Maryland Update
Ban Damage:
Police Search For Man Who Killed Over Cigarettes
May 5, 2008
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ― A woman is murdered over cigarettes. Police are asking for help as they try to catch her killer.
Derek Valcourt reports it happened in Southwest Baltimore over the weekend.
Police say the killer asked the victim and her boyfriend for something and when he didn't get it, he shot her in the head.
A makeshift memorial marks the spot on Brunswick Street where 29-year-old Dawn Shipley fell to the ground after being shot by a killer who, police say, wanted cigarettes.
Family members were left devastated by the tragedy that happened just after 1 a.m. Saturday.
Police say that's when Shipley and her boyfriend were walking home from a corner store and were approached by the man asking for cigarettes.
Dawn refused to hand them over.
"This angered the man. At some point he engaged her verbally, some words were exchanged. He produced a handgun and shot her," said Nicole Monroe with Baltimore City Police.
Shipley died a short time later at Shock Trauma. As friends of the victim and her family are coping with grief, police are now turning to the public for help.
They're asking any witnesses to come forward.
"The person that done this to my niece, if he's any kind of a human being, he would turn hisself in," said a relative.
Dawn's boyfriend, an eyewitness to the crime, is working with detectives to help identify the killer.
Elisa Shipley, the victim's sister-in-law, says she's now worried about Dawn's 9-year-old son Norman who is left grieving the loss of his mother.
"I don't want him to think God took her. God didn't take her. God accepted her, but he didn't take her. Evil took her, it wasn't her time," said Elisa.
Her family says they don't have enough money to cover funeral expenses, so they've set up the Dawn Shipley Memorial Fund. Donations can be made at any Provident Bank Branch.
Anyone with information on the case can remain anonymous and earn some reward money by calling Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7-LOCKUP.
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Private clubs look for ways to go smoke-free
March 19, 2008
by Agnes Jasinski | Staff Writer
Fraternal organizations that had been exempt from the county’s smoking ban have had two choices since a statewide law went into effect that forbids even members of private clubs from lighting up inside.
‘‘They can either go outside, or they can quit smoking,” said Eric Hensal, governor of the Silver Spring Moose Lodge.
Hensal’s group has begun the task of informing its members, about half of whom are longtime smokers, about county programs that can help them quit.
On Thursday night, about a dozen members of the Wayne Avenue lodge listened to a presentation from Meaghan McHugh, a smoking cessation counselor with the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services.
McHugh had several of the members test the levels of carbon monoxide in their bloodstreams, and passed out literature on free nicotine patches or where smokers could find group sessions or one-on-one counseling on how to quit smoking.
Beforehand, McHugh said most smokers are age 50 or older, and consider dropping the habit once they see the effects of smoking on their health or on the health of their loved ones. Of the 300 local members at the Silver Spring Moose Lodge, about half smoke, said Frank Courtney, the lodge’s administrator.
‘‘The younger members actually really like having the rooms smoke-free. ... Some of them have even come back since the ban,” Courtney said. ‘‘As a smoker, I know most smokers want to quit. ... It’s nice to hear the information.”
Montgomery County, the first jurisdiction in Maryland to ban smoking in bars and restaurants in 2003, had exempted fraternal organizations as part of its legislation. Prince George’s and Howard counties followed with similar bans, until Maryland lawmakers passed a statewide ban last year that included indoor bars, restaurants and private clubs.
The state law, which requires smokers to be at least 50 feet away from those establishments before having a cigarette, went into effect Feb. 1.
Tony Ragazzo, the manager of the Cissel-Saxon American Legion Post 41 in Silver Spring, said bar sales were already down about 20 percent since the state ban went into effect.
‘‘The American Legions, and the VFWs, the majority of those guys smoke,” Ragazzo said. ‘‘If they’re really hooked on their cigarettes, they’re less apt to come in as often.”
Robert Banes, quartermaster at VFW Post 2562 in Wheaton, said while it was still too early to tell whether the group was going to be affected financially by the ban, members began complaining the first day the ban went into effect.
‘‘These are all veterans. They don’t like anybody interfering with them,” Banes said.
Michael McFadden, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for the Citizens Freedom Alliance Inc., which includes the Internet-based group ‘‘The Smoker’s Club,” said fraternal organizations should have remained exempt based solely on the fact that outsiders rarely visit, and as private clubs, they should be able to operate as such.
James E. Mattingly, the commander of American Legion Post 268 in Wheaton, wrote to state legislators before the ban supporting that point. But as a non-smoker, he wrote the letter begrudgingly.
‘‘I think [smokers] really do know that it’s best for them. There was some moaning and groaning at first, but sometimes people have to be pushed into doing something that’s right,” Mattingly said.
Those who violate the ban could be fined between $100 and $1,000, with a written warning for first-time offenders. Organizations that can prove a financial hardship can apply for an exemption, but even those businesses would have to be smoke-free by 2011.
Hensal said organizations would have to lose money for six months before being considered for an exemption. The more creative answer was to make smoking cessation tools available to the members, he said.
Still, dissidents remain.
‘‘I don’t think it’s fair, and I don’t plan on quitting,” said Sue Stewart, a bartender at the Silver Spring Moose Lodge. ‘‘It’s just something I enjoy. ... Everybody’s complaining.”
Kicking the habit
Smokers who wish to quit smoking are eligible for free Nicotine Replacement Therapy (nicotine patches, gum, or lozenges, for example) or therapy sessions at a number of locations throughout the county. For information and, call Meaghan McHugh at 240-777-3895. An 8 a.m. to midnight ‘‘Quitline,” manned by former smokers and tobacco treatment counselors, is available by calling 1-800-784-8669.
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No butts about it, Maryland smokers head north
02/16/2008
By STEVE MARRONI, Evening Sun Reporter
Maryland smokers may not be happy with the recent ban on smoking that went into effect earlier this month, but Pennsylvania bartenders are popping bottles of champagne in celebration.
Margie Sprotes, a bartender for 10 years at the Hunter's Inn in Littlestown, said the smoking ban has been a financial boost for the tavern, with Maryland smokers pouring over the border.
"Oh my God," she said, recounting the spike in smokers. "I bet you we have at least two dozen more people on any given Friday or Saturday."
A recent, sweeping ban on smoking went into effect in Maryland just prior to the Super Bowl. While many are breathing a fresher sigh of relief, others are grumbling about the inconvenience of going outside to light up, the perceived infringement on their rights, and the notion that the government is overstepping its bounds.
Many of the Hunter's Inn's new clientele are coming from around eight miles away in Taneytown, Md., Sprotes said. They stop at their local bar for a couple beers. Stepping outside to smoke becomes a pain, she said, and they get frustrated, and take their social lives to Pennsylvania.
Carla Wickline, a bartender at Two Doors Down Pub and Grill in Manchester, Md., about 12 miles from Hanover, said she has talked to a few disgruntled smokers since the ban took effect. A few have said they've crossed the border so they could enjoy smoking and drinking, which for many go hand-in-hand.
"Some don't stay here as long, and some just deal with it, and go outside when they need to smoke," Wickline said.
Though the majority of her patrons are smokers, Wickline does not believe it has had a dramatic effect on the bar's bottom line.
Plumber Dave McNeal is one customer who is happy to see the ban in effect.
"You don't get the smell in your clothes," the nonsmoker said, relaxing and enjoying a bottle of Budweiser at Two Doors Down.
While he's happy about the cleaner environment, he does believe the government is putting too many restrictions on businesses.
Charlie Crumbacker of Taneytown enjoyed a beer while playing darts at the Taneytown Tavern Friday. One thing was missing, though. A cigarette.
"It sucks," Crumbacker said about the ban. "They should at least have a place inside where we can smoke."
He's a member of the Eagles in Littlestown, and has lately been crossing the border to hang out at the club, or at the Hunter's Inn, so he can enjoy the filtered freedom Pennsylvania smokers enjoy.
Crumbacker's case is not uncommon at the Taneytown Tavern. Manager Patti Wolfenden said though the ban has not significantly affected business, her customers are griping. Some aren't staying as long, and some are making the quick trip across the border.
Stephanie Kohler, a bartender at Bill Bateman's Bistro in Hanover, said some Maryland smokers have been coming in, but it hasn't been a drastic change.
"I had one (Maryland) couple who said, 'Let's just go to Pennsylvania,'" she recalled. "Smoking is still legal, and as long as it's legal, people will find a way to have their cigarettes."
But could those Maryland smokers who are coming over to frequent Pennsylvania watering holes be a potential public safety hazard?
West Manheim Township Police Chief Tim Hippensteel said he hasn't seen a significant increase in DUIs in the last few weeks.
But, he added, "We'll certainly remain vigilant in enforcing our DUI statues."
Despite past failed attempts at similar legislation in Pennsylvania, Kohler believes a ban will be on its way here, sooner or later. As a former smoker, she wouldn't mind Pennsylvania bars going non-smoking. But she's a bartender, and is accustomed to being around both smokers and non-smokers.
In talking to all the new Maryland customers at the Hunter's Inn, Sprotes noticed they have one thing in common. They think the ban is an infringement on their rights. Sprotes said many are fine with bans in restaurants and other public places, but a bar or tavern?
"People know what to expect when they go into a bar," she said.
It makes more sense, she believes, than having a bunch of smokers milling around outside the bar and on the street.
Contact Steve Marroni at
smarroni@eveningsun.com.
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Smokers get the boot
On the first day of the statewide ban, tobacco users find ways to cope
By Nick Madigan | Sun reporter
February 1, 2008
The rain was bad enough. But having to stand in it just to light a cigarette was really the limit.
Friday morning, hours after a statewide ban on smoking in public places went into effect, several patrons of a Hampden bar called Zissimos, forced outside by the new law, cursed their way through a smoke as a down pour spattered their baseball hats.
"Now we're going to be picked up for loitering in front of an establishment," said Raymond Hester, a 48-year-old house painter, as he embarked on an obscenity-laced tirade against Orwellian forces that he asserted were trying to take away his freedoms. Back inside, he took comfort in another Budweiser.
The smoking ban, which became law at a minute after midnight Friday morning, was keenly felt in the watering holes of Hampden and elsewhere, the kinds of places where drinking and serial puffing go hand-in-hand. For the die-hards, the enforced separation of the two pastimes is what grated most.
"I can understand if it's a restaurant, if you're around food," said Michael Laricci, 49, a roofer whose workday was ruined by the incessant drizzle and who had taken refuge in Zissimos. "But in a bar? Come on. What do you want me to do -- drugs?"
Sitting at the bar with a noontime brew, a 59-year-old Vietnam veteran who called himself Mike Marine was irate.
"We're going to turn into a Communist country," he said. "This country was built on tobacco. I fought for this country and now they tell me I can't smoke. It's a violation of my First Amendment rights. You figure that on a Saturday or a Sunday people are going to want to smoke, especially if they're drunk."
The ban, he said, "is going to cause chaos."
And yet just down the block and across the street, at Cafe Hon, Mayor Sheila Dixon and other officials were extolling the rollout of the smoking ban as a momentous step in the direction of health for all.
"Some say it could not have been done, but we did it anyway," Dixon said during a news conference in Hon's bar. "As of today, citizens no longer need to suffer from exposure to secondhand smoke in restaurants, bars and private clubs."
After the speeches, for the benefit of photographers, Dixon, Councilman Robert W. Curran and the city's health commissioner, Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, dumped a basketful of old ashtrays into a trash can, their usefulness extinguished by the new law.
Meanwhile, at the Elks Lodge No. 469 in Towson, the lunchtime crew cracked jokes about selling off the club's ashtrays real cheap and asking if anyone wanted to buy three gigantic, smoke-eating fans that hang over the bar.
Newly hung no-smoking signs on the doors served as a reminder that even this private club was subject to the new state smoking ban.
"I have mixed emotions," said Jim Beach, 55, of Joppa, a civil trial attorney. Describing himself as "a reformed smoker" who quit about three weeks ago when the price of a pack of cigarettes crept up to $5.50, he explained, "While I understand the point behind it, I don't necessarily think that the government should decide to legislate morality -- especially in a private club."
Leon Berg, 56, an attorney who lives in Cockeysville, had come by the night before for "the final smoke-in" and to commemorate what he called "the end of an era."
"A lot of my friends were here enjoying a final cigar and a cocktail, and I will miss doing that," he said. "But it will also be nice to walk out of here not smelling like an ashtray. And I know my wife will appreciate that. She may even come down for an occasional meal now."
About a block away, at Fader's tobacco shop, regulars gathered in the back of the shop to puff away in peace.
"It's over. We're done. This is the only place we can smoke now," said Marc Horwitz, a Pikesville mortgage banker. "I have read the law. It's written by a bunch of nincompoops."
Perhaps surprisingly, Horwitz was in the minority at Fader's in opposing the smoking ban.
"I support it -- especially in restaurants and restaurant bars," said Rob Brocato, 45, an attorney who lives in Fallston. "I'm an avid cigar smoker. But I don't want to go into those places and be accosted by cigarette smokers when I'm siting down to eat."
He said he thought exceptions should be made, however, for the corner taverns, where men gather after work "for a beer, a smoke and some camaraderie."
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'Last hurrah' cigar promotions usher in statewide smoking ban
February 1, 2008
Baltimore Business Journal - by Julekha Dash Staff
Cigar aficionados are planning a final puff Thursday evening before the statewide smoking ban takes effect.
A cigar shop, a steak house and even a barber shop will host farewell promotions in Baltimore in the hours before the Feb. 1 ban.
Morton's the Steakhouse is offering what it dubs a "last hurrah" cigar dinner that begins and ends with a Davidoff cigar.
The event is a sellout at the downtown Baltimore restaurant, which costs $125 per person, Sales and Marketing Manager Judy DiGioia said. The event has drawn 55 reservations.
Maryland enacted a statewide smoking ban in May 2007 and inspired the most controversy among some restaurant and bar owners, who felt it would hurt their sales.
Since the smoking ban applies throughout the state, Morton's executives do not anticipate a drop-off in business, DiGioia said. But it will be tough to bid farewell to cigar smokers, she said.
"It's been a part of who we are now for 30 years. It's odd to see it disappearing," DiGioia said.
In the past week, the Humidour Cigar Shoppe in Hunt Valley has supplied cigars to several restaurants offering dinners similar to that of Morton's, co-owner Jim Pecunes said. These include dinners at the Baltimore Country Club and the Oregon Grille in Hunt Valley.
For his part, Pecunes' shop will be allowed to continue to let smokers to light up, as cigar shops are exempt from the smoking ban. But Pecunes anticipates that his business supplying bars and restaurants will be extinguished.
The Quinntessential Gentleman, a downtown barber shop, is offering a 10 percent discount on its cigars. The upscale men's shop allows smoking in its upstairs lounge. Shop employees and patrons will head over to Tir Na Nog, an Irish restaurant at Harborplace, after the barber shop closes at 6 p.m., Quintessential owner Craig Martin said.
But the owners of downtown cigar bar the Havana Club are not in a very celebratory mood and are not offering any final discounts or smokeouts, said David Sadeghi, chief operating officer of the Big Steaks Management LLC.
"We're not in the hurrah mode. We did not want to take a last stab at making extra money," Sadeghi said.
The club's owners plan to apply for a waiver. Restaurant owners seeking a temporary exemption from the smoking ban have to show that the ban decreased sales of food and beverages by 15 percent over a two-month period. The waiver would last until 2011.
The Havana Club will hold on to its clients' humidors, Sadeghi said.
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Smoke-Free Md. Starts TodayBy Shawn J. Soper, News Editor
February 1, 2008
OCEAN CITY – Restaurants and bars in Ocean City and across Maryland are completely smoke-free starting today with the arrival of the effective date of legislation passed last year to prohibit smoking in all indoor public places with few exceptions.
Many businesses throughout the area this week scrubbed the last vestiges of smoking from their establishments, discarded or stowed ashtrays and made other arrangements for the arrival of the smoking ban across the state. Others who voluntarily prohibited smoking in advance of the ban planned for a new day with a level playing field with their competitors.
The issue has been a passionate one for years but came to a head last year when the General Assembly finally passed a statewide ban on smoking in restaurants and bars. Several local jurisdictions passed similar bans in advance of the statewide smoking ban, but the legislation approved last year applies to every corner of the state.
While most agree the smoking ban addresses an important public safety issue, some proprietors decried the law as another intrusion by the government on private enterprise. Others have embraced the law from the beginning, but have reluctantly stayed away from implementing a ban in their establishments for competitive reasons.
In either case, all businesses are smoke-free today and many are in the process of making accommodations to their smoking clientele. From one end of the resort to the other, business owners and staff were busy this week creating alternatives for their smoking guests while making sure they are following the letter of the law for their non-smoking customers.
The law does provide for some exceptions. For example, businesses with existing outside, open areas will be allowed to accommodate their smoking customers, while others are creating new areas outside of the building footprint to comply with the letter of the law.
“We’re making an effort to totally accommodate our smoking guests,” said Greene Turtle West General Manager Chad Rogers. “We’re going out of way of our way to do that. We have an outside area already on our patio that we’re converting to a smoking area.”
The outside smoking area will include tables and chairs, televisions for all the sports action and other amenities for smokers. It will be outside in the elements, according to Rogers, but there will be flaps that can be put down when the conditions warrant them.
“It’s going to be easily accessible and very open, but it will allow some of our guests to pop out and smoke without interfering with our non-smokers,” he said.
It will be the latter that will benefit from the smoking ban, obviously. Rogers said he is looking forward to inviting back the segment of the clientele that might have stayed away because the establishment allowed smoking in the bar area.
“I’m really excited about them coming back,” he said. “I’ve heard people tell me they love the bar and the food and the music, but they stayed away because it got smoky in here sometimes. This is going to be a good thing for everybody. The place is going to be cleaner, it’s going to smell better and we’ll start seeing more families with young kids coming back.”
The Greene Turtle is one of many restaurants and bars around the state that is donating a portion of their proceeds from today’s business to the American Cancer Society in honor of start of the indoor smoking ban. All of the Greene Turtles across the state are participating with the original Greene Turtle in north Ocean City contributing part of its proceeds for the whole day.
Much of the donated proceeds will be dedicated to the Relay for Life program. American Cancer Society officials this week celebrated the arrival of the effective date of the law and praised state lawmakers and the business community for their conviction on the issue.
“We are very excited that this day has finally arrived and we would like to express our gratitude to the lawmakers and restaurant owners who believed in this fight,” said American Cancer Society Government Relations Director Bonita Pennino this week. “They understood that strong smoke-free laws protect the health of both workers and patrons, and these laws do not harm business, providing a win-win situation for public health and the state’s economy.”
While most bars and restaurants in the resort are adjusting and adapting to the new smoke-ban law this week, others have voluntarily been smoke-free well in advance of the legislation. Some have banned smoking outright since they opened; while others have adapted a hybrid approach with smoking limited to certain designated areas.
For example, the Crabcake Factory in north Ocean City has been completely smoke-free in all inside areas since it opened 11 years ago. Owner Johnny Brooks, a former smoker, said this week the decision to go smoke-free was based on personal preference.
“We have been smoke-free from the beginning when nobody else was doing it,” he said. “For a long time, we were the only ones. From day one, we haven’t allowed smoking in any of the indoor areas. I used to be a smoker and I just got tired of being around it.”
Brooks said he has heard grumblings in the business community about the potential impact on the bottom line, but advised his colleagues to keep an open mind on the issue.
“Change is difficult, but everybody will get used to it,” he said. “It happened in Delaware. They [business owners] shouldn’t be worried. I think they’ll find themselves with a whole new segment of the customer base.”
Over in West Ocean City, Dr. Unk’s is another establishment that has been smoke-free from the beginning. Owner Greg Grimm said this week it was a tough choice with so many of his competitors in the immediate area allowing smoking, but the decision has paid off for him with a legion of loyal non-smokers.
“When I first opened, I was looking to do something different,” he said. “I wanted to give people an alternative. We were kind of the odd duck for awhile, but we’re three years in now and it has panned out for us.”
Grimm said he understands some in the business community have grave concerns about government dictating policy to private enterprise, but said the time was right for a complete smoking ban in Maryland.
“Maryland has had smoke-free workplaces for most employees for about 12 years,” he said. “Restaurant workers were never part of that, but they are on the front lines. They needed the same protection from second-hand smoke that all other members of the workforce enjoy.”
While some resort restaurants and bars can readily accommodate smokers with outside areas not included in the bill, others might find themselves at a competitive disadvantage with their neighbors. Like the Greene Turtle West, some are creating designated smoking areas outside the building, but others are faced with limited opportunities to do so because of the physical limitations of their sites.
The state law does include a provision for a waiver if economic hardship caused by the smoking ban can be proven. However, it will likely be difficult to gain a waiver given the strong support for the legislation.
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Vandals Trash Bathrooms to protest Smoking Ban
October 25, 2007
Vandals suspected of stealing toilet paper and trashing men's bathrooms at Frederick Community College have given school administrators an ultimatum: lift the campus smoking ban and the vandalism will stop.
Instead, the college is offering a $500 reward to anyone who can provide information leading to arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators.
School spokesman Michael Pritchard says the vandals have struck at least 12 times in the past month.
The college banned smoking, except in parking lots, last spring. Pritchard says a message left on the wall of the first bathroom vandalized indicated the attacks would continue until the school lifts the smoking ban.
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Assault case against Examiner editor dropped
Keegan was arrested after May dispute with neighbor in Federal Hill
June 26, 2007
By Gus. G. Sentementes, Sun Reporter
Baltimore prosecutors dropped Tuesday criminal assault charges filed against Frank J. Keegan, the editor of The Examiner, who was arrested in May after police said he pointed a gun at his neighbors during a dispute over cigarette smoke.
In informing District Judge Charlotte M. Cooksey that he was dropping the case, Assistant State's Attorney Bill Ebaugh stated that he was doing so "in the interests of justice after consultation with the victim and the victim's family."
The 58-year-old editor had been charged with three counts of second-degree assault and three counts of assault with intent to injure.
Walking out of the courtroom in South Baltimore, Keegan refused to comment to a Sun reporter. "Read about it in The Examiner," he said.
Keegan's attorney, Charles N. Curletts Jr., said of the dismissal: "It's the right result. Mr. Keegan didn't commit a crime."
Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman for the city state's attorney's office, said in an e-mail Tuesday that "following a review by prosecutors to determine whether the case was viable, and after speaking with the victims, the matter was resolved between he parties. I understand from prosecutors that the case had certain weaknesses."
In a telephone interview later, Burns said she did not have more detailed information about the case from prosecutors, except that there were "possible weaknesses" that prevented them from going forward with the prosecution.
Matt Jablow, a Police Department spokesman, said: "We thought it was a strong case and that it was presented in a very well-written report."
Police said that Keegan's neighbor, David P. Ayers, claimed to be engaged in an "ongoing dispute" with Keegan over cigarette smoke that Ayers said was emanating from the editor's rowhouse. The two live next to each other in the first block of E. Montgomery St., an area of expensive red-brick rowhouses in Federal Hill.
About 11:30 p.m. May 24, police said Ayers, 38, complained that smoke from Keegan's house was causing his 3-year-old daughter, Sophie, to have trouble breathing. Ayers called for a paramedic, then, carrying his child and accompanied by his wife, Christine, went next door to "confront" Keegan, according to the police report.
Ayers told police that he "pounded" on Keegan's front door and heard someone say, "You [expletive] lunatics, get away from my door."
Ayers shouted back through a first-floor window, "Look at what you're doing to my daughter," according to the report.
Next, Ayers said, he saw Keegan holding "what appeared" to be a long gun. Keegan "racked the gun in a manner consistent with a shotgun and shouldered the weapon, pointing it at the entire Ayers family from inside the house and behind the glass of the first-floor window," the report said.
The report said that police seized the weapon and found there was no round in the chamber, but that there were four rounds in a tubular magazine. Police also found and seized a German military P-38 9 mm pistol, the report said.
Ayers did not return phone calls seeking comment Tuesday.
Burns said that prosecutors had consulted with the Ayers family about dismissing the case, and that they were "definitely OK" with the outcome.
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Smokers banished to the root cellar
Week before last, the State of Maryland basically made it a crime to smoke anywhere outside of your own root cellar. And only then if you get a signed release from the carrots.
With the governor's signature, the last bunkers of Marlborism - bars, restaurants and veteran clubs - came crashing down under one of the most restrictive, anti-smoking laws in the nation.
At the same time, Hollywood announced that movies that show people smoking will be subject to an R rating for graphic use of tobacco.
Yikes. I always thought that watching George Burns could be debilitating, but not because of his stogies.
And what's a movie without some swarthy lead taking a long, reflective pull off his Camel? Without the dramatic smokes, Casablanca would be just another flick about a self-absorbed businessman with a woman problem.
And I guess it's still OK to show frat boys getting drunk off their pledge pins, but if one of them lights up - well, you gotta be 18 to witness that kind of behavior.
Not that I'm any expert on second-hand smoke, but it does strike me that if it were such a health risk, everyone in Europe would be dead.
And we're supposed to be the great world beacon of freedom, but you can walk into any third-world cafe and you are free to smoke. And you are free to bring your dog, if you want. Hard to believe that Jefferson's America has been surpassed on the freedom front by Bolivia.
Yes I am ignoring medicine. Yes I am ignoring science. Yes I am ignoring the rights of people to eat a meal without being subjected to a cloud of toxic smog. Because, as always, I address this and all issues with the following question: How does this affect me?
I don't mind the smell of tobacco, so at restaurants where there was a line for the nonsmoking section, I'd always ask for the smoking section and get seated right away. Guess that strategy no longer applies.
I wasn't even worried about second-hand smoke. I reckoned two or three other people had already inhaled and exhaled the second-hand smoke to the point where, at worst, I was subjected to fifth-hand smoke. By then, it's got to be pretty well filtered.
And really, I don't know how much of this was an actual matter of health.
For his part, Maryland house speaker Michael Busch said it is no longer "fashionable" to smoke.
What, so now we're making laws based on vogue? Like in the year 2007, a chick who puts her hair up with a scrungie is going to have to serve 30 days in the caliboose?
If that's the case, the legislature was derelict in now passing a law against teens whose underpants were sticking out from trousers that are flying at half-mast.
Fashion. Personally, I feel as if I've suffered more harm from spandex worn by women with a Body Mass Index in triple-digit territory than from second-hand smoke - where's our General Assembly when you need it?
They can do it with guns, so why not a three-day waiting period on stretch pants?
Busch says that "in the 1960s and 70s it was a different thing. You were strange if you didn't smoke."
Correction. In the 1960s, everyone was strange. There was no point breaking people down into smoking and nonsmoking groups because the lot of them were busy strumming the spokes on their motorcycles and communing with shrubbery.
I've never smoked, but I feel as if I did, having grown up in a newsroom and all. Every desk came complete with an ashtray the size of a washtub.
When smoking was banned, newsrooms lost their romance, which dissipated along with the layer of blue haze buffering the ceiling. It was sad. Seeing a reporter walk outside the office mid-story to smoke was like watching John Wayne walk out in the middle of a shootout for grief counseling.
So the government passed out cases of smokes during the war, the government pays farmers to grow tobacco and the government spends millions won in tobacco lawsuits. The government is neck deep in tobacco, but now it tells the people they can't smoke. Even if you hate cigarettes, this two-faced policy has to make you depressed. I know I am.
If you need me, I'll be in the root cellar.
Tim Rowland is a Herald-Mail columnist. He can be reached at 301-733-5131, ext. 2324 or via e-mail at
timr@herald-mail.com. You can listen to his podcast, The Rowland Rant, on
www.antpod.com.
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O'Malley Signs Statewide Smoking Ban
May 17, 2007
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) signed a bill to ban smoking in restaurants and bars statewide today.
The law, which goes into effect next year, does allow bars to apply for an exemption, if they can prove their businesses suffer financial hardship from the ban. The measure does not exclude private social clubs like the American Legion.
Bonita Pennino, a lobbyist for the American Cancer Society said it's a momentous day for restaurant and bar workers, because they will be protected from second-hand smoke when the law takes effect.
The smoking ban is one of dozens of bills O'Malley to be signed today. Other measures, already signed today by O'Malley, toughen penalties on sex offenders and require paper receipts on voting equipment.
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Smoking ban has some fuming
HAGERSTOWN A new law that would prohibit people from smoking in bars, restaurants and private clubs has some members of fraternal organizations fuming.
"It's supposed to be United ... U.S.A. Why should you want somebody to dictate what you can and can't do? We're not communists," said Bob Keedy, who on Sunday sat at the bar of the Fraternal Order of Eagles on Locust Street in Hagerstown.
The Maryland General Assembly voted near the end of its session to approve a statewide smoking ban. The ban does not include an earlier proposal to exempt private clubs.
Though the ban's effective date isn't until next year, Keedy and other patrons of private clubs already are fired up.
Keedy said he gave up cigarettes years ago, but still enjoys an occasional cigar. For him, the ban is about free choice.
"It's time for the people of this country to stand up ... and bear arms, if necessary," said Keedy, 58, who lives near Hagerstown.
At the Veterans of Foreign Wars post on East Washington Street in Hagerstown, members said they had survived shrapnel, enemy fire and the lingering effects of Agent Orange.
"A lot of guys, the last thing they had in their life was a cigarette," said Fred Munson of Hagerstown.
Munson said he quit smoking in 1982, but he opposes the ban.
"If you're supposed to die for your country, you should at least have the right to smoke in your own club," said Munson, a Vietnam War veteran.
A nonsmoker, James Renner of Greencastle, Pa., sat at the other side of the bar. He called the smoking ban "a fantastic idea."
"I don't smoke, and it's proven now that secondhand smoke will harm you," said Renner, one of only a few patrons at either club who voiced support for the ban.
Kelly Sullivan, 60, of Hagerstown, smoked Sunday at the Eagles bar, where patrons were watching auto racing.
"I feel that since this is a private club, we should be able to smoke here. If you don't like smoke, go somewhere else," Sullivan said.
Sullivan predicted the ban would hurt business, as well as the organizations that benefit from private clubs' gaming dollars.
"I think that would go down, too. I don't think you'd be able to raise as much money for charities," said Sullivan, who characterized the anti-smoking buzz as "scare tactics."
Like several other members, Sullivan said she could stop coming to the club once the smoking ban goes into effect.
Joe Forsythe, 60, of Hagerstown, was at the VFW post Thursday night, where he is a vice commander, and at the Eagles bar Sunday.
He echoed Sullivan's concerns about business, but the Vietnam War veteran said the ban won't stop him from enjoying the one thing that relaxes him - smoking.
"I'm going to keep doing what I got to do, where I want to do it, whether it's right or wrong," Forsythe said.
That includes smoking - even under a smoking ban.
"Yes, maam. Yes, maam. 'Cause that my right," Forsythe said. "That's my right."
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MARYLAND SMOKING BAN'S HAZY LOGIC
By Trevor Bothwell, The Examiner
Apr 12, 2007
WASHINGTON -- It was only a matter of time. With anti-smoking legislation winding its way through state legislatures across the country, you had to figure it would eventually infiltrate one of the bluest states in the u nion.
Sure enough, the Maryland General Assembly approved a statewide smoking ban that will take effect in February 2008. Apparently Maryland just doesn't believe the laws leaving such decisions to local governments are intrusive enough.
One of the most frustrating aspects of this smoking ban is the way in which it has been misrepresented by state lawmakers and the media in recent weeks. Indeed, the Baltimore Sun has referred to this legislation as "a proposal to ban smoking in most indoor public establishments."
Likewise, Del. Derrick Davis, Prince George's County Democrat and House committee chair, justified the ban, stating, "At the end of the day, public health has to come before profit."
This is one of the most ludicrous statements I've ever read, given that "public health" is unrelated to profit in this instance. After all, how many bars and restaurants can you name that are owned and operated by the government?
Private, for-profit establishments aren't public entities; they're businesses that members of the public choose to either work at or patronize. Smoking has been banned in almost all workplaces in Maryland for years, so outlawing it even in bars and restaurants should be considered a harbinger of outright prohibition.
Equally frustrating when it comes to smoking bans is that many opponents and proponents alike seem to allow their personal predilections to guide their viewpoint on the matter.
That is to say, smokers tend to oppose these bans while nonsmokers support them, both camps completely indifferent to the fact that general preferences are irrelevant because this is a property rights issue.
Quite simply, the government has no business determining the types of activities in which consenting adults may engage if they immediately harm no one else, especially when these activities take place on private property in compliance with the discretion of the property owner. Property rights are natural rights, not those merely decreed from on high by our elected officials.
Nonsmokers have no right to a smoke-free environment in restaurants and bars when they willingly patronize hangouts where smoking occurs. Moreover, the complaints of the anti-smoking crowd are largely baseless to begin with, given that the market has already supplied smoke-free establishments.
Although our lawmakers are expected to represent the will of the people, they're by no means obligated to implement policy that is immoral, even if going with the flow is politically expedient. However, this hasn't stopped Del. Jim Mathias of Worcester County from endorsing Maryland's latest paternalistic ban. After all, his constituents are about "100 to 1 in favor."
Every elected official in Maryland takes an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution, which protects property owners against abuses by the state. Even if some people may be too naive or ignorant to understand that their rights are no more important than the rights of others, this does not absolve politicians of their responsibility to uphold the law.
Despite arguments to the contrary from smoking ban proponents, it's no easier to determine the potentially dangerous effects of secondhand smoke than it is to determine the potential for harm in, say, owning a swimming pool or a gun, or allowing our kids to play contact sports, ride bicycles, or eat ice cream and cookies.
Indeed, to justify government intrusion into our lives and property at every opportunity of risk to our health is to justify our complete subservience to the Nanny State.
-- Trevor Bothwell is proprietor of the "Who's Your Nanny?" Web log.
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