Stop Smoking Way

About 60 percent of Michigan’s state lawmakers have voted in favor of banning smoking at restaurants, bars and other public and private workplaces.

Supporters of the ban say they are confident most Michigan residents want to adopt some sort of prohibition, following the lead of at least 30 other states concerned about the health hazards of secondhand smoke.

But with just a few days left in the Michigan Legislature’s 2007-08 session, lawmakers haven’t approved a final version of the ban. Different versions have passed the Republican-led Senate and Democratic-led House. Political posturing and lobbying from casinos and business groups have left lawmakers unable to reach a compromise.

A Wausau restaurant owner can’t get around the city’s smoking ban by creating a “sham” private club with a $1 membership, a Wisconsin appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The 3rd District Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of Wausau’s law that bans smoking in restaurants and said restaurant owner Zack Jusufi was properly cited in 2005 for failing to enforce it.

“There is a rational basis for the ordinance’s classification and differential treatment of restaurants and private clubs,” the three-judge panel said.

State health officials urged Michigan lawmakers to vote today in favor of a ban on smoking in public places, even if casinos and cigar bars would be exempt.

Nearly 80% of the public is behind the ban, said Greg Holzman, chief medical executive of the Michigan Department of Community Health. And with the final 2008 legislative session just weeks away from ending, acting now would still save most of Michigan from second-hand smoke.

“To me, it’s disconcerting because it’s still putting people at risk who work in the casinos, but to protect the majority of Michigan’s population — I’m not going to lose that,” Holzman said Tuesday.

Groups that once fought on opposite sides of a proposed statewide smoking ban have united to oppose proposed changes to that ban.

Restaurant owners and anti-smoking groups, including the American Cancer Society, are fighting legislation in the Ohio House and Senate that would permit loopholes in the ban.

A Senate bill would allow smoking at certain family-owned businesses and private clubs while a House bill would exempt stand-alone bars from the ban.

The Ohio Restaurant Association says it wants a level playing field for all businesses.

Cancer society lobbyist John Hoctor says the bills if passed would open up smoking in thousands of businesses.

THREE hundred NSW hotels have applied to defer payment of $18.6 million tax on gambling machine revenue, which has plummeted since an indoor smoking ban was introduced last year.

A hardship scheme that was available only to registered clubs suffering more than a 15 per cent downturn in poker machine revenue was extended to pubs in September.

The Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing has approved 241 of the hotels’ deferral applications and rejected the rest.

After a month of fresh air, smoking is once again allowed inside Atlantic City’s 11 casinos.

The City Council had passed a total smoking ban in April, but then the financial meltdown rocked the economy and led to even steeper declines at the casinos.

The council changed its mind at the last moment and agreed to repeal the smoking ban for at least a year, but couldn’t legally stop the no-smoking rules from taking effect on Oct. 15.

The ban expired a minute after midnight Sunday, and gamblers can now light up again.

As a small business owner in Sheboygan, I take exception to Gov. Jim Doyle’s obsession to implement a statewide smoking ban in our pubs and taverns.

Responsible tavern owners have smoke filtration systems installed in their establishments to eliminate the second-hand smoke. People who frequent our establishments know there is smoking within the premises. There are “smoke-free” taverns in the area that can be frequented by those with an objection to smoking.

Our governor just told us that we will have an estimated $3 billion deficit for the next two years. Trying to ban smoking in our businesses will do nothing to help the situation. Bars will close and people will lose jobs because of this action.

Nitro Moose argues it’s not liable for penalties because Kanawha health agency failed to file new rules with county clerk.

The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department’s 4-month-old expanded smoking ban doesn’t apply to bars and gambling parlors outside Charleston’s city limits because the department failed to file the regulations with the Kanawha County Clerk’s office, according to a petition filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court.

The Nitro Moose Lodge wants a circuit judge to compel Magistrate Jack Pauley to dismiss a misdemeanor criminal complaint filed against the club last month. The Health Department alleged that the lodge violated the smoking ban on Sept. 23.

The Winfield City Commission voted unanimously to ban smoking in all publicly accessible places in Winfield at their regular meeting on Monday night.

The move did not come without resistance. Several citizens opposed to the ban finally spoke up after months of revisions to the proposal, which was first brought in front of the commission on Feb. 28 by Clean Air Cowley County.

Clean Air member Kathy Swain, who was on hand for the meeting, said she is pleased with the decision and thinks it will bring a brighter outcome to the future generations of Winfield.

The European Union is negotiating with business groups and trade unions over plans to impose a blanket ban on smoking from the factory floor to restaurants and bars, officials said Monday.

The European Commission would like to see a ban on smoking in all workplaces “for both health and safety reasons,” EU spokeswoman Chantal Hughes said.

“We have a duty to ensure that all workplaces are safe and secure for workers and at this stage we don’t think that is the case,” Hughes said.

The consultations are at an early stage and any new EU-wide ban could be years away, she said.