction from its closure. It’s the loss of a popular and well established pub. Trade is very difficult at this particular time and the smoking ban has had an impact but the excise duty rise, under the present circumstances, is just ridiculous.

“It’s not going to stop binge drinking; very few people binge drink in pubs purely because if we let people get drunk and misbehave, we’d lose our licence.

“It’s off-sales that they should have concentrated on because more and more people are drinking at home.

“As far as the closure of Yates’s though, this is a national problem and is not specific to Margate. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the situation.”
http://kentonline.co.uk/

Dragging on - the struggle to ban smoking in Switzerland

Dragging on - the struggle to ban smoking in Switzerland
Irish Sun
The land of health spas, muesli and mountain air, Switzerland remains one of the last havens for smokers in Europe and there is a powerful restaurant and hotel lobby set on keeping it that way.

However, while the smoker still holds sway in many restaurants and bars across most of the country the non-smoker is breaking out of his corner.

So far laws have been brought in piecemeal regionally. Six out of 26 cantons have introduced laws to curb passive smoking with others planning to follow.

Two have gone for a total ban, Ticino being the first in April 2007, inspired by its neighbour Italy, followed by Geneva where measures come into force July 1.

Smoking is estimated to kill around 1,000 people in Switzerland a year, a fifth of them non-smokers.

Now the federal government is working on countrywide legislation, which would bring it into line with much of Europe. Some 18 European countries have now brought in laws after Ireland set the ball rolling in 2004.

According to government figures for 2007, around a third of Swiss smoke. They cost the economy an estimated 5 billion francs ($4.94 billion) a year in medical bills, absenteeism, invalidity and premature deaths. An extra half a billion is added to that for secondary smokers.

The Federal Public Health Department says most secondary smoking takes place in restaurants and bars. Three out of four non-smokers want a total ban and 40 percent of smokers.

The hotel and restaurant federation, GastroSuisse has challenged that. It represents 20,000 establishments throughout Switzerland and says its own recent survey of 500 people showed 77 percent of people support a smoking area in restaurants.

Director Florian Hew said health fanatics were only too eager to promote the idea that the Swiss were massively against smoking in restaurants and cafes.

He said: 'We defend the freedom for our members to make up their own minds on their policy about smoking.'

Others are opposed to an outright ban. Toni Bortoluzzi, a member of the rightwing Swiss People's Party, says its wrong to ban a legal product.

'The state interferes in private affairs when it defines the rules of tobacco consumption in a privately-owned restaurant or a bar,' he said in an interview.

One bar owner in Berne, a confirmed smoker himself, but who has banned smoking ahead of any government action, said smoking in public places would soon be viewed like smoking on aircraft.

'In a few years we will think it was absurd that we ever allowed smoking in an enclosed space.'

GastroSuisse has lobbied hard for a law allowing all-smoking establishments alongside non-smoking venues so customers can make their own choice. It is something parliament has resisted so far.

But the government appears to be looking for compromises. The employees, it is seeking to protect in the workplace, may yet still be exposed to secondary smoking. The government is currently leaning away from separate non-serviced smoking areas to fully staffed zones in restaurants or bars.

The Federal Public Health Department fears weaker national legislation could be on the cards, which might even cut across stricter cantonal laws.

Such a move would bring Switzerland into conflict with the World Health Organization's anti-smoking convention, ruling out smoking areas completely, which the Swiss have signed but not ratified.

While the restaurant lobby strives to influence federal law, smoking bans are nonetheless gathering momentum. The cantons, spurred on by popular opinion, appear to be pushing the pace and riding roughshod over any opposition.
http://story.irishsun.com

Smoke ban rebel wins pub licence battle

Smoke ban rebel wins pub licence battle

A CONTROVERSIAL Blackpool landlord who has flouted the smoking ban has won a court fight to keep his bar open.
Hamish Howitt had the licence for Delboy's Sports Bar on Rigby Road indefinitely taken away by Blackpool Council's licensing committee in a hearing on November 18 last year.

The bar has stayed open, however, as Mr Howitt sought to appeal the decision.

He was accused of failing two underage test purchases and failing to prove electrical work and an air conditioning unit were safely maintained.

None of the charges related to his defiance of the smoking ban at the bar, for which he has already been convicted twice.

But a deputy district judge yesterday overturned the decision, saying Blackpool Council's submissions in court were "not sufficient" to take away the licence for good.

A delighted Mr Howitt, 56, of Park Road, Blackpool, said: "I think justice has been done today.

"The judge was under so much pressure and I think she thought it out so carefully. She criticised me about some things and I take her point and I will make sure all works are perfect.

"I'm proud of the way I run my pub."

The court had heard evidence from Blackpool council public protection officer Gareth Shaw, who said Mr Howitt had failed to provide evidence that electrical works had been completed to a satisfactory standard.

But Mr Howitt denied those claims, which l
ed to an impromptu site inspection with the judge and legal advisers visiting the bar along with prosecution solicitors to inspect the electrics.

On their return, council solicitor Mr Ben Williams said the court had heard nothing that should alter the decision of the council committee.

But Mr Howitt, defending himself, said: "I swear I would never jeopardise my family or my punters. I love them all."

Deputy district judge Jane Goodwin stated: "I don't find there is sufficient grounds to revoke the licence and I'm going to uphold Mr Howitt's appeal."

Mr Howitt still faces a number of outstanding charges relating to his defiance of the smoking ban.

He maintains that his stance is a political one and says he gives his customers freedom to choose.

Mr Howitt owns another bar, the Happy Scots Bar, adjacent to Delboy's Sports Bar, in which he does not allow customers to smoke.
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/

Roll up for the newest travel trend: smoking tourism

Roll up for the newest travel trend: smoking tourism
Neil Clark The Guardian, Monday April 7 2008
The potential European holiday destinations for diehard British puffers looking to escape the draconian smoking ban - if only for a few days - are dwindling in number.

France, that one-time smoker's paradise, is now off limits. So too are Ireland, Italy, Scandinavia and most of Germany. And from July 1, we can also forget about lighting up in most enclosed public places in the Netherlands.

However, some smoky oases remain. In Belgium, less than two hours away from central London by Eurostar, smoking is still allowed in bars and cafes. Indeed, it is home to several specialist smokers' clubs - including the Tabaco in Hasselt, which holds regular get-togethers for female cigar smokers.

Spain, too, remains smoker-friendly, while soccer-loving smokers planning a trip to Euro 2008 are also in luck: the tournament is being held in two of the least tobaccophobic countries in the continent. In Switzerland, only the canton of Ticino has thus far imposed a ban, while Austria boasts the highest level of public opposition to a smoking ban in the EU. Central and eastern Europe also remains largely unconquered territory.

But "smoking tourism", though in its infancy, is a sector of the industry that seems certain to grow. In Germany, entrepreneur Alexander W Schoppmann is planning "Smokers' International Airways" (Smintair) for those who miss their on-flight nicotine fix. One of the biggest travel agencies in Japan is offering European tours specially designed for smokers. Estonia, meanwhile, offers short breaks for cigar smokers to enjoy their hobby in the comfort of the cigar lounges of Tallinn. It's an initiative that is likely to be followed by other countries that haven't adopted British-style bans.

Pipe-smoking holidays to Poznan? Weekend smoking breaks to Vienna? Forget tax havens: smoke havens could be the next big thing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk

Smoking ban casts pall over tavern atmosphere

Smoking ban casts pall over tavern atmosphere
BY RAY HAGAR • rhagar@rgj.com • April 6, 2008

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Paul Sonner, owner of the Bully's Sports Bar & Grill locations in Northern Nevada, saw that the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act was hurting his business.



The law, approved by Nevada voters in the 2006 general election, banned smoking in most indoor public places except for casino floors and bars that did not serve food.

The law hurt Bully's and many similar businesses, Sonner said. If bars or taverns served food, they could not allow smoking.

So, smoking customers no longer patronized their businesses to have a beer, cigarette and perhaps a hamburger while playing the poker machines and watching sports on a big-screen TV.

"There are a lot of people who went out of business," Sonner said. "We actually laid people off for the first time in our history, and I've been open since 1994."

Other tavern owners tell the same story. Revenues for taverns, bars, grocery stores and drug stores have plummeted since the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act became state law, said Steve Deschamps, general manager and chief financial officer for United Coin Machine Company, a Las Vegas slot route operator with many clients in Northern Nevada.

What's more, the slot play at grocery, convenience and drug stores have dropped 20 percent since the law was passed, Deschamps said.

Some businesses, as Sonner noted, have not been able to hang on. Others, however, have found a way to cope and say they are hoping lawmakers will some day rewrite the law to make it more equitable.

Getting around the law

Sonner, meanwhile, has come up with a unique -- yet expensive -- way to obey the law and get around it at the same time.

Sonner opened three "Smokin' Bully's" locations near his establishments.

So now, if his customers want to eat, drink and smoke, they can order food in the established Bully's, and the food will be served to them in the Smokin' Bully's in take-out containers.

"You can now go in there, and we can deliver food to you," Sonner said about his Smokin' Bully's. "You can sit at the bar, drink, play the slots or play pool and watch the big-screen TV. And you can order food, and we'll deliver it.

"The (Washoe County) Health Department has signed off on it," Sonner said. "We deliver it in a to-go container, and you have to eat out of that but we'll provide the silverware."

The Smokin' Bully's location cost Sonner about $150,000 each, but he plans to build four more in 2008.

Other taverns have thought of similar ways to legally beat the ban, such as making half their taverns non-smoking and the other half smoking and walling off the two sections.

One of the new Smokin' Bully's will take the concepts a step

further.

A new Bully's Bar & Grill on Steamboat Parkway in the RC Willey shopping center will consist of one very long bar with video poker machines. Half of the bar, the Smokin' Bully's side, will be glassed-in and separate. Each side will have its own door and take-out orders will be brought over from the non-smoking to the smoking side on request.

"We want everyone to enjoy the Bully's product, and we have figured out a way to succeed in spite of the restrictions of the Nevada Clan Indoor Air Act," Sonner said.

Critical of the law

Sonner, however, remains highly critical of the law since it treats tavern owners and others who rely on revenue for gaming machines, such as grocery-store and drug-store operators, differently than casino operators.

"It has become such an unfair playing field, and I don't think that was the spirit of the law," Sonner said. "They didn't put anything in the law that would check the economics of this, like how much it affects people. They certainly put the big guys on a different playing field than the small guys."

Although slot revenues for tavern and bar owners have dropped 10 percent to 20

percent, Deschamps said the law went into effect roughly at the time the subprime mortgage crisis triggered a statewide economic slide.

"It is hard to separate the impact of smoking from the impact of an extremely poor performing economy," Deschamps said. "The amount of discretionary income that people have to do gaming has gone down substantially with the mortgage crisis, higher utility bills and higher gas bills."

Yet, Deschamps is reluctant to give firm numbers on the impact of the smoking ban.

"In my mind, I allocate roughly half of the decline to the smoking initiative and half of the decline to the overall economy and lesser discretionary income," he said. "But frankly, that's just a guess."

Time to change the law?

Many tavern owners would like to see the law changed to include no smoking on casino floors. The law allows patrons to eat deli sandwiches or take-out meals in smoking areas of casino floors.

"Having a clean air act that treats all businesses the same would seem to make more sense to us and is similar to what has been put into play in other states," Deschamps said.

"We certainly believe that, in this day and age, that you are not going to repeal the smoking ban. But there seems to be a question of it being more broadly implemented."

Nothing could be done in the 2008 election or 2009 Legislature to change the law, said Michael Hackett, the 2006 election cycle's campaign manager of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act.

"Since it was an initiative that essentially changed the statute, essentially there is a three-year hands-off period," Hackett said.

A provision of the law provides for immediate recourse if tavern owners feel they have been unfairly treated, Hackett said.

"If they feel there is a discrepancy with their business and these gaming revenues are a main source of their overall revenues, there is nothing to prevent them from going to their local government, most likely the city council, and say that we need to tighten these laws," Hackett said. "That was one of the key provisions of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act that allows for local control. If they feel they are at the short end of the stick as far as gaming revenue, then they can take that issue right to their local government and get it straightened out."

Bans hurt casinos

Many states have recently passed laws that ban smoking on casinos floors, such as Illinois, Washington and Colorado.

In Atlantic City, N.J., a compromise law bans smoking on

75 percent of the casino floor. The 25 percent that allows smoking must be segregated from the rest of he casinos, according to the law.

Some Nevada casino operators and resort executives question if a smoking ban on casino floors would be prudent in a state the relies so heavily on the casino industry for jobs and tax revenue.

"If that happened, it would put a lot of people out of work," said Casey Sullivan of the

Tamarack Junction in south Reno.

Consider Colorado, for example:

Since the state extended its indoor smoking ban to its 40 casinos on Jan. 1, casino revenues dropped drastically, according to Denver's Rocky Mountain News.

February statistics show casino revenue dropping to

$57.9 million, down 10.1 percent compared with the same month last year.

In January, proceeds fell to $56.7 million, off 3.6 percent from a year ago.

"We've had an impact from the smoking ban, but we know it's not just smoking," Heather Leigh, spokeswoman for the Ameristar Casino in Black Hawk, told the Rocky Mountain News. "We know part of it is weather. We are 40 minutes from Denver, so it could be gas prices. And people have been talking about recession."

The Casino Queen, a new

$92 million resort which opened last summer on the East St. Louis riverfront in Illinois, had monthly revenues of about $18 million to $17 million before the smoking ban in all public places became law on Jan. 1. Since then, monthly revenues have dropped about $3.5 million a month, according to the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat.

"It's been devastating," casino manager Tom Monaghan told the News-Democrat, saying he worries his customers will go across the river to Missouri casinos where gamblers may smoke.

"It was like flipping a switch, with the new smoking bill," Monaghan told the News-Democrat.

Threat to the state economy?

A smoking ban on casino floors also could devastate Nevada, said Bill Bible, executive director of he Nevada Resort Association.

"In our case, the provision that excepts casinos and casino floors from the smoking provision was crafted by the proponents of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act and that was the lung association, the cancer society and the heart association," Bible said. "Those three entities apparently were concerned about the potential economic impact on casinos in Nevada so they felt it was appropriate that casinos have that exemption."

Nevada's economic engine -- the Las Vegas Strip -- attracts gamblers nationwide and worldwide and a smoking ban on Strip casinos could especially be dangerous for the state's economy, Bible said.

"A lot of our casino business comes from out of state and out of country where people have a tradition of engaging in smoking activities in a variety of venues, including casinos," Bible said. "So those three groups felt it was an appropriate exception of the act."

There is a key difference between casino floors and taverns, grocery stores and convenience stores that makes Nevada's law fair, Bible said.

"I realize that the tavern owners have complained about it as well as the convenience stores and the route. But our (casino) venues are adult venues and are geared toward having adults on casino floors and that is enforced by the (Nevada Gaming) Control Board. Minors can't loiter on the premises, which is certainly different than a grocery store, convenience store and some of these neighborhood bars."
http://news.rgj.com

Pssst! Wanna buy 20 Capstan Full Strength?

Pssst! Wanna buy 20 Capstan Full Strength?

Richard Littlejohn
Goodness knows what Arkwright in Open All Hours would have made of it. You can just imagine Ronnie Barker's stammering shopkeeper spluttering to his hapless assistant Granville: "W-W-What? S- s-sell cigarettes under the c-c-counter?"

But that's exactly what the Government is proposing in its latest assault on smokers.

Dawn Primarolo, Smokefinder General in Labour's monstrous regiment of meddling madwomen, wants all tobacco products taken off display and more prominence given to tobacco replacements such as nicotine patches and chewing gum.

She also plans to remove vending machines from pubs and restaurants.

"It's vital that we get across the message to children that smoking is bad. If that means removing cigarettes from behind the counter, I'm willing to do that."

That's big of you, pet. "Children who smoke are putting their lives at risk and are more likely to die of cancer than people who start smoking later."

Have you noticed how often the health fascists couch their argument in the language of caring?

Thus, if you dare to object, you are automatically accused of being in favour of children dying lingering deaths from lung cancer.

Sell cigarettes under the counter? What would Arkwright say?

There can't be a single schoolchild in Britain who isn't aware of the dangers of smoking. They have it bludgeoned into them almost from the moment they leave the womb.

One of the biggest single factors in people giving up smoking is the constant nagging from their own children, who have just come home from school after spending the afternoon staring at pictures of diseased lungs and sclerotic arteries.

Not to mention lessons in the horrors of "passive smoking" which, as any fule kno, murders millions of unborn bay-bees every year.

Just in case there are any youngsters out there who still think cigarettes are safe, there's a handy reminder that

"SMOKING KILLS" plastered across the front of every packet.

The public smoking ban introduced last year has spawned a whole industry of cessation officers and propagandists.

There's not a wall in any school, shop, factory or office without a statutory "NO SMOKING" sign on it. The anti-smoking nazi who visited my sister-in-law's place of work in Norfolk even insisted on putting one inside a store cupboard, on the grounds that otherwise someone might slip in there for a quick drag.

Even though only around one in five people still smokes, the figures aren't falling fast enough for the health fascists.

These people never stop dreaming up new ways to bully and inconvenience the rest of us. So small shopkeepers will have to behave like purveyors of hardcore pornography when it comes to selling cigarettes.

"Hello, George, I've got that College Girls Go Wild video you ordered. Psst, fancy 20 Silk Cut while you're at it? Or would you like something a little harder, know what I mean?

"I've got some Capstan Full Strength down here somewhere."

I can't see for the life of me why a perfectly legal product can't be sold on open display to consenting adults. The Government hasn't got the courage to ban smoking altogether.

Gordon likes the tax too much. So the battle goes on incrementally.

If they get away with forcing through the furtive sale of Woodbines, where will it end?

There's already an entire branch of government devoted to the eradication of junk food. On that basis, Curly Wurlies, crisps and fizzy drinks will be joining cigarettes under the counter. Booze won't be far behind, either.

McDonald's will have to clean up its act, too. First, it'll have to stop putting pictures of Big Macs in the window, then the sale of burgers and fries to anyone under 21 will be prohibited altogether.

Ministers may not be able to ban Top Gear magazine outright, but I wouldn't put it past someone like Primarolo to insist that it's sold in a plain brown wrapper to appease the polar bear huggers.

And take those magazines aimed at children, which are said to encourage binge drinking and underage sex. They'll have to go.

As for the old-fashioned Open All Hours corner shop, once the sweets and cigarettes and unsuitable comics are swept under the counter, the only thing Arkwright will have left on display will be a couple of packets of Nicorette and a dog-eared copy of Asian Babes on the top shelf.

Curious, too, that the tougher they get on tobacco, the softer they are on drugs. Only yesterday, figures were released which show that the number of cannabis dealers sent to prison is at an all-time low. Fewer than one in four is given a custodial sentence since dope was downgraded.

Next thing you know council officials will be mounting dawn raids on newsagents and tobacconists, accompanied by armed police in riot gear.

Maybe that should be Dawn Raids.

How long before the jails are full of shopkeepers convicted of putting cigarettes on open sale while the local pusher walks free?

G-G-Graaanville!
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/

Gronstal: Smoking ban is up in the air

Gronstal: Smoking ban is up in the air

A top leader in the Iowa Legislature said he can’t predict whether a tougher smoking ban will pass this year, simply because of some unusual dynamics between the two chambers.

But Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, a former smoker, hopes a bill does pass.
“It’s time to stop smoking,” he said.

The issue has reached a tipping point, the Council Bluffs Democrat said.

"I think it’s in fact past the tipping point," he said. "I think if we don’t pass something this year, next year we will come back and pass something much tougher than anything we’re considering this year."

That’s because the mood of the public has shifted dramatically in just the last year, he said, and Iowans are ready to ban smoking in places such as bars and restaurants.

A 10-member panel of lawmakers tasked with hashing out a compromise bill will likely meet on Monday.

Gronstal said it’s likely they’ll come up with a compromise, but he declined to predict what that might look like.

"It’s actually an interesting equation, one you don’t often see in the Legislature," he said. "On the Senate side, the more exceptions you have, the fewer votes you get. On the House side, the more restrictive it is, the fewer votes you get."

So if the compromise bill allows smoking in the state veteran’s home or at casinos, it would lose votes in the Senate, but it would gain votes in the House.

"It really is an interesting dynamic that I’ve not often seen in the Legislature," Gronstal said.

An Iowa Poll taken in February showed that 75 percent of Iowans favored some sort of new state restrictions on smoking in public places. Of those surveyed, 43 percent supported a statewide ban, and 32 percent preferred a state law allowing local governments to decide whether to ban smoking in their communities.


Bills have flip-flopped through the Statehouse this session.

The House on Feb. 19 passed 56-44 a version that banned smoking in bars and restaurants, but allowed smoking in casinos. The Senate on Feb. 27 passed 29-21 a more sweeping version that would ban smoking in all enclosed places of employment, including bars, restaurants and casinos.

The House then voted 59-40 on March 12 on a version that would have allowed smoking in most bars, casinos and some restaurants, but only during those times when those 21 or older are admitted for on-premise drinking. The Senate rejected that.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com

Anti smoking ban landlord given appeal date

Anti smoking ban landlord given appeal date
FORMER Bolton landlord Nick Hogan has been given an appeal date where he will challenge his conviction for allowing customers to smoke.

The rebel publican, who was the licensee of The Swan and Barristers in Bradshawgate, appeared at Bolton Crown Court yesterday.

His appeal will be held on July 23.

advertisementMr Hogan, who now runs The Swan With Two Necks in Chorley, said: "I'm very confident about the appeal. I have three months to prepare and am sure this conviction will be overturned."

He was found guilty of four charges of failing to prevent people from smoking in his pubs following a trial at Bolton Magistrates' Court in January.

He was fined £3,000 - £750 for each conviction - and ordered to pay £7,121 in costs, plus a £15 victim surcharge.
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk

Latvian Smokers win two year reprieve

Latvian Smokers win two year reprieve
RIGA -- The Latvian parliament has rejected an attempt to outlaw smoking while driving, but approved measures that will see lighting up banned in all public catering outlets.

Smokers still have two years to puff away to their hearts’ discontent though, as the new law will not come into force until April 1 2010.

Saeima approved amendments to the Law on Restrictions regarding Sale, Advertising and Use of Tobacco that will make it illegal to smoke except in specifically designated areas. The new rules will even apply in outdoor cafes and beer gardens which will have to create special smokers’ sections if they wish to allow patrons to puff.

The law will also be tightened to prevent tobacco being advertised in the press anywhere except in special publications for the tobacco trade, and publications printed outside the EU.

Billboard advertisements for tobacco products will have to include a health warning no smaller than five percent of the advertisement’s total area.

http://www.baltictimes.com

COUNCIL GET TOUGH ON SMOKERS IGNORING BAN

COUNCIL GET TOUGH ON SMOKERS IGNORING BAN
AROUND 100 one hundred people have been warned for smoking in enclosed areas of Cwmbran Town Centre. The popular shopping centre has large areas which are covered and, as such, are no smoking areas under the ban.

But people are still puffing away there, a year after the all-Wales ban came into force. Now Torfaen Council are aiming to get tough and enforce fines instead of just warnings.

And there is no excuse for smokers to say they did not know. The authority have worked with Cwmbran Town Centre management to make sure 'No Smoking' notices are clearly displayed.

The centre's public address system also makes regular announcements reminding shoppers about the areas that they cannot smoke.

And Environmental Health staff spent Wednesday morning (April 2) warning people still smoking where they shouldn't that they risk getting a £50 fixed penalty notice.

A Torfaen Council spokesman said: "We hope that after a year, members of the public are aware of the law.
"The last year we have taken an advisory role to inform smokers where they can and can't smoke.

"We have only had to serve one fixed penalty notice so far. The next step is to follow up with another visit to Cwmbran Town Centre where we will issue £50 fixed penalty notices.

"We hope that Wednesday's event will spread the message that there are large areas in the town, including the Bus Station area, which are enclosed and where it is illegal to smoke."
http://www.walesandwest.com/

Scottish smoke ban takes toll

Scottish smoke ban takes toll
By Roy Beers

Three hundred and fifity pubs shut in two years since ban began

A total of 350 pubs have closed in Scotland since the smoking ban was introduced two years ago today.

The number, from CGA research, is double the amount predicted by the Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) at the outset.

SLTA chief executive Paul Waterson said: “It confirms what our members have been telling us and what we have seen for ourselves.

“We see the ban as having been great for supermarket drink sales – nothing else.

“The new customers we were promised didn’t arrive, and even the loyal regulars definitely go to the pub less often, and spend less.”

It’s a view shared by licensee James Hughes of Utopia bar in Edinburgh’s Easter Road.


He said: “We’ve seen customers do the obvious - buy drink from supermarkets, where it’s a fraction of the price, and take their cigarettes home where they can do what they like.”

Outspoken opponent of the ban Mary Moriarty, of the Port o’ Leith Bar, said: “Everyone would have accepted a partial ban, but they weren’t having it – so they have ruined perfectly good bars for no good reason whatsoever.”

She added: “It isn’t over. Next they’ll try to stop you smoking outside pubs altogether – it’s already happening.”

The Scottish Beer & Pub Association accepts some recent closures are due at least partly to the effects of the ban.

But chief executive Patrick Browne said: “Things have been tough for some operators, much tougher for some than others, but the vast majority have emerged stronger as a result of the smoking ban and with a much stronger customer offer thanks to developing their food product and diversifying their businesses.”

And Glasgow trade entrepreneur Colin Barr, who this month launched his fifth Republic continental-style beer-with-food venture in the city, said: “The ban was the best thing that ever happened to bars, and in my pubs we saw takings rise 50 per cent almost overnight.”
http://www.thepublican.com

Roy Beers: Ready for round two of the great war on smoking?

Roy Beers: Ready for round two of the great war on smoking?

By Roy Beers

Two years into the Scottish smoking ban – which has now become a British smoking ban – the battle lines are as sharply drawn as ever.

It’s still, take your pick, either the “greatest health reform for a generation” or (my preference) a crude attempt at social engineering which badly backfired.

The choice depends on whether you agree with the views of the since-ousted Labour administration which railroaded the ban into law, or, for example, those of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association.

When the ban came into force on March 26 2006, so we were told, a valiant blow was struck for Scottish health which would deliver incalculable benefits for us all. We’re still waiting.

Former First Minister Jack McConnell’s unilaterally-declared health crusade was announced with considerable bombast after a visit to exactly one smoke-free chain pub in Dublin.

Did he have a sort of Damascene conversion to blanket ban, or was he following orders from Number Ten? Nobody knows what went on in political smoke-free rooms.

Many observers at the time commented that McConnell, frequently criticised as “weak”, had a great political need to be seen to be doing something “strong”.

He needed a stratagem to equal fictional PM Jim Hacker’s defence of the Great British Sausage against the hated Eurosausage – something populist and apparently laudable but unconnected to serious politics.

Even if that were the case (and of course it’s just a cynical theory) he was surely sincere in thinking he was doing the right thing, although as it turned out he gained absolutely no political kudos from the ban in any case.

The legislation was continually trumpeted as a “success” throughout Labour’s doomed 2007 election campaign, which however saw McConnell defeated, losing office to the SNP’s Alex Salmond – a catastrophe for Labour which at a stroke ended half a century of political hegemony in Scotland.

Amid all the sound and fury of the one-sided debate leading up to the ban was the SLTA’s insistence that a partial measure, allowing bars to have indoor smoking areas staff wouldn’t have to enter, would be a fair way of dealing with the situation. However nobody was listening.

Such a compromise solution would have guaranteed bar staff clean air, given everyone free choice, and would in many cases have avoided all the subsequent hoo-ha about who could and couldn’t have a shelter, canopies etc; and, sure as night follows day, the complaints about noise from smokers.

Not every bar could have brought in such measures, of course. Many town and city “trad” bars are single-room operations, often with nothing but the street as an outside area. They were marked for slump or closure from the start.

The ban was bounced through the Scottish Parliament, opposed only by the Tories, and bar operators promptly found themselves playing postcode lottery.

Some councils, for example Dundee, took as negative and unhelpful a stance as possible; others, for example East Ayrshire, bent over backwards to help licensees. Glasgow’s senior civil servant on the case told a packed licensees meeting a shelter couldn’t have a roof (not true), only to have to admit very soon after that she’d got it wrong. It was a good old-fashioned shambles.

As the farce unfolded through a thousand little planning sagas, replete with municipal obfuscation and petty tyranny, operators including Belhaven and Punch pumped money into outdoor areas: independent operators with cash and viable areas did likewise.

Hardly anybody has been fined for smoking or permitting smoking, although, absurdly, innumerable taxi drivers in over-zealous Paisley were spot-fined for smoking in their cabs while awaiting a hire – a classic example of officialdom completely losing the plot.

Walk down pubs-and-restaurants strip Ashton Lane in Glasgow’s West End any busy-ish day of the week, and you’ll see (I’m sad enough to have tried this several times) that every outdoor table now plays host to one or more usually several smokers.

A few of the “luckier” bars in the area have those decked shelter areas you only used to see on holiday, while countless ordinary cafes have sprouted canopies, tables and chairs to hook into a mythical “continental table café culture”, in which we all become jolly boulevardiers.

One journalist, perhaps a little unkindly, described Glasgow these days as “looking like Paris after a nuclear attack” because of this new scruffily-defiant street life.


Meanwhile SLTA chief executive Paul Waterson says he’s convinced hardly anyone has given up smoking – some may have had a shot at it – and that the main effect has been a retreat of the former smoking regulars into each other’s living rooms, where they’re free to enjoy discount supermarket beer with no licensing hours constraints.

The new customers the trade was promised (admittedly by people who had never run the proverbial whelk stall) haven’t arrived, he says. Some did pop down to the pub out of curiosity, or novelty, but they didn’t make a habit of it.

Arguments will continue to rage about the damage done to the trade, and about whether the ban really did any good, but of course there have been winners: the idea that every bar could become a restaurant always seemed a bit daft, but some operators have managed to make a main attraction out of food.

More impressive still, to my mind, are the traditional bars which have no intention of bringing in food in any big way – it’s not the job they want to do – but which have instead got by through offering, say, quality cask ale, or a good selection of malt whiskies, but most particularly just by “being themselves”.

The best publicans have often managed to retain their smoking regulars by being the same old indispensable social forum as always. A sort of “Dunkirk spirit” prevails between landlord and regulars: “the Government” can’t be allowed to close the pub.

Of course it’s also beyond dispute that some bars badly needed to be tackled; it was no longer acceptable to see clouds of smoke drifting over a bar area.

The most common comment now is that your clothes no longer stink after visiting or working in a bar, and of course the ban has meant many people with asthma or other respiratory problems have been able to visit pubs as never before.

But the ban was never about any of these individual benefits. It was always about choosing a high profile easy-mark target through which to exert a form of social control: no thought or consideration was given to any of the cogently-argued alternatives, and the trade was treated with ill-disguised contempt throughout what many declared was a sham consultation.

So far claims about any alleged health benefits of the ban have been sparse. One or two of the more bizarre attempts to talk it up have been laughed out of court. Bar staff are better off, which is great (although this could have been achieved with a partial ban) and children, where allowed in bars, aren’t exposed to fumes.

But in the areas where most smoking happens – say, for example, Shettleston in Glasgow’s East End, with something like 44% adult smokers – it’s hard to see the point of the ban. Very often the local trad boozer has shut, and/or its customers have simply taken the anyway much cheaper option of going home with a carry-out.

The middle class world of licensed bistros inhabited by politicians is reassuringly squeaky clean; but even here we’re told people don’t visit as often, and don’t stay as long.

Food sales help, particularly if they’re inspiring quality wine sales, but it’s a labour-intensive exercise relative to the benefits. Besides, substantial numbers of people still value the concept of “the pub” over the licensed café-bar: they don’t want to sit and watch people eating – they want a “proper bar”, not a restaurant.

But, two years on, surely the dust has settled and we can all get on with our lives?

Unfortunately, not quite. A year or so ago there were a couple of abortive attempts to ban smoking outside pubs – one argument being that customers entering or leaving bars were having to run the gauntlet of clouds of smoke billowing from refugee smokers around the door.

The time wasn’t right for such a move then – its proponents were shooed away - but the argument remains, and it’s not hard to see a future government (Scottish or UK) ratcheting up restrictions in an attempt to be seen to be “doing something” about smoking and health.

They may also come under pressure to “do something” about the wholly foreseeable side-effects caused by the ridiculous, ill-considered legislation in the first place.

Councils tend to be more worried about noise, and under Scotland’s new Licensing Act, with its much greater scope for objecting to licences, it’s all to easy to predict local “bans” on outdoor smoking creeping in by the back door – then being formalised for the whole country in some way, a year or so down the line.

If that does come about the trade from smokers will dry up altogether. Does that mean the concept of the traditional pub, beset by spiralling costs and bureaucracy, would then really be preparing to make its last stand?

That might sound a bit apocalyptic – opponents of the ban are always accused of crying wolf – but pub habits have already undergone major change, and not all of it positive. For a lot of bars, I’m sure, one more shove is all it would take.
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