Below is a listing of the latest news on legislative issues and anti-smoking movements affecting your personal freedom and rights to enjoy cigars. Get Involved, Learn about the Issues, and Take Action!
Smoking ban may be tried in court
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| May 16th, 2010, 02:11 PM | North Carolina |
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GREENSBORO — Gate City Billiards Country Club has pool tables but no pool, no golf course and no ladies in white gloves nibbling on finger sandwiches. In fact, owner Don Liebes says he aims to have only one thing in common with the country club set: smoking.
“I opened my business a year and a half ago,” Liebes said. “Smoking was a large part of my plan when we opened.”
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You can smoke your butts on the beach, but don't drop them
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| May 14th, 2010, 02:11 PM | North Carolina |
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Although the number of indoor safe havens for smokers has shrunk drastically, one North Carolina city has refrained from creating a new no-smoking area outdoors as well.
On Thursday, the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen declined a proposal to ban smoking on the beach. Instead, the board voted 3-2 to increase the littering fine for discarded cigarette butts from $100 to $250. The decision might seem like a "win some/lose some" outcome for smokers, but it also reflects an unfortunate aspect of some government actions: the tendency to single out socially unpopular activities.
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Wrightsville Beach smoking ban extinguished by aldermen
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| May 13th, 2010, 02:11 PM | North Carolina |
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The Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen voted 3-2 Thursday against banning smoking along the strand. However, a proposal was passed unanimously that raised the fine for littering along the beach, including cigarette butts, to $250.
The town hall was packed with listeners and speakers for the hearing. The ordinance would have made the town the first in the state to prohibit smoking on a beach.
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State won't test workers for smoking
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| May 7th, 2010, 02:11 PM | North Carolina |
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RALEIGH -- Thousands of North Carolina state employees admitted they were smokers and signed up for a higher-priced health coverage under the threat of random testing to see if they were sneaking a butt.
But so many workers opted to admit their vice and stay in the higher-price plan that administrators doubt they'll find many cheaters. Legislators and plan administrators this week dropped plans to test for smokers trying to beat the system.
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Lake Gaston establishment overcomes smoking ban
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| January 7th, 2010, 01:11 PM | North Carolina |
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ROANOKE RAPIDS — Roanoke Valley residents looking to light up while enjoying a drink may have thought the new smoking ban meant those days were behind them. They’re wrong, provided they’re willing to head out to Lake Gaston to enjoy their tobacco.
Roger Bell | The Daily Herald The Lake House in Lake Gaston is Warren County’s only exception to the North Carolina smoking ban. These folding doors and heavy curtains shield the migration of smoke from the bar area to the restaurant area, where smoking is not allowed. The bar area is designated a cigar bar and qualifies for exception to the new law.
The Lake House, owned by Clare Gardner, has qualified for exception under the new law as a cigar bar, which means area residents and visitors can still enjoy their smokes inside the bar area.
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Lawmakers approve state ban on smoking in restaurants, bars
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| May 14th, 2009, 02:33 PM | North Carolina |
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SHELBY, MAY 14 - A statewide smoking ban may clear the air, but it could also clear out the bar at Ham's Restaurant.
Manager Justin Crawley fears that patrons who want a cigarette with their beer will migrate to the private clubs and cigar bars that are exempt from the new law. State legislators on Wednesday approved a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, and the governor has pledged to sign the bill.
"I do know that a lot of customers have expressed displeasure," Crawley said Wednesday night. "They said if the ban was in effect, it would deter them to some extent to come out to the restaurant."
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Second Vote Scheduled In NC Senate For Smoking Ban
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| May 11th, 2009, 02:04 PM | North Carolina |
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RALEIGH, MAY 11 -- It's looking more like the Legislature wants a broad smoking ban in tobacco-growing North Carolina.
The Senate scheduled a second and final vote Monday on a measure that would ban lighting up in all enclosed restaurants and bars.
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State law to snuff smoking
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| May 3rd, 2009, 02:24 PM | North Carolina |
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MAY 3 - A lot of area businesses aren't aware that a smoking ban taking effect soon applies to them, says Stephen Huerta, project coordinator for Scotts Bluff County Tobacco Free Collaborative.
“A lot of businesses have been in the dark about the smoking ban because education efforts focused on bars and restaurants,” Huerta said.
The Nebraska Clean Indoor Act will take effect on June 1. The act prohibits smoking in public places and places of employment. To educate business owners and managers about the ban, Scotts Bluff County Tobacco Free Collaborative hosted a forum about two weeks ago. Starting Monday, Scotts Bluff County Tobacco Free Collaborative and the Scotts Bluff County Health Department will start a door-to-door campaign to visit with an estimated 400 to 600 businesses.
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Democrats delay smoking-ban bill to firm up votes
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| May 1st, 2009, 03:17 PM | North Carolina |
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RALEIGH, MAY 1 - Democrats in the N.C. Senate postponed a vote yesterday on a statewide smoking ban because they were unsure if it would pass.
"It was just getting too close a call for us to take a chance on losing the bill," said state Sen. William Purcell, D-Scotland and a major supporter of the bill.
The bill would outlaw smoking in restaurants, bars and virtually all indoor workplaces in North Carolina.
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Smoking ban on to Senate
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| April 7th, 2009, 06:11 AM | North Carolina |
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APR 7 - The N.C. Legislature moved one step closer to protecting the health of all its citizens when it passed a bill that would ban secondhand smoke from restaurants and other businesses where minors are present, but which gives bars the option to allow customers to smoke, according to an Associated Press report.
The measure passed the state House 72-45. It is on its way to the state Senate where our senator, John Snow (D-Murphy), is one of the co-sponsors.
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Restaurants Balking At Amendment To No-Smoking Bill
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| April 6th, 2009, 10:21 AM | North Carolina |
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RALEIGH, N.C., APR 6 - A new twist in the bill to ban smoking in public places has some business owners upset.
The measure is designed to protect the health of everyone, including employees at places like restaurants.
Now, though, there's an amendment that has been added to allow smoking in bars if all the patrons are 18 years old and up.
Some businesses might like to have the freedom of choice in certain situations, but at a news conference Monday, a group of Raleigh restaurants said this is not one of those times.
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House passes ban on smoking
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| April 3rd, 2009, 10:08 AM | North Carolina |
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RALEIGH, APR 3 -- The state House adopted a ban Thursday on smoking in most North Carolina workplaces and restaurants. Bars, though, were not included in the ban.
That exception has created a potentially powerful enemy in the state's restaurant industry, which vowed to fight the ban. Restaurants fear that patrons will choose to grab some bar food and enjoy a cigarette rather than visit a restaurant and go without a smoke.
"It's pretty clear. We now strongly oppose the bill," said Paul Stone, president and CEO of the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association. "It creates a significant amount of unfairness. There are plenty of family-friendly places that also have active bars later at night."
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N.C. House poised to pass smoking ban
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| April 2nd, 2009, 02:08 PM | North Carolina |
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RALEIGH, APR 2 -- The House voted Wednesday to outlaw smoking in most workplaces and restaurants in North Carolina, a move the ban's champion called a historic moment for a state built on tobacco.
The bill, which still requires one more vote before it can clear the House, was less stringent than the original proposal, which sought a sweeping ban of nearly all public smoking. The current version would exempt most bars, and it is not clear what effect that exemption would have on the bill's chances.
The state's restaurant industry may decide to withdraw its support for the ban for fear that it would give bars a competitive advantage over restaurants. The Senate, which will take up the issue next, could roll back the exemption or change the bill in other ways.
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N.C. lawmakers may ban smoking
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| March 25th, 2009, 11:29 AM | North Carolina |
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MAR 25 - A panel of N.C. lawmakers has approved a measure banning smoking in bars, workplaces and other public locations after deciding police officers should issue citations to smokers who refuse to stub out their butts.
The measure approved by a House judiciary committee on Tuesday had initially said only a local health department official could cite smokers who ignore a request to put out a cigarette. The infraction includes a fine of up to $50.
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Sen. Kay Hagan Faces Tough Choices as a Tobacco State Democrat
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| March 6th, 2009, 08:13 PM | North Carolina |
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MAR 6 - Kay Hagan is the new senator from North Carolina who famously sent Elizabeth Dole packing. But winning an election is one thing—and balancing your state's interests against the nation's is entirely another.
Thus, the 55-year-old Democrat seemed tied in knots just weeks into office. At issue: a $32 billion measure to grant healthcare coverage to millions of poor children.
Hagan saw a glaring downside. Uncle Sam planned to hike the cigarette tax by 62 cents a pack—a rise of $6.20 a carton—to fund and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program. "Outrageous," she fumed. "In these tough economic times, I don't want to do something to hurt the industry in North Carolina."
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NC House approves bill banning smoking in public places across country's top tobacco state
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| March 3rd, 2009, 11:13 AM | North Carolina |
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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP), MAR 3 - A bill to ban public smoking in the largest tobacco-growing state passed a North Carolina legislative committee Tuesday with bipartisan agreement that cigarette smoke harms health, though some Republicans chafed at what they saw as government meddling.
When a clear majority of North Carolina residents and lawmakers agree with scientific studies that secondhand smoking harms health, the Legislature is obliged to outlaw smoking in the workplace, said Rep. Wil Neumann, R-Gaston.
Doing otherwise "would be going against our oath to protect the health, welfare, and safety of the people of North Carolina," he told fellow members of the House Health Committee.
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Up in Smoke: Unassuming Davidson County legislator could effect landmark tobacco restrictions
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| February 27th, 2009, 11:52 AM | North Carolina |
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FEB 27 - Rep. Hugh Holliman of Davidson County wouldn't fit anybody's definition of a radical.
He's a balding, soft-spoken man of 64, a moderate, pro-business Democrat from a county with a rich tobacco history. He's also the state House majority leader, and a survivor of lung cancer that he believes may have been caused by second-hand smoke. This legislative session, he might just make North Carolina history in a radical way. His bill aimed at protecting nonsmokers from second-hand smoke would ban tobacco in virtually all workplaces and buildings open to the public in North Carolina. It would bring the tightest smoking restrictions ever to this state that tobacco helped build.
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Gibsonville police don't want smokers ban
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| February 25th, 2009, 03:57 PM | North Carolina |
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FEB 25 - The Board of Aldermen discussed creating a written policy banning smoking in town-owned buildings and vehicles.The Guilford County Department of Public Health is requesting that all towns create no-smoking policies.
However, at the Feb. 16 meeting Police Chief Mike Woznick told the board he opposed the policy because it would affect interactions between police and crime suspects at the police department.
Woznick said he dislikes smoke, but cigarettes can relax people from whom police are trying to get information.
"Oftentimes, that's all it takes to get someone to cooperate with you," he said.
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The time has come
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| February 15th, 2009, 11:35 AM | North Carolina |
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For generations, the Winston-Salem Journal has been tied to tobacco, just as have so many other organizations and people in the city that the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. helped build. The tobacco industry has put food on our tables; it built our hospitals, colleges and churches and supported our charities. Tobacco has been a proud, hard-working way of life for everyone from farmers to factory workers, a way of life we have long supported on this page.
But starting today, with the full gravity of overwhelming medical evidence against second-hand smoke weighing on our judgment, we must break with the past and support further restrictions against smokers, in the interest of public health.
Rep. Hugh Holliman of Davidson County has filed a bill in the state House that would ban smoking in virtually all enclosed workplaces and buildings open to the public in North Carolina to protect nonsmokers from second-hand smoke. The N.C. General Assembly should pass this bill.
We've stood up for the rights of those who produce and partake in tobacco, both in Winston-Salem and across our state. But smokers' rights must end where those of nonsmokers -- whether they're children or coworkers -- begin. The dangers of second-hand smoke, once belittled, are now undeniable. It would be untenable for this newspaper, or this state, to fail to act on that knowledge.
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Colleges expand anti-smoking rules
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| February 3rd, 2009, 02:05 PM | North Carolina |
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Advocates see a 'tipping point' in campaign; some smokers feel ostracized
CHAPEL HILL, FEB 3 -- On a breezy, gray day, smokers huddled around the flagpole near the center of UNC-Chapel Hill, pushed closer together, figuratively and literally, by a year-old smoking ban on much of campus.
In a state that once touted the golden leaf's economic benefits as greater than its health risks, UNC-CH is one of 26 college and community college campuses to adopt policies either banning or severely limiting tobacco use.
The haze around the flagpole -- one of the few places outside the 100-foot smoke-free perimeter around all campus buildings -- is a sign of the progress that tobacco-free advocates are making.
But even those abiding by the rules say the movement to go smoke-free has been slow to catch fire in this state.
No citations were issued at UNC-Chapel Hill during the first year of the smoking ban, although complaints about rule-breakers prompted 13 written warnings by UNC-CH police.
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State lawmakers will again attempt a smoking ban
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| January 27th, 2009, 02:00 PM | North Carolina |
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JAN 27 - In yet another sign that North Carolina is no longer the tobacco stalwart it once was, the General Assembly appears poised to again consider a smoking ban in restaurants, work sites and even bars.
State Rep. Hugh Holliman, the House majority leader from Lexington and a former smoker, planned to file the bill on Wednesday, the day the legislative session opened -- a move that will no doubt spark debate between public health advocates, tobacco companies and hospitality-industry lobbyists who want to look out for their bottom line. He last sought a ban in 2007, when his bill narrowly failed in the House of Representatives.
This time, Holliman, a lung cancer survivor who lost his sister to the disease, thinks he'll be more successful. "It's a health issue whose time has come," he said.
A decade or even a few years ago, a public smoking ban would have been unheard of in the home state of R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard, where tobacco once drove development of Winston-Salem, Durham and Duke University. But as more people grow concerned about the air they breathe, public sentiment turns against smokers, and Big Tobacco loses lobbying power while Big Pharma's seems to increase, even restaurant groups, traditionally vocal opponents of smoking bans, are accepting prohibitions -- in some form -- as inevitable, as are tobacco companies.
Will a ban pass here? Certainly sentiment favors smoke-free restaurants. An Elon University poll in 2007 found that 62 percent of people said they would support or strongly support a statewide law against smoking in public places, such as public buildings, offices, restaurants and bars. Paradoxically, 67 percent of the same people polled said business owners and not the government should make that decision -- a personal-liberty argument that has proved the most sustaining argument against a ban.
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