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Smoking Bans Don't Lead to Layoffs

The Public News Service is reporting on a new study published in the journal Prevention Science that smoking bans don't cause businesses, such as restaurants and bars, to lay off workers.  Yet another in a series of worldwide studies debunking tobacco industry propaganda claiming that smoking bans hurt the economy.  Read the entire article here.

Posted June 25, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, June 12, 2009. Used by permission.

Historic Anti-smoking Vote to Give FDA New Power
Associated Press

   Congress struck the government’s strongest anti-smoking blow in decades Thursday with a Senate vote to give regulators new power to limit nicotine in cigarettes, drastically curtail ads and ban candied tobacco products aimed at young people.
   Cigarette foes said the changes could cut into the 400,000 deaths every year caused by smoking and reduce the $100 billion in annual health care costs linked to tobacco.
   The legislation, one of the most dramatic anti-smoking initiatives since the U.S. surgeon general’s warning 45 years ago that tobacco causes lung cancer, would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the content, marketing and advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
   ‘‘This legislation represents the strongest action Congress has ever taken to reduce tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of death in the United States,’’ declared Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids.
   The 79-17 Senate vote sends the measure back to the House, which in April passed a similar but not identical version. House acceptance of the Senate bill would send it directly to President Barack Obama, who supports the action. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that ‘‘from what I have seen so far, I believe it will be possible for us to accept their bill and send it right on to the president.’’
   Obama’s signature would then add tobacco to other huge, nationally important areas that have come under greater government supervision since his presidency began. Those include banking, housing and autos. Still to come, if Congress can agree: health care.
   Supporters of FDA regulation of tobacco have struggled for more than a decade to overcome powerful resistance — from the industry and elsewhere. In 2000 the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the agency did not have the authority under current law to regulate tobacco products and the George W. Bush administration opposed several previous efforts by Congress to write a new law.
   Thursday’s legislation gives the FDA power to evaluate the contents of tobacco products and to order changes or bans on those that are a danger to public health. The agency could limit nicotine yields but not ban nicotine or cigarettes.
   Regulators could prohibit tobacco companies from using candy or other flavors in cigarettes that tend to attract young smokers, and restrict advertising in publications often read by teenagers. Rules on sales to minors would be toughened, as would warning labels. Tobacco companies would have to get FDA approval for new products, and would be barred from using terms such as ‘‘light’’ or ‘‘mild’’ that imply a smaller health risk.
   Costs of the new program would be paid for through a fee imposed on tobacco companies.
   ‘‘This is a bill that will protect children and will protect America,’’ said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a leading supporter. ‘‘Every day that we don’t act, 3,500 American kids — children — will light up for the first time. That is enough to fill 70 school buses.’’
   The Congressional Budget Office estimated that FDA regulation could reduce underage smoking by 11 percent over the next decade. There are more than 40 million smokers in America.
   The bill, said American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown, ‘‘provides a tremendous opportunity to finally hold tobacco companies accountable and restrict efforts to addict more children and adults.’’
Posted June 13, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, June 7, 2009. Used by permission.

Cessation Grant Goes Up In Smoke; State Stops Funds for County Program That Helped 70 Women
by Tracy Eddy

   WVU graduate student Maria Williams believes that everyone has an addiction. Her’s is chocolate, she said. Since January, Williams has been working with the Monongalia County Health Department to help pregnant women, and women of child-bearing age, kick an addiction of their own — smoking.
   The program is free for any pregnant woman or woman of child-bearing age who wants to quit.
   Williams is project coordinator for the health department’s Tobacco Free Moms To Be program, which has helped about 70 women cut cigarettes from their daily routines.
   And statistics show that women in West Virginia can use that help. One state official said the percentage of pregnant women in the state who smoke is more than twice the number nationwide.
   But the state is not renewing the grant that funds the program, and Tobacco Free Moms To Be will be shut down when the grant expires June 30.
   “It really is a shame,” Williams said. “Just when we were really getting started — and people were really responding to the ads and coming in — the whole thing just runs out of gas.”
   Kathy Danberry, the state’s cessation program manager, said the state Division of Tobacco Prevention cut the health department’s Tobacco Free Moms To Be grant — and five others like it in the state — because the programs weren’t performing as well as it originally hoped they would.
   “It was an across-the-board cut,” she said. “It was a hard decision to make. Nobody did anything wrong. It just didn’t work the way I wanted it to.”
   It was the first year for the grant, Danberry said, and the last, until the Division of Tobacco Prevention can come up with a consistent way to fund the program for all 55 of the state’s counties.
   The Hampshire County Health Department and family resource networks in Barbour County, Fayette County, Wood County and southern West Virginia also received the grants.
   The grant the Mon County Health Department received was for $50,000, said Art Adams, program manager for public health planning and development.
   About $19,081 of the money was used to advertise the program and $2,600 was used to cover the cost of Williams’ training as a tobacco treatment specialist, according to budget documents.
   The grant money also covers Williams’ wages. She is paid about $20 or $25 per hour of work, according to the documents, and, as of March 20, she had received $13,000.
   Using one-on-one coaching, Williams helped women in the program figure out why they were smoking, and what they could do instead of lighting up when the urge came.
   “I always tell them, they’re not smoking because cigarettes taste so great, smell so great or do something wonderful for their bodies,” she said. “It’s a coping mechanism.”
   Participants are asked to keep smoking logs, Williams said, keeping track of where they are when they get the urge to smoke, what mood they are in, what they are doing and what happened right before they got the urge.
   People use cigarettes to cope with a variety of feelings, Williams said, including stress, boredom, anxiety or loneliness.
   If they catch themselves craving a cigarette a little earlier each time — maybe in the middle of the cigarette, maybe while they’re lighting up, maybe before they pull the cigarette from the pack — then it’s easier for them to put the cigarette down and do something else, she said.
   Other ways to deal with stress and anxiety include chewing gum, doodling, playing with a rubber band or taking a walk.
   Williams said the coaching sessions are more effective than trying to replace the cigarettes with nicotine gum, pills or patches. The sessions help participants figure out new ways to cope with their emotions, so they don’t need to rely on cigarettes or other nicotine products.
   Participants are encouraged to cut themselves off slowly, so they are never overwhelmed by withdrawal, Williams said. She tells them to try buying one pack of cigarettes at a time instead of a carton, and put the pack in another room, so it takes more of an effort to get to them.
   After the first coaching session, participants schedule their own sessions, and come as often or as little as they like, she said.
   Williams told the participants they could always call her if they needed her. And they did call, she said. They called her office at the health department and, at times, even her cell phone.
   Calls to set up coaching sessions started coming in January and February, Williams said. She said she had to turn away several men who wanted to quit smoking, because the grant only allowed her to coach pregnant women or women of childbearing age.
   The health department hopes to coach at least 100 women before June 30, Adams said, which was the goal the state set in the grant.
   Adams said the health department was “devastated” the grant wouldn’t be renewed.
   “With this particular program, we fit a notch that others didn’t, because we had that personal, one-on-one coaching,” he said. “We will still be able to link people with other resources, but we’ll be limited compared to what we could do before.”
   A final report on the program, with the total number of people it reached, will be put together in July, Adams said.
   Catherine Whitworth, co-chair of Smoke Free Mon County, said she thinks the health department’s Tobacco Free Moms to Be program did a lot to increase public awareness about the dangers of smoking while pregnant.
   “I think it had, for a program in its pilot year, some pretty good outcomes,” she said.
   Whitworth said she wishes the health department could find another source of funding for the program. She also would like to see tobacco cessation services available for anyone who wants to quit using tobacco.
   Williams said she would like to continue offering her coaching services for a limited number of hours, even after the grant expires, but she doesn’t know if it’s something that will be permitted.
   “I, honestly, in my heart, I care,” she said. “I am so passionate about this. This is such a vulnerable population, and for them to see there’s this service for them, it’s just great.”
   Danberry said, even though the Tobacco Free Moms to Be program was ending, the Division of Tobacco Control would not stop trying to get pregnant women to stop smoking because it’s a “big, big problem” in West Virginia.
   About 28.4 percent of the pregnant women in the state smoke, Danberry said. About 11 percent of pregnant women nationwide smoke.
   “We’re not giving up,” she said. “We’ve still got people out there working. It’s an issue that really needs to be addressed, and we’re not going to give up on it.”
   The money that was used for the grants — about $500,000 total — will be put toward the West Virginia Tobacco Quitline in the coming fiscal year, Danberry said.
   Quitline is a telephone hotline designed to help people quit using tobacco products. People can call the Quitline for free.
   In March 2008, Quitline had 250 callers, Danberry said. This March, the number of callers jumped to 991.
   “Our Quitline has been going gangbusters,” she said. “We’ve had triple the amount of calls lately.”
Posted June 13, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Tuesday, June 2, 2009. Used by permission.

Evansdale Boston Beanery Goes Smoke Free

The Evansdale Boston Beanery  went smoke-free Monday, and members of the Smoke-Free Mon County coalition met there for lunch to celebrate the change. During the lunch, Valerie Frey-McClung and Catherine Whitworth, co-chairs of the coalition, and Monongalia County Board of Health member Donna Tennant presented Dave Seman, president of the Boston Hospitality Group, with a certificate of appreciation for operating a smoke-free business. The restaurant also hosted a smoke-free happy hour Monday.

Posted June 13, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, May 29, 2009. Used by permission.

Health dept. budget is ‘tough’ one to balance [excerpt]
by Tracy Eddy

  ....Also, Tuesday’s meeting marked the one-year anniversary of when the BOH tabled a vote on the proposed comprehensive smoking ban. Even though the vote was tabled, advocates and objecters of the smoking ban still come to the BOH meetings to voice their opinions during the public comment portion of the board meetings.
   The ban would prohibit smoking in all restaurants, bars and video lottery establishments. Similar bans were passed in 18 other counties in the state.
   Catherine Whitworth, co-chairwoman of Smoke-Free Mon County, said the BOH’s decision to table the smoking ban was something “we all regret.”
   Whitworth also mentioned the Evansdale Boston Beanery’s recent decision to go smoke-free starting June 1. Chico applauded when Whitworth talked about the restaurant.
   She said the coalition has spoken to several of the area’s bar and music venue owners, and many of them have expressed an interest in going smoke free, but are waiting for the BOH to make a decision on the issue.
   If the BOH passes the ban, it would level the competitive playing field for the bars, restaurants and music venues, Whitworth said, so they wouldn’t have to worry about losing business because they no longer permit smoking.
   “It’s a great way to do more with less,” she said....
   Posted June 13, 2009
This article appeared in the Daily Athenaeum on Thursday, May 28th, 2009. Used by permission.

Local Boston Beanery Will Ban Smoking Starting June 1  
by Matt Narvin

   The Boston Beanery located on Patteson will become smoke-free as of June 1.
   “(Management has) been struggling with this decision for a long time,” said David Seman, president of the Boston Hospitality Group.
   This is the second of Boston Beanery’s restaurants to go smoke-free. Its restaurant in Uniontown, Pa., went smoke-free after a bill passed restricting smoking in restaurants in Pennsylvania.
   “In Morgantown, we debated it over the year, and a significant amount of customers requested (the restaurant) be smoke-free. Mindsets are changing,” Seman said.
   The Boston Beanery has set up a patio outside to accommodate smokers, which will have a heater during the winter.
   “(We are) in the business of making money, so we are always concerned about any customer, smoker or not.” Seman said.
   “I think it will actually bring more customers, but it could go either way,” said Erin Graziani, a server at the Boston Beanery.
   West Virginia University has also been under pressure by the Student Government Association to revise the current university policy.
   The most updated policy is from 1990, which banned smoking inside any University building.
   “(SGA) passed a resolution that supported a revision of the smoking policy,” said Tyler Pearson, a former SGA governor and 2009 WVU graduate. “The intent was to stimulate discussion about revising and updating the policy ... because since the ’80s, many studies have been done showing that it’s not just the smoker who is at risk.”
   Pearson said that while some progress has been made, it’s still an ongoing issue.
   “We think it’s been successful,” he said.
   “We’ve met with the president’s office, but (the talks) got put on hold until (WVU President James P. Clements) takes office.”
   Organizations such as Smoke Free Mon County have been pushing for revision to the countywide smoking laws.
   Currently, laws ban smoking in any work place, except for bars and restaurants.
   Monongalia County remains one of the few counties in West Virginia without an absolute smoking ban in restaurants and bars.
Posted June 13, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Monday, May 25, 2009. Used by permission.

Clearing the Air -- Boston Beanery in Evansdale Will Go Smoke-free June 1
by Tracy Eddy

   Servers at the Evansdale Boston Beanery are wearing buttons to tell customers about a big change in the restaurant’s future.
   Starting next Monday, the restaurant, at the intersection of University Avenue and Patteson Drive, will be a smoke-free establishment.
   “We think it’s a good decision,” said David Seman, president of the Boston Hospitality Group. “We think it’s the right time to do this. A lot of people are changing their mindsets.”
   Seman said several of the restaurant’s customers had requested that the restaurant go smoke-free.
   The Evansdale location seats about 190 customers, he said, and has about 70 employees, including management.
   Staff is making arrangements to accommodate the restaurant’s smoking customers, Seman said. There’s an outside porch area they can go to smoke. It has a canopy overhead and will be heated in the winter, he said.
   “Hopefully we can accommodate them and they can respect our decision to go smoke-free,” Seman said.
   The Boston Beanery restaurant on High Street does not have a similar set-up to accommodate its smoking customers, he said, which is one reason that location is not going smoke-free.
   The Evansdale location is more family oriented than the High Street location, he said, and the Boston Beanery on High Street gets more customers who smoke than the one in Evansdale.
   Seman said he is not ruling out the possibility that the High Street location could go smoke-free sometime in the future.
   To celebrate the change, the Evansdale Boston Beanery will host a happy hour reception June 1.
   Seman said staff will “scrub and scour” the restaurant the night before the event.
   Catherine Whitworth, co-chairwoman of Smoke-Free Mon County, said the coalition would be at the celebration, during lunchtime, to present Seman with a certificate of appreciation.
   “We’re very happy to be seeing this establishment go smoke-free,” she said. “It has a long history of allowing smoking, so it’s a big deal. We hope that other establishments will follow the lead and choose to go smoke-free. We think this is a growing trend, with or without the Board of Health.”
   In May 2008, the Monongalia County Board of Health tabled a vote on a comprehensive smoking ban that would prohibit smoking in all restaurants, bars and video lottery establishments. Similar bans were passed in 18 other counties in the state. Other businesses in the area have been voluntarily smokefree, even though a countywide regulation has not been passed.
   The Texas Roadhouse, in Star City, became a smoke-free establishment in January and the Varsity Club, a sports pub on Willowdale Road, has been a smoke-free establishment since it opened in June 2008.
   Whitworth said there are several other restaurants in the county that promote themselves as “family friendly” but are not smokefree establishments.
   She said members of the coalition have approached owners of several other area restaurants about voluntarily going smoke-free. Coalition members visit the restaurants and talk to the owners about the dangers of secondhand smoke and how they can protect their employees, she said.
   “When restaurants that have a history of allowing smoking go smoke-free, it’s a big step,” Whitworth said. “But we also really appreciate any restaurants and bars that have chosen to be smokefree from the beginning.
Posted June 13, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Saturday, May 23, 2009. Used by permission.

Cigarette Makers Lose Landmark Case Appeal
Associated Press

  A federal appeals court on Friday agreed with the major elements of a 2006 landmark ruling that found the nation’s top tobacco companies guilty of racketeering and fraud for deceiving the public about the dangers of smoking.
   A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington unanimously upheld requirements that manufacturers change the way they market cigarettes. The requirements, which have been on hold pending appeal, would ban labels such as ‘‘low tar,’’ ‘‘light,’’ ‘‘ultra light’’ or ‘‘mild,’’ since such cigarettes have been found no safer than others.
   Throughout the 10 years the case has been litigated, tobacco companies have denied committing fraud. The companies argued the ban on labels like ‘‘light’’ would cost them hundreds of millions of dollars.
   Philip Morris USA and its parent company, Altria Group Inc., said they will appeal to the Supreme Court.
   ‘‘The court’s conclusions are not supported by the law or the evidence presented at trial, and we believe the exceptional importance of these issues justifies further review,’’ Altria attorney Murray Garnick said in a statement.
   Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, one of six health advocacy groups that participated in the lawsuit, said the appeals decision ‘‘represents a dramatic victory for public health and an emphatic condemnation of the tobacco industry and its behavior.’’
   The government filed the civil case under a 1970 racketeering law commonly known as RICO, used primarily to prosecute mobsters in cases in which there has been a group effort to commit fraud.
   The suit was first filed in 1999 during the Clinton administration and pursued by the Bush administration after unsuccessful attempts to settle.
Posted June 13, 2009
Boston Beanery Evansdale Going Smoke-Free 

   Boston Beanery Restaurant & Tavern, has announced that the Morgantown – Evansdale location of the regional chain will become smoke-free effective June 1, 2009.  
   Smoking is being eliminated inside the establishment in response to customer requests and a growing trend within the hospitality industry.   According to David Seman, President of Boston Hospitality Group, the time is right for the change.  “Many of our customers have enjoyed smoke free restaurants and bars when travelling and would like to see them in their home town.  It makes sense for this location with its proximity to the hospitals to go smoke free now.  Our management and staff are ready and we feel very positive about the change,” said Seman. An outdoor smoking area will be established for patrons who wish to smoke. 
   On June 1st, The Monongalia County Tobacco Prevention Partnership will present the restaurant with a certificate of appreciation for its commitment to clean indoor air.  Partnership chair, Catherine Whitworth, said “The Boston Beanery is an institution in Morgantown with a faithful clientele.  When an establishment has a long history of allowing smoking, it’s a big step to go smoke-free.  We welcome this change and appreciate their decision to provide a healthy environment for their employees and customers.”    
   The Boston Beanery has been in operation in Morgantown for 26 years.  The Evansdale restaurant is located at 383 Patteson Drive.  
Posted May 22, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, April 19, 2009. Used by permission.

The Dominion Post 100 Most Influential -- #23 Proposed Monongalia County Smoking Ban;  Not a Cough from Health Board on Smoking Ban
By Tracy Eddy

   A comprehensive smoking ban has been off the Monongalia County Board of Health’s (BOH) agenda since last spring, but Mon County residents for and against the ban still attend meetings so the board can hear their opinions.
   The BOH is still mum on when the ban will make its way back to the agenda.
   Catherine Whitworth, co-chairwoman of Smoke-Free Mon County, said she attends every BOH meeting just in case a board member has a question about the ban, or a change of heart regarding it.
   “We’re there because we want to continue to encourage the Board of Health to put the topic back on the agenda,” she said. “It could happen at any time, and we want to be there when it happens.”
   Whitworth said even though the coalition has not been successful in encouraging the BOH to pass the comprehensive smoking ban, it has seen an increase in the number of people who want to be involved in the process.
   “We’re pleased to see the increase in community involvement,” she said. “And we continue to advocate all policies and regulations that reduce the harm of tobacco.”
   John McGraw, spokesman for the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Association, said he comes to the meetings because he wants to make sure the BOH knows how the people in the association he represents feel.
   “I just want to make sure the voices of the bar owners and the video lottery establishment owners are heard,” he said. “We feel we’re making noise. We don’t feel the need to have everyone pack the room.”
   McGraw said he believes the decision for or against a comprehensive smoking ban should be made on the state level.
   The board tabled a vote on the smoking ban in May, after the Smoke-Free Mon County Coalition filed a complaint with the West Virginia Ethics Commission, alleging that board members Sam Chico III, Bob Bell and August Lucci had conflicts of interests related to the ban.
   The ethics complaint was dismissed in June, after the state Ethics Commission declared that the allegations and evidence provided were not in violation of the state Ethics Act.
   Early in 2008, the BOH sought public comment on the proposed ban for 45 days. All public comments were required to include residents’ names, addresses and phone numbers.
   Because of the “personal information” the comments included, Chico would not release the comments to the public.
   A total of 3,578 comments were received — about 1,441 for the proposal and  2,137 against it, he said.
   The Dominion Post submitted a Freedom of Information request in March to obtain copies of the public comments. The BOH agreed to release the comments, but with the names, addresses and phone numbers omitted.
   In April, The Dominion Post filed a lawsuit against the Monongalia County Board of Health to receive unredacted copies of the comments.
   Editor Geri Ferrara said the newspaper had no interest in publishing information the respondents would prefer to remain unpublished, but the origin of the response was key to the credibility of the final tally.
   At a hearing on April 23, Monongalia Circuit Court Judge Robert Stone granted The Dominion Post unrestricted access to all the public comments.
   The BOH was also ordered to pay the newspaper’s court fees — at a total cost of $2,366.35.
Posted April 26, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, April 12, 2009. Used by permission.

The Dominion Post 100 Most Influential -- #43 Marion County Smoking Ban
Marion County Takes on Smoking in 2008 With a Ban In Bars, Video Lottery Establishments
by Katie McDowell

   While Monongalia County’s proposed public smoking ban may still be up in the air, Marion County recently marked one year with a similar ban in place.
   Marion’s 2008 ban added bar, video lottery establishments and an area of 15 feet from entrances to public buildings to a ban already encompassing restaurants, retail businesses and other public areas that was passed in ’04.
   The newly revised ban passed on a 3-to-1 vote, with board members Nancy Park, Betty Fast and John Conaway voting for the changes. Board chairman Randy Elliot was the sole dissenting vote, while Lenny Stafford abstained from voting, as he owns a bar in the area.
   According to statistics published by The Dominion Post, Marion County joins Harrison and 18 other counties in West Virginia to put the kibosh on smoking in public places — Ohio, Randolph, Braxton, Calhoun, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Pleasants, Pocahontas, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Summers, Tucker, Upshur, Wirt, Wood and Wyoming.
   Neighboring Pennsylvania recently also became the 33rd state to enact a statewide smoking ban.
   And while some folks in Monongalia County are looking to counties like Marion to help forge a smoking ban of their own, the county’s ban hasn’t come into being without its own fair share of hiccups.
   In fact, Elliot said at the time of the ban’s passing that he didn’t believe the committee or the board had given the public a “legitimate” opportunity to comment on the proposal. Nor did he “expect” the board to call for a vote on the ban when it did.
   Though an agenda for the meeting was posted prior to the vote, it stated only that the Clean Indoor Air committee would give a report. Documents outlining the proposed additions to the ban were posted at several public locations — at the county courthouse, in the J. Harper Meredith Building, in the public library and at the health department — but Elliot told The Dominion Post he didn’t believe this constituted a fair effort to enlist public comment, saying, “People didn’t see it or understand it. People don’t read that. I just think it could have been done differently.”
   Beverly Keener, a regional tobacco prevention coordinator for Monongalia and Marion counties, noted that the postings were left up for several months, in order to elicit more comments. The postings elicited four comments — all in favor of the ban.
   While the ban is still in place, it caused a bit of a stir. In March, House Bill 2932 was introduced, which would require county commissions to approve any public health department restrictions on smoking in public or private venues.
   Delegate Mike Caputo, D-Marion, one of the sponsors of the bill, said it would “bring transparency” to the process of public healthboard policy making. Those against the bill question its legitimacy, noting that county commissioners appoint boards of health, to ensure politics don’t cloud judgement in matters of public health and safety.
Posted April 13, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, March 27, 2009. Used by permission.

Mon Board of Health Ponders Crown Sewer System; Proposes Buying Land from Coal Company [Excerpt]
by Tracy Eddy

Smoking ban
    Also Thursday, WVU professor Bill Reger-Nash spoke addressed the board in support of the county’s proposed comprehensive smoking ban.
    “We are very much influenced by the community we live in,” he said. “If we change the environment, we can change some people’s health problems.”
    People would be less likely to smoke and children would be less likely to take up the habit when they got older if it was banned in restaurants and bars, Reger-Nash said.
    “Then the message gets out that it’s just not something we do,” he said. “You can stop kids from getting on the bandwagon.”
    Reger-Nash said the county’s proposed ban was a “good, solid ban” and not as aggressive as smoking bans found in some other states.
    The BOH tabled a vote on the ban in May 2008.
    “I would just like to encourage you to continue to think about it,” he said. “I appreciate all the work you do with the Health Department, but I do think there’s ample evidence to support the value of a comprehensive smoking ban.
    Reger-Nash is also the coordinator of Morgantown’s Year of Active Transport, which is devoted to encouraging people to have healthy lifestyles by walking, bicycling or using public transportation more.
 Posted March 27, 2009
This article appeared in the Charleston Gazette on Monday, March 16, 2009. Used by permission.

Smoking Bans and Smoking Politics
By Phil Kabler

   Newest bad bill of the session: Legislation introduced in the House (HB2932) to require county commissions to approve any public health department restrictions on smoking in public or private places.
   The sponsors, including Delegate Mike Caputo, D-Marion, insist that it is not about overturning smoking bans, but to bring "transparency" to the policymaking process of public health boards.
   However, it's curious then that the bill applies only to smoking regulations - not any other health regulations those boards might enact.
   It's also bad public policy, since boards of health were intentionally designed to be beyond the reach of politics. (The idea is to avoid scenarios where a politician could overrule health inspectors' shutting down a restaurant for serious health code violations because the owner happens to be a relative or friend of the politico.)
   Meanwhile, I'm told that there is a serious lack of support in the House for increasing the tobacco tax this session, on the grounds that delegates do not want to impose any tax hikes of any kind in the midst of the recession. 

   On a related note: First sign of the end of the recession? After a down month in January, state limited video lottery revenues were up 10 percent in February, at $36,698,037, an increase of $3.35 million.
   Limited video in Kanawha County did even better, jumping 14 percent, to $3,370,241, an increase of $406,369.
   Statewide for the 2008-09 budget year to date, LVL revenue is basically flat, up just 0.6 percent over the same point last year. (That's better than the racetrack video lottery, which has been hard hit by the economic downturn with current year revenues down 8 percent, or a $41.5 million hit from 2007-08.)
   That's contrary to a published report indicating that statewide LVL sales are up 3 percent.
   It was misleading, though, in using dollar-in to calculate the "sales" figures, rather than the Lottery and industry standard of net revenue (a factor of dollar-in minus dollar-out).
   Calculating video slots revenue using dollar-in is sort of like using total incidents of intercourse to calculate pregnancy rates: It's going to give you a number, but not the correct figure.
   (That's why the article cited year-to-date limited video lottery "sales" of $873 million. In fact, total Lottery revenue to date from all types of lottery games is but $848.8 million.)
   The premise was that LVL revenues are up in the rest of the state but down in Kanawha County, presumably because of the county's ban on smoking in bars and clubs.
   That's misleading, too, since Kanawha is not the only county that mandates clean air in bars.

Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1220.
Posted March 17, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, March 1, 2009. Used by permission.

Keep Smoke to Yourself  [Excerpt]
by the Associated Press  

    New research shows smoke is just about as bad as smoking itself — but only 24 states have banned smoking in bars and restaurants.
   To keep healthy, what should employees in smokefilled environments do?
   Find a new job, said Richard Hurt, director of the Nicotine Dependence Center and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic’s medical school.
   ‘‘There’s no lower limit of exposure to secondhand smoke that is safe,’’ Hurt said. Even workplaces with state-of-theart ventilation systems don’t protect employees if smoking is going on inside the building, he said.
   According to the American Cancer Society, 24 states have instituted a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, while 31 ban it in private workplaces, says the Action on Smoking and Health, a nonsmokers’ rights organization. A number of remaining states are considering bans on smoking in indoor public places.
   Secondhand smoke has long been known to harm the heart and contribute to respiratory illnesses, but a recent study in the British Medical Journal found that exposure to secondhand smoke may increase a nonsmoker’s risk of cognitive impairment and dementia — in some cases by up to 30 percent.
   High levels of exposure to secondhand smoke may also be close to actual smoking in terms of increased risk of lung cancer, diabetes and other tobacco-related maladies, according to the BMJ study.
Posted March 5, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, February 8, 2009. Used by permission.

SGA Passes Smoking Ban Resolution; Student Panel Seeks a New Version of WVU’s 1990 Partial-ban Policy
by Cassie Shaner

   The WVU Student Government Association has endorsed a resolution to make campus smoke free, but at least one SGA member thinks the proposal could spark controversy.
   SGA voted 13-0 Wednesday in favor of a resolution to develop a new smoking policy that would prohibit lighting up on campus. Student governor Jared Ramsey abstained from voting, however, due to concerns about the proposal.
   Chris Roberts, president of Tobacco Free Mountaineers, developed the resolution with student governors Tyler Pearson and Brittany Miller. He said WVU’s existing smoking policy prohibits smoking in campus buildings and university-owned vehicles, but students are allowed to smoke outdoors and in residence halls, with administrative approval.
   The policy — which applies to students, faculty, staff and visitors at WVU — took effect in 1990, Roberts said.
   “A lot of extensive research has been done since 1990 on the dangers of secondhand smoke,” Roberts said. “The current policy that’s in place is outdated and ineffective.”
   The resolution endorses “a completely smoke-free campus,” but Ramsey said it was unclear about what provisions would be included.
   Though he’s not opposed to a new smoking policy, Ramsey questioned whether designated smoking areas would be permitted, how campus boundaries would be defined and if residence halls and fraternity houses would be included.
   “Designated smoking areas might be a better solution than an entirely smoke-free campus,” Ramsey said. “Even hospitals have designated smoking areas.”
   Smoker Tim Hutchinson, a 19-year-old junior from Pittsburgh, suggested establishing smoking areas in wide-open spaces about 30 feet or more from the entrance to a building.
   “I can understand staying away from buildings, but being completely smoke free might be a little drastic,” Hutchinson said. “There definitely needs to be a compromise.”
   Erin Dailey, a 19-year-old freshman from Danville, Pa., said smoking zones would be OK, but she would be happy to see WVU go smoke free.
   “I hate when I’m walking to class and smoke gets blown in my face,” Dailey said. “Right in front of the Mountainlair, when people are walking in and walking out. It gets frustrating.”
   Roberts said it’s up to interim WVU President C. Peter Magrath to review the resolution and make changes to the policy. Both Roberts and SGA President Jason Parsons said smoking zones, campus boundaries and other issues would likely be addressed as the policy is formulated.
   “I think it’s important that we take proactive steps to protect student health,” Parsons said. “We know it’s bad for you. We know the detrimental effects of secondhand smoke.”
   Ramsey said the smoking policy should be updated, but it needs to be altered gradually.
   “It impacts a lot of people,” Ramsey said. “I don’t smoke, but I have friends that do. Asking them to go offcampus to smoke is a bit much, I think.”
   WVU spokesman Dan Kim said Magrath and other senior administrators will conduct a “thorough review” of the resolution to determine how it should be handled.
   “This kind of an issue or resolution hasn’t really come up before, so they’re not really sure what the procedure is,” Kim said.
   About 260 college campuses nationwide have gone smoke free, according to Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, a group that lobbies for smoke-free policies nationwide.
   Tobacco Free Mountaineers conducted a survey of 464 WVU students that found that about 315 — or 68 percent — would support a smokefree campus, Roberts said. About 74 students — or 16 percent — indicated that they would not support a no-smoking policy.
   In March 2008, the WVU Faculty Senate voted to support a ban on indoor smoking in public spaces and workplaces in Monongalia County, though its members initially voted against the ban a month earlier.
   The Monongalia County Board of Health (BOH) was considering the ban at the time, but it was tabled indefinitely in May.
   At a meeting last month, BOH members inquired about a comprehensive smoking regulation that was suspended in Harrison County. BOH Chairman Sam Chico III said he was pleased that the board has taken the issue seriously and not given in to public pressure to pass a rule that might later need to be rescinded.
Posted February 9, 2009
This article appeared in the Daily Athenaeum on Friday, February 6, 2009 Used by permission.

Students React to Smoking Ban Proposal
by Melanie Hoffman

   Students Thursday reacted with skepticism to West Virginia University’s Student Government Association’s support of a resolution to ban smoking.
   “I think it’s outrageous and not possible,” said freshman history major Amanda Selko. “How can they do that? They can’t tell smokers they can’t smoke outside.”
   But Selko seemed to be in the minority of those strictly against the ban.
   “I think smoking encroaches others rights more than smokers’ rights,” said junior advertising major Ryan Lowe. “I’m a smoker, I don’t like smoking.”
   Lowe added that he’s from New York City, and the city has gone smoke-free.
   “It’s not that much of an inconvenience for smokers,” Lowe said.
   Freshman pre-psychology major Alisha Rispoli said that if there were a decent amount of designated smoking areas there probably wouldn’t be an issue.
   Roger Smith, a Dining Services employee agreed, saying he wouldn’t have a problem walking to a smoking area.
   “I’d say over 70 percent of WVU employees smoke,” Smith said.
   “They could make an enclosed area for smokers.”
   The resolution was proposed by Gov. Tyler Pearson and Gov. Brittany Miller and passed by a 13-0 vote at Wednesday night’s SGA meeting. Gov. Jared Ramsey abstained from voting.
   Now, the resolution is on its way to Stewart Hall where Pearson expects it to be reviewed by the President’s Office.
   Chris Roberts, a first year eMBA student and president of Tobacco Free Mountaineers lobbied for SGA’s support by presenting results from a survey the group conducted last semester.
   The survey was done through StudentVoice with members asking random students in the Mountainlair, Student Recreation Center and outside of classrooms for their opinions.
   Tobacco Free Mountaineers surveyed 500 students but, only 20 percent were smokers.
   Of those surveyed, 68 percent said they moderately or strongly agreed, 16 percent were neutral to it, and 16 percent moderately or strongly disagreed with a smoking ban.
   They also found that 75 percent of those polled would like to see smoking banned in the stadium, and 67 percent said they would be more apt to visit a bar or restaurant if it were smoke free.
   Roberts said the idea was initiated after the Tobacco Free Mountaineers received grant money to promote a smoke-free campus.
   “After we researched West Virginia University’s smoking policy,” Roberts said, “We realized something had to be done.”
   The University’s smoke policy dates back to July 1, 1990 and according to the policy, “promotes a smoke-free environment.”
   Roberts approached Miller at a Wellness Advisory Board meeting and lobbied for her support.
   Miller explained the first thing to do was write a resolution for SGA’s support – which passed Wednesday night – then move to work with the President’s Office.
   “This is the future,” Miller said. “And it’s happening whether smokers like it or not.”
   More than 260 universities already have smoke free campuses, according to Roberts, and it’s a “rising trend.”
   West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in Greenbrier County is the only school in West Virginia among those with a ban.
   Pearson said West Virginia should consider implementing something like Pennsylvania – where all state funded schools are smoke free.
   Currently, deans of the different colleges determine where students can smoke around that building.
   “If we have the same limitations for the entire campus it wouldn’t be an issue,” Pearson said.
   Pearson would also like to see Monongalia County go smoke free.
   “A long term goal would be to have the county-wide smoking ban,” Pearson said. “Last year the Board of Health tabled the idea, but we think this resolution will encourage them to look at it again.”
Posted February 9, 2009
This article appeared in the Daily Athenaeum on Thursday, February 5, 2009. Used by permission.

SGA Passes Smoking Ban Resolution
by Melanie Hoffman
 
   The West Virginia University Student Government Association passed a resolution in support of a campus-wide smoking ban during its meeting Wednesday night.
   Govs. Tyler Pearson and Brittany Miller submitted the resolution to implement a campus-wide smoking ban. The full Board of Governors heard the argument for the smoking ban and voted 13-0, with Gov. Jared Ramsey abstaining from the vote.
   Now, the resolution is on its way to Stewart Hall where Gov. Tyler Pearson expects it to be reviewed by the President’s Office.
   Chris Roberts, a first year eMBA student and president of Tobacco Free Mountaineers lobbied for SGA’s support of the resolution.
   “The current WVU smoking policy was passed July 1, 1990,” Roberts said. “We feel it’s outdated based on the research done on secondhand smoke since 1990.”
   When Pearson and Miller created the resolution, they focused on the outdated smoking policy and the effects of smoking and secondhand smoking.
   Tobacco Free Mountaineers also did a survey of 500 students. Results showed that 68 percent of students moderately or strongly agree, 16 percent are neutral to it and 16 percent moderately or strongly disagree with a campus-wide smoking ban.
   Roberts added that 260 universities are smoke free. West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine is the only school in West Virginia among those with a ban.
   “This is the way of the future, and it will eventually happen. We may as well start being healthier now,” said Miller.  

[The article continues about other issues, for the complete text visit www.da.wvu.edu]

Posted February 5, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, January 30, 2009. Used by permission.

BOH Receives Smoking Ban Update  [Excerpted from Sewage Problem Plagues Crown]
by Tracy Eddy

   Also Thursday, the BOH received an update on the status of comprehensive smoking bans in the state’s other counties.
   Christina Mickey, project coordinator for the Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia, announced Doddridge County had passed a comprehensive smoking ban that would prohibit smoking in bars, restaurants and video lottery establishments.
   The Doddridge County Board of Health passed the ban Monday, Mickey said, and it would go into effect July 1.
   Mickey also answered questions about Harrison County’s recent suspension of its comprehensive smoking ban. The ban went into effect Jan. 1 and was suspended 21 days later.
   She said the Clarksburg-Harrison BOH is waiting to see if the state Legislature will tackle the issue.
   Sam Chico III, BOH chairman, said he was pleased with the way the Mon BOH has handled its own comprehensive ban.
   It tabled a vote on the issue on May.
   “The board has taken this issue very seriously,” he said. “I’m glad we haven’t yielded to pressures and passed something and then had to rescind it.”
   Mickey encouraged the BOH to continue to take its time to pass the ban.
   “You’re taking your time on the issue and getting all your questions answered,” she said. “That has been a successful approach in other counties.”
   John McGraw, spokesman for the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Association, said he supported Harrison County and its decision to suspend the band.
   McGraw said he believes the state should get involved in the issue, and that the state is ignoring its responsibilities by not doing so.
   “Hopefully we’ll see some conclusion on this,” Chico said.
Posted February 5, 2009
This article appeared in the Charleston Gazette on Wednesday, January 28, 2008. Used by permission.

Kanawha Agency Won't Undo Smoking Ban like Harrison
by Eric Eyre

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Harrison County suspended its smoking ban last week, less than a month after it took effect, but don't expect that to happen in Kanawha County, Kanawha-Charleston Board of Health President Brenda Isaac said Tuesday.
   Isaac said board members remain unanimous in their commitment to uphold the 6-month-old regulations that expanded bans on smoking to bars, gambling parlors and the Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming Center in Nitro.
   "We have absolutely no intention of backing down because of any political pressure," said Isaac, who is also lead nurse for Kanawha County Schools.
   "I'm very disappointed that other counties feel they can't do what's in the best interest of the health of the people in their communities," she said.
   Last week, the Harrison-Clarksburg Board of Health voted 4-1 to suspend the county's 3-week-old smoking ban until June 1, 2010.
   "It was a compromise between the yeas and the nays on the board," said Robert Thomas, the health department's environmental director.
   At a special Harrison County Commission meeting two weeks earlier, bar and gambling parlor owners criticized the smoking ban, alleging they were losing business to competitors who refused to comply with the regulations.
   The bars also were upset they had to compete against a Clarksburg bingo hall, which is exempt from the smoking ban under state law.
   In response, county commissioners sent a letter to the health board, asking it to reconsider the smoking ban, Thomas said.
   Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper vowed Tuesday to continue to support the health department's expanded smoking ban. He said commissioners wouldn't bow to pressure from bar owners.
   "What you have [in Harrison County] is political shenanigans with people appointing people to boards and then strong-arming them," Carper said. "You can't have courthouse politics in health issues."
   Harrison-Clarksburg's health board includes a county commissioner and Clarksburg's city manager. By contrast, all six Kanawha-Charleston health board members are appointed by the county commission and Charleston City Council.
   Kanawha bar and gambling parlor owners have repeatedly criticized health board members about the smoking ban - at public hearings while it was under consideration and at subsequent meetings after the regulations took effect.
   The health board has refused to give an inch.
   "No one on the board has indicated they have any second thoughts," Isaac said. "We're charged with protecting the health of the people of the county, and nothing should interfere with that."
   Smoking ban critics have been noticeably absent at recent Kanawha-Charleston health board meetings.
   Jean Angle, who owns the Pour House Sports Bar in North Charleston, said the no-smoking rules continue to hurt businesses, but bar owners, for the most part, have given up trying to persuade health board members to change their minds.
   "Everybody's still aggravated, but we're concentrating on keeping our businesses going," Angle said. "We're just tired of all the BS."
   Harrison health board members suspended their ban until June 2010, hoping state lawmakers would tackle the smoking issue during legislative sessions this year and next.
   Carper said legislators should establish a statewide no-smoking law and enforce it.
   "The Legislature should have done this instead of passing the buck to the [county] health boards," he said.
In past years, state lawmakers have been reluctant to impose a statewide smoking ban.
   Smoking is still allowed on the second floor of the state Capitol and both wings of the building. Some delegates and senators smoke in their offices, although lighting up is prohibited in all other Kanawha County office buildings.
   Smoking ban proponents worry legislation will be introduced this year to exempt some businesses, such as fraternal organizations and racetrack casinos, from local smoking bans.
   "The only thing legislators could do responsibly is to impose a law making the whole state 100 percent smoke free," Isaac said. "Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to happen. The tobacco industry is a power lobbyist at the state and federal level."
   Harrison County's health board isn't the first to back off a smoking ban.
   In 2007, the Putnam County Board of Health rescinded its ban on smoking at bars and video lottery parlors - eight months after the regulations took effect. Smoking is still allowed in those businesses.
   Christina Mickey, project coordinator for Smoke-Free West Virginia, said it's rare for one county health board's decision to affect a neighboring county.

 Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com
Posted January 28, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Saturday, January 24, 2009. Used by permission.

Harrison Smoke Ban Suspended, Awaits State Legislation; Mon County’s in Limbo
by Tracy Eddy

   Harrison County suspended its comprehensive smoking ban this week, less than a month after it went into effect. And some local counties have not taken any new steps toward passing a similar comprehensive ban.
   There is still no word from the Monongalia County Board of Health on when its comprehensive smoking ban will make its way back to the meeting agenda.
   A vote on the ban was tabled in May.
   The Mon County Health Department released a draft of the agenda for the BOH’s Jan. 29 meeting. The comprehensive smoking ban is not an item.
   Shaunda Rauch, interim public health educator for the health department, said a final draft of the agenda will be released the morning of the meeting and until then, any of the board members could choose to place another item on the agenda.
   Rob Thomas, environmental health contact and supervising sanitarion for the Harrison-Clarksburg Health Department, said the coun- ty has gone back to the regulation the BOH passed in 2001.
   The regulation allows smoking in bars and video lottery establishments. Restaurants are allowed to have smoking sections that take up 20 percent of their entire seating capacity.
   Thomas said ever since the comprehensive ban was passed a few months ago, the BOH had been receiving requests to suspend it for bar owners and the owners of video lottery establishments.
   The comprehensive ban was passed with a 3-2 vote. Only one board member voted against suspending the comprehensive ban, he said.
   Thomas said the board decided to revisit the ban in June 2010.
   “That gives the Legislature two sessions to address it statewide,” he said.
   Christina Mickey, the project coordinator for the Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia, said Harrison County’s suspension of the ban was “not surprising, but very disappointing.
   “It’s just as challenging to get the clean indoor air regulations enacted or passed as it is maintaining them,” she said. “Clean indoor air regulations are highly vulnerable to subjective data, such as business owners claming economic destruction.”
   Similiar suspensions have happened in other counties where the BOH members were divided on the comprehensive ban, Mickey said, but those suspensions are “very few and far between.”
   The comprehensive ban can be revisited later, even though it was suspended, she said, which is one of the positives of keeping local regulations.
   “Local regulations offer more protection than statewide laws,” she said. “Their effectiveness, their ease of enactment, and the tobacco industry has less influence locally than it does on the state level.”
   Mickey said she doesn’t think Harrison’s action will ripple elsewhere.
   “I don’t think it would have an impact on other counties, just like when counties that pass the regulations have very little impact on neighboring counties.”
   Rauch said she gathers any information that pertains to the smoking ban, such as press releases from the American Lung Association or updates on the status of comprehensive bans in other counties.
   Each board member is given a copy of that information to look over.
   “I don’t know how much it would play into their decision,” she said. “It would be up to them. But I try to make all that information available to the board members so they have all the information they need to make a good decision.”
   The Preston County Board of Health has a clean indoor air regulation in place, but it is not a comprehensive ban.
   Bruce Jenkins, the environmental health contact, said Preston’s BOH has not talked about strengthening its regulation to prohibit smoking in bars and video lottery establishments.
   The current regulation has been in effect since 2002, he said, and it allows smoking in places that make 50 percent of their profits from the sale of alcohol.
Posted January 25, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, January 23, 2009. Used by permission.

W.Va. has 2nd highest smoking death rate; Kentucky tops the list
By the Associated Press

   ATLANTA — West Virginia and Kentucky — where people traditionally smoke the most — have the highest death rates from smoking, a new federal study has found.
   Rounding out the 10 states with the highest average annual smoking death rates were Nevada, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Indiana and Missouri.
   The lowest death rates were in Utah and Hawaii, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.
   The smoking death rate in Kentucky was about 371 deaths out of every 100,000 adults age 35 and older.
   That was nearly one-and-a-half times higher than the national median of 263 per 100,000. And it was nearly three times the rate for Utah, which was 138 per 100,000.
   The smoking death rates were calculated using death certificate data from the years 2000 through 2004, focusing on lung cancer and 18 other diseases caused by cigarette smoking.
   The rates track pretty closely with the adult smoking rates in each state. Kentucky and West Virginia had the highest smoking rates in 2004 as well.
   But obesity and other problems that trigger heart disease are also factors. Smoking, added to those problems, ‘‘is like gasoline on the fire,’’ said Terry Pechacek, a CDC senior scientist for tobacco-related issues.
Posted January 25, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, January 9, 2009. Used by permission.

Eateries Take Smoke-free Path; Decide to Prohibit Smoking Without County Ban in Place
by Tracy Eddy

   A billboard outside the Texas Roadhouse in Star City proclaims the restaurant is now a “100 percent smoke-free establishment.” And the response has been positive, the manager said.
   Other businesses in the area have been voluntarily smoke-free, even though a countywide regulation has not been passed. For instance, the Varsity Club, a sports pub on Willowdale Road, has been a smoke-free establishment since it opened in June.
   The Texas Roadhouse received a certificate of appreciation from the Monongalia County Tobacco Prevention Partnership and the Smoke-Free Mon County Coalition on Thursday to acknowledge the change, which has been in effect since Jan. 1.
   Robert Izydore, managing partner of the Texas Roadhouse, said the restaurant wanted to start the new year off right.
   “I thought it was time to protect my employees,” he said.
   Izydore said the Texas Roadhouse has about 120 employees.
   The decision was also made to boost the restaurant’s business, he said. On the weekends, customers had to wait up to 1.5 hours to get a table in the nonsmoking section, Izydore said.
   The restaurant was losing customers because of the wait, he said, and there were empty tables in the bar area because few people wanted to sit in the smoking section.
   The Texas Roadhouse can seat up to 300 customers, Izydore said. About 59 seats were in the smoking section, he said, including 15 seats around the bar and 44 seats at tables in the area.
   “So far it’s been great,” Izydore said. “We’ve had a few people complain, but the majority of the people are happy about it. It seems to be going in the direction we want.”
   Catherine Whitworth, co-chairwoman of Smoke-Free Mon County, said no other businesses in the area have informed the coalition that they’ve recently gone smoke free or are planning to do so.
   “I think we’ll see more of it in 2009,” she said. “There are a few we would like to see take that step, and maybe they will after seeing the leadership Rob Izydore has shown with the Texas Roadhouse. They have a long history of allowing smoking, and we appreciate their decision to go smoke-free.”
   Whitworth said the coalition has approached the owners of about six area restaurants about voluntarily going smoke-free.
   The coalition targets the area restaurants that mostly serve families, she said. Members of the coalition visit those restaurants and talk to the owners about the dangers of secondhand smoke and how they could protect their employees.
   In May, the Monongalia County Board of Health tabled a vote on a comprehensive smoking ban that would prohibit smoking in all restaurants, bars and video lottery establishments. Similar bans were passed in 19 other counties in the state.
   Whitworth said the Texas Roadhouse’s decision to go smokefree emphasizes the area’s demand for smoke-free establishments.
   “It shows the fact that the county is ready for this,” she said.

Varsity Club   

Bonnie Anderson, co-owner of the Varsity Club, said she and the other co-owners are not smokers, and they decided to provide a place where people could enjoy dinner or drinks without being bothered by cigarette smoke.
   “Many people have commented to us how they like it,” Anderson said. “Both smokers and non-smokers.”
   She said no one has complained about smoking being prohibited inside the establishment, at least to her knowledge, but some people might choose not to go to the Varsity Club because they can’t smoke there.
   “We don’t know about them,” Anderson said. “We do have people who come in and go outside to smoke.”
   Anderson said that even though she co-owns a smoke-free establishment, she does not believe the health department should pass a regulation mandating that all bars and restaurants be smoke free.
   “It should be the choice of the establishment,” she said. “And then the people can choose where they want to go.”
Posted January 9, 2009
Texas Roadhouse Goes Smoke-Free
by Catherine Whitworth

   Rob Izydore, managing partner of Texas Roadhouse, announced that the family restaurant became smoke-free effective January 1, 2009.  
   Smoking was eliminated as both a business and a health decision.   "From the business end, I found that customers had to wait for up to an hour and a half for a non-smoking table.  Very few were in the smoking section and bar during that time even on busy nights,"  said Izydore. "And from a health standpoint for our customers and employees, I feel in my heart it's just the right thing to do."
   The Monongalia County Tobacco Prevention Partnership presented Texas Roadhouse with a certificate of appreciation on Thursday for their commitment to clean indoor air.
   Izydore has received overwhelmingly positive comments from the change.  Texas Roadhouse has been in operation in Morgantown for eleven years. The restaurant is located at 3505 Monongahela Boulevard in Star City.   The change is a local decision and does not apply to all franchise locations. 
   Smoke Free Mon County is grateful to all local establishments that provide smoke free dining and entertainment. When a popular establishment like Texas Roadhouse has a long history of allowing smoking, it's a big step to go smoke-free.  We greatly appreciate Texas Roadhouse's decision to provide a healthy environment for their employees and the families who dine there.
  Please thank Texas Roadhouse and all of our local smoke free establishments when you visit!  Go to  www.smokefreemonc.org to find out about all of the smoke free dining and entertainment options in Monongalia County.
Posted January 8, 2009
Smoke-Free Mon County January Meeting Scheduled

   Smoke Free Mon County will meet on Friday January 23 at 10:30 AM in  the John E. Jones Conference Center -  Room-C.  All coalition members and newcomers, are welcome to attend. 

   The John E Jones Conference Center is located right next to the WVU Health Sciences Center cafeteria on the basement level.   If you are driving, stop at the guard booth for a parking pass to park in the garage.  Walk out of the back of the garage where you'll see the emergency room.  Turn left and follow the path (past the smoking booth) to the side door to the building.  The cafeteria and conference area is immediately to your right.  If you have not visited the Health Sciences Center before, you can get directions and maps here.
Posted January 8, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, January 2, 2009. Used by permission.

Harrison’s Smoke Ban in Effect;  Mon’s Proposal Still in Limbo
By Tracy Eddy

   The Harrison-Clarksburg Board of Health passed a comprehensive smoking ban that went into effect Thursday, making the county the 19th in the state to pass such a ban. The ban prohibits smoking at all restaurants, bars and video lottery establishments.
A similar ban proposed in Monongalia County is in limbo. Robert Thomas, the Harrison-Clarksburg Health Department’s environment health contact and supervising sanitarian, said the BOH passed the ban two months ago with a 3-2 vote.
The county’s initial smoking ordinance was passed in 2001, Thomas said, but “it was not a 100-percent ban, there were several exceptions.”
   The inital ban did not include bars or video lottery establishments, he said, and also allowed restaurants to have a smoking section that took up 20 percent of the facility, as long as proper ventilation was in place.
   Thomas said after the initial ban was passed, people started to petition for a stronger one.
   The Harrison-Clarksburg BOH had been “earnestly discussing” the ban for the past 2 1/2 years, he said, and passed it after fielding public comments and holding public hearings on the issue.
   The health department will work to enforce the ban, Thomas said, and the penalties are described in the smoking ordinance.
   Violating the smoking ban is classified as a misdemeanor, Thomas said, and the violator could face fines from $50-$500.
   If individuals are found guilty of blocking the health department’s enforcement of the ban, then there is a heavier fine, he said. Fines for obstructing range from $200-$1,000.
   Christina Mickey, the project coordinator for the Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia, said Doddridge County is poised to be the 20th county to pass a comprehensive smoking ban.
   The county’s health department is taking public comment on the issue, she said, and the public comment period is expected to close in January.
   Mickey said Lincoln County was the first county to pass a comprehensive smoking ban, in 2001. Tucker County was second, she said, and several others followed suit.
   The Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia’s main goal is to get 100 percent of the state’s population protected from secondhand smoke, Mickey said. About 40 to 50 percent of the state’s population is protected by comprehensive smoking bans that do not allow smoking in workplaces, including restaurants, bars and video lottery establishments, she said.
   “It’s not about how many regulations are passed, it’s about what percentage of the population is protected from secondhand smoke,” she said.
   The Monongalia County Board of Health has still not given any indication when its comprehensive ban might make its way back on the BOH’s agenda.
   The BOH tabled a vote on the ban in May.
   Shaunda Rauch, interim public health educator for the Monongalia County Health Department, did not respond to The Dominion Post in time for this report.
   When The Dominion Post asked Rauch about the future of the smoking ban in early December, the newspaper did not get any definite answers.
   Rauch said then that the BOH meets again on Jan. 29, and the agenda for that meeting won’t be set until Jan. 22.
   Mickey said the Mon County BOH should take whatever time it needs in order to pass the comprehensive smoking ban.
   “We encourage them to put it on the agenda whenever they’re ready,” she said. “There’s no immediate rush in revisiting the issue if they’re not ready to protect the bar workers.”
   Advocates of the comprehensive smoking ban will continue to attend the BOH meetings, Mickey said, and continue to educate the public about the dangers of secondhand smoke.
   “It’s not a county the advocates are going to forget,” she said.
Posted January 2, 2009
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, December 7, 2008. Used by permission.

Smoking Ban's Future in Limbo;  Board Quiet on When Issue Will be Revisited
by Tracy Eddy

   What's next for Monongalia County's proposed smoking ban? The Board of Health won't say, except to reaffirm it has been tabled.
On Nov. 24, The Dominion Post asked Shaunda Rauch, the interim public health educator for the Monongalia County Health Department, when the BOH was planning to put the comprehensive smoking ban back on the agenda.
    The BOH tabled a vote on the ban in May.
    Rauch is the media liaison for the BOH and employees of the health department.
    The Dominion Post was in contact with her each weekday of the period through Thursday, except for Nov. 27, the Thanksgiving holiday.
    In e-mails, Rauch said she was waiting for a response from Sam Chico III, chairman of the BOH.
    She released the following statement on behalf of the BOH Thursday:
    "The Monongalia County Board of Health recognizes the community interest in the clean indoor air initiative/smoking ban. As you have noted the board has tabled the issue. However, the Board recognized during the last Board meeting that the atmosphere surrounding the topic was improving and was pleased with the way the public portion of the meeting had gone."
    Rauch said agendas for the BOH meetings are set a week before the meeting date. The next BOH meeting is scheduled for Jan. 29, which means the agenda will be set Jan. 22.
    Catherine Whitworth, co-chairwoman of Smoke-Free Mon County, said the coalition is encouraging the BOH to take its time with the ban.
    "We'd rather see a good quality regulation that protects everyone than a regulation that's riddled with exemptions," she said.
    Whitworth said Smoke-Free Mon County recently set up a new link on its Web site — smokefreemonc.org — titled "Whatever Happened to the Smoking Ban?"
    According to the Web site, Smoke-Free Mon County is not pushing the BOH for an immediate vote on the proposed ban any more because "at this time, we do not believe we have the votes needed on the Board of Health to pass an exemption-free smoking ban that will protect everyone."
    The link asks visitors to encourage local businesses to voluntarily go smoke-free while the BOH deliberates on the ban.
    "Remind them that the vast majority of our adult population does not smoke and that they could be missing a great opportunity to build a stronger customer base."
    The site also encourages its visitors to support smoke-free establishments and continue to educate others about the positives of a smoking ban.
    Whitworth said regardless of all the work the coalition does to show its support of a comprehensive smoking ban, only the BOH has the authority to pass it.
    "If they feel the climate is different and they are ready to act and pass a comprehensive smoking ban, we applaud them," she said. "We would love that."
Posted December 7, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, November 14, 2008. Used by permission.

Students Push for Smoke-free Businesses; Present Tests of Air Quality to Health Board
by Tracy Eddy

   Some WVU students hope that a recent air quality test they conducted at four establishments will help put pressure on Morgantown businesses to go smoke-free.
   The test results were released to the Monongalia County Board of Health at its Wednesday meeting.
   Chris Roberts, a graduate student at WVU and president of the Tobacco-Free Mountaineers, conducted the study with the help of a friend on Nov. 8, after the WVUCincinnati football game.
   Roberts went to four establishments: Rain on High Street, Big Times on High Street, Keglers on Chestnut Ridge Road and Suburban Lanes on Chestnut Ridge Road.
   He used a personal aerosol monitor and tested the air without the owners’ knowledge, he said. Roberts termed the air quality at Keglers and Suburban Lanes “moderate,” and the air at the other two places “very unhealthy,” according to the outdoor air quality index.
   “A lot of the establishments students work at and visit are extremely unhealthy, as far as air quality,” he said. “And students are unaware of the the health effects.”
   Roberts said he is planning to do more studies on area establishments, but doesn’t know when.
   “Our plan is to do some more of these and hopefully get the people in the Morgantown area to put some more pressure on establishments to voluntarily go smoke-free,” he said.
   For the tests, the monitor was hooked to his belt, and a 3-foot tube was attached to the monitor to draw in the air.
   Roberts said he pulled the tube around his waist and up his back, positioning the end of it outside of the collar of his sweatshirt.
   The tube of the personal aerosol monitor was visible near the collar of Roberts’ sweatshirt, he said, and no one asked him about it. If he was asked about it, he would have been willing to explain its purpose, he said.
   The air quality index is used to measure the level of pollution in the air outdoors, Roberts said. There is no air-quality index specifically for indoor air, he said, so the students measured the air quality inside the bars with the outdoor air quality index.
   According to the index, a value of 50 represents good air quality and a value more than 300 represents hazardous air quality. Areas in between are moderate, unhealthy for sensitive groups, unhealthy and very unhealthy. A value of 100 is the national air-quality level set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
   Roberts said the average air quality in Keglers and Suburban Lanes was moderate, with readings at Keglers averaging about 82.60 and readings at Suburban Lanes averaging about 33.92.
   John McGraw, general manager of Suburban Lanes, said he thought the numbers were good.
   “That says to me that we can regulate the air here,” he said. “We can achieve clean air through freshair ventilation. We work really hard here. We try to offer both a smoking lounge and a nonsmoking lounge.”
   McGraw said the students should have done an air quality test inside Keglers II, the smoke-free bar.
   Big Times rated “very unhealthy” with an average reading of 221.67, Roberts said.
   Rain, which Roberts said is advertised as a smoke-free establishment, rated “very unhealthy” with an average reading of 280.01.
   The Dominion Post was unable to reach representatives for Rain and Big Times for comment.
   Roberts warned that some of the numbers may be skewed, because he turned the monitor on before he went into each establishment, so the first few minutes of each reading were of air quality outside the bars.
   Christina Mickey, the project coordinator for the Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia, said bars, restaurants and other hospitality venues are the places where the students, and other members of the community, work and socialize.
   “It will make a huge impact on public health when we make these establishments smoke-free,” she said.
   WVU freshman Loren Bane said she would like to see WVU become a smoke-free campus, because smokers congregate outside classroom buildings for their smoke breaks, and she can’t exit those buildings without “inhaling a puff of smoke.
   “Smokers are infringing on our rights to breathe clean, non-carcinogenic, air,” she said. “I’m asking WVU officials, professors, students, community members and this board to stand up for the rights of non-smokers.”
   Board Chairman Sam Chico III said he was pleased with the way the public portion of the meeting went, and was particularly impressed with the words of the WVU students.
   “The tone of the discussion is becoming dignified enough that I’m willing to participate again,” he said.
WBOY also covered the story at   http://wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=46944

Posted November 15, 2008
This article appeared in the Daily Athenaeum on Thursday, November 13, 2008. Used by permission.

Students' Study Reveals Poor Air Quality in Morgantown Bars
by Jessica Hammond

   Some student hot spots may be more hazardous than meets the eye.  
   The Tobacco Free Mountaineers conducted a study to test the quality of air in four local establishments. Chris Roberts, president of the group, wore a device to read the quality of the air in the establishments.
   Rain, a local dance club, has a sticker on its front door stating that it is a smoke-free facility.  But Roberts said Rain had extremely hazardous air.  The air sample from Rain rated at an average of 280.01 micrograms, which is a very unhealthy level.
   Big Tymes, a bar in downtown Morgantown, also had an extremely high reading at 1,838 micrograms. The hazardous range is 301 to 500 micrograms.  
   Kegler’s Sports Bar and Suburban Lanes both were in the average ranges. But Roberts said there were experimental errors that could have skewed the results. Because it was late at night after a football game, there were only 60 people in the bowling alley.
   Roberts also turned the machine on and off while he was outside of each establishment, and the outside air was a different quality than the air inside each building – which could have impacted the readings.
   The low number of smokers versus the very high ratings of smoke could partially be due to ventilation problems or smoking that had occurred inside earlier.
   In Big Tymes, which had the poorest air quality, there were only 98 people there and about 14 smoked.
   Roberts wore a tube that came up through his shirt to capture the air samples while the software sat safely on his belt.  The samples were compared to an outdoor air sample chart that categorized the levels by the quality of air.
   Senior member of Tobacco Free Mountaineers Brandon Beacom went with Roberts on the clean air adventure.   Beacom said he wasn’t surprised at the high and dangerous results in the local establishments. He said Roberts wore the device and hid it well. They did not get any strange looks during the night.
   “I think students should be informed about smoking and air quality. A lot of people just ignore it,” Beacom said.  He also said it is important to show students the facts so they can make educated choices.  “We need to inform students that the decisions they make affect not just themselves but others around them as well,” he said.
   Today at 9 a.m., Roberts plans to face the Monongalia County Board of Health and reveal these results.  He is going to propose that all indoor facilities, including bars and restaurants, should be smoke-free for the health of everyone who attends and works in these facilities.  
   He also said if Monongalia County or West Virginia University go “smoke-free,” the other one will follow suit. He added that WVU’s tobacco policy has not been changed since 1990, and it is in need of updates.
Posted November 15, 2008
This article appeared in the Charleston Gazette on Monday, October 13, 2008. Used by permission.

Bars, Clubs Recovering from County Smoking Ban
by Phil Kabler   

  As predicted here weeks ago, bars and clubs around Kanawha County are continuing to regain business lost when the countywide public smoking ban was imposed July 1, based on the only available objective figures to track their business.
   Total limited video lottery revenues for the county in September were $3,024,692, up $111,149, or about 4 percent from August, according to the Lottery Commission's monthly report.
   In fact, the limited video lottery in bars and clubs in smoke-free Kanawha County outperformed their brethren in the rest of the state.
   Statewide, limited video lottery revenue dropped for the month of September, down to $32,901,342 from $34,385,297 in August.
   That's a drop of 4.5 percent statewide, which seems consistent with the downturn in consumer and recreational spending nationally.
   The top-earning establishment in the county, Mimi's of Nitro, had $97,548 in revenue for September, up 10 percent from $88,516 in August - and up 25 percent from $77,832 in June, the last month smoking was permissible.
   And this is for an establishment near the Putnam County line, and part of a chain where the operator was recently quoted as estimating that 80 percent of the clientele were smokers.
   So, lo and behold, Kanawha County seems to be following the pattern of every other jurisdiction in the United States that has prohibited smoking in public places: After an initial decline, business rebounds.
   Meanwhile, limited video revenues for Putnam County bars and clubs dropped from $552,330 in August to $525,243 in September. Could it be that non-smoking slots players in Putnam County are bypassing their local establishments to take advantage of the smoke-free environs in Kanawha County?
Posted October 30, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, September 28, 2008. Used by permission.

Smoke-Free Initiative moves from Mon County; Official: Marion County ‘very supportive’ of act
by Tracy Eddy
  
   The Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia program is moving to the Marion County Health Department after being housed in the Monongalia County Health Department for eight years.
   The move will take place on Wednesday.
   Bruce Adkins, the director of the Division of Tobacco Prevention, said the DTP decided to move the program to Marion County because the Marion County Board of Health is “very supportive of the Smoke-Free Initiative Act of West Virginia.”
   The Marion County BOH is enforcing a comprehensive public smoking ban that went into effect in early August.
   The Mon County BOH has been considering a similar ban for nearly a year. County residents for and against a proposed ban prodded the board Thursday to put the issue back on its agenda and make a decision, but board members did not indicate they have any plans to do so.
   Adkins said Christina Mickey, the project coordinator for the Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia, will continue to be the program’s project coordinator and will move to an office in the Marion County Health Department.
   “In our eyes, it’s a really good thing, because we’ve retained our coordinator,” Adkins said.
   Mickey said she has been project coordinator since it began in December 2000.
   “I’m excited and happy to be able to continue with this,” she said.
   There will be no changes to the program, aside from the phone number and the physical address, Mickey said.
   She’s been packing up boxes — some full of “Smoke-Free” stickers or other signage — and shipping them to her new office.
   The Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia grant is about $150,000 per year, Mickey said, and the majority of the money is used to help counties create and enforce smoking regulations.
   Mickey’s salary is also paid by the grant money, she said. She makes about $42,000 a year.
   The Marion County Health Department will receive about $10,000 to $14,000 of the grant money to house the program, Mickey said.
   The money will cover indirect costs, she said, such as phone lines and office space rental.
   A spokeswoman for the Marion County Health Department said Lloyd White, the health department’s administrator, was out of the office until Monday and could not comment until then.
   The state did not award the grant to the Mon County Health Department for another full year in July, but did extend last year’s grant for three months — which end on Tuesday.
   Shelley Martin, public health educator for the Monongalia County Health Department, did not respond to The Dominion Post in time for this report.
   Mickey said she travels for a majority of the work she does and she will still spend a lot of time in Mon County, working to protect residents and hospitality workers from secondhand smoke.
   Adkins said the Marion and Monongalia county health departments have worked very well together, and he expects the transition to be “seamless.”
Posted September 29, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, September 26, 2008. Used by permission.

Residents Prod BOH on Smoking Ban; Newest Member Hears Both Sides at First Meeting
by Tracy Eddy

   The proposed countywide smoking ban was the hot topic at the Monongalia County Board of Health meeting Thursday, even though it wasn’t an agenda item.
   Mon County residents spoke in favor and in opposition to the ban during the meeting’s public comment portion, and Chairman Sam Chico III took time to counter some of the talk.
   Robert Wheeler, the newest BOH member, said he wasn’t surprised people used the public portion of the meeting to voice their opinions on the ban.
   Wheeler, the president of Industrial Environmental Health Consultants Ltd. of Morgantown, was sworn into his position on the board in early September. Thursday was his first meeting with the board, but he said several people had already called him and sent him e-mails or letters about their positions on smoking.
   “Everyone has opinions and everyone tries to educate you from their point of view,” Wheeler said. “And you make your own judgments.”
   Catherine Whitworth, co-chairwoman of Smoke-Free Mon County, encouraged the BOH to put the ban back on the agenda.
   “The next time you meet in November, this will have been in your hands for a year,” Whitworth said. “You’ve had the opportunity to pass this and you still do. The majority of residents in this county — 80 percent nonsmokers — really want to see action on this.”
   Chico said he doesn’t typically respond to public comments, but he wanted to respond to Whitworth’s.
   He said he feels like he is driving a vehicle that needs some repairs, and Whitworth’s “pit crew” keeps coming at him with a “blow torch and a sledgehammer.”
   “I wouldn’t mind if you were trying to fix the car with those tools, but you’re using the tools on me,” he said.
   Chico said the proposed smoking ban is on the table, but he won’t participate in discussions until the “pit crew” finds some new tools to use.
   Whitworth asked if she could ask Chico a clarifying question concerning his statements.
   “Thank you. You’ve had your time,” he said.
   John McGraw, spokesman for the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Association, thanked the BOH for taking its time with the ban.
   “This issue is not black-andwhite,” he said. “A lot of people seem to think it is black-and-white, but there’s a lot of gray area. What is black-and-white is that tobacco is a legal product for adults to consume.”
   Donna Tennant, vice chairwoman, said she had recently spent a week in Washington, D.C., and, after visiting several businesses and restaurants, was surprised to find that the whole city is smoke-free.
   “It amazes me that a huge city like Washington, D.C., could pass such a regulation and we have a difficult time passing it here in our smaller Mon County,” she said.
   Chico said that comparing Mon County to Washington, D.C., isn’t an “apples to apples economic comparison.”
   “I think it would be different,” he said.
   Christina Mickey, the project coordinator for the Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia, told the board about the progress of Kanawha County’s countywide smoking ban, which took effect July 1.
   “Things are going just as we planned,” she said.
   Mickey said that some businesses are refusing to comply with the new regulations, but the “vast majority” are following the rules.
   The first four to six months are difficult for some communities, she said.
   “Even in the first week, the bartenders, the barbacks and DJs, their respiratory health has improved significantly,” Mickey said. “We encourage you to continue moving forward to protect all our hospitality workers and, as always, we’re a resource for you.”
   In other business:
   Board members voted to reschedule the November meeting for Nov. 13. The BOH meets on the last Thursday of every other month and the last Thursday in November is Thanksgiving.
   August Lucci was appointed to serve on the health department’s audit committee. Chico requested that someone make a motion to appoint Lucci because he is already the board’s financial chair. Board member Bob Bell made the motion and Tennant seconded it. 
Posted September 26, 2008
The Monongalia County Board of Health will meet Thursday, September 25 at 9:00AM
in the training center at Monongalia County Health Department.  It will be the first meeting attended by new BOH member, Robert Wheeler.  We do not know if the proposed smoking ban will be addressed by the Board at this meeting.  However, a persistent and vocal presence by supporters is always needed so that the Board understands that the demand for smoke free air is not going away.   Please attend and sign up to speak during the public comment segment of the meeting.  Ask the board to end the delays and pass a smoke free regulation that covers all public places and workplaces in our county.
Posted September 16, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, September 5, 2008. Used by permission.

Group: Poor Health Shortens Residents’ Lives
by the Associated Press

   CHARLESTON — West Virginians face shorter lives than people elsewhere in the country because of persistent health problems, particularly women in the southern counties whose life expectancies are among the lowest nationwide.
   In a news conference Thursday, West Virginians for Affordable Health Care warned that these and other findings in a new report mean the state has to move to combat obesity, tobacco use, poor nutrition and other scourges if today’s young residents are to live longer than their parents.
   ‘‘This promise that we would live longer than our parents, and that our kids would live longer than us is in jeopardy,’’ said Perry Bryant, the group’s executive director.
   The health care advocacy group based its report on data from more than 3,100 counties across the country released in April by Harvard University researchers.
   According to the data, only four West Virginia counties — Pendleton, Grant, Tucker and Monongalia — have life expectancy rates above the national median of 76.5 years, a number calculated by West Virginians for Affordable Health Care from the data.
   The Harvard researchers gave women nationally an average life expectancy of 79.6 years, and 74.1 for men.
   Based on those numbers, the picture is grim for West Virginia, and in the southern counties most of all. The average life expectancy for men and women in McDowell County is 70.4 years, meaning only 13 counties of 3,141 have lower rates.
   For women, it’s worse. Women in that county live an average of 73.5 years, making it the 10th lowest nationally. Two other counties — Mingo and Logan — were among the 20 worst for women’s life expectancy.
   The data has a significant drawback, though, in that it measures life expectancy from 1961 to 1999, the last year for which good information is available.
   Partially filling in those gaps are data from the state Department of Health and Human Resources, which track life expectancy by county through 2006.
   Those numbers show life expectancy is actually declining in some parts of West Virginia, particularly the southern counties of Boone, Logan, McDowell, Mingo and Wyoming. In Boone and Wyoming counties, the average life expectancy dropped by more than three years between 1999 and 2006.
   The group wants the state and county governments to reduce tobacco use by raising cigarette taxes and enacting comprehensive indoor smoking bans; to completely eliminate sugary soft drinks from public schools; to give tax breaks to grocers who sell fresh fruits and vegetables; and to invest in pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, among other recommendations.
Posted September 5, 2008
Full Smoking Ban Passes in Harrison County

On August 20 2008, the Harrison County Board of Health passed a comprehensive smoking ban that applies to all public places, including bars and video lottery rooms.  This was not a sudden or easy decision by the BOH to do the right thing but the result of  years of steadfast effort by Harrison County's health advocates. 

Regional Tobacco Prevention Coordinator, Beverly Keener, shared the following observations on the action in Harrison County.   "The Harrison County group began educational presentations on secondhand smoke in 2002.  In 2005, they launched an intensive campaign of petitions, letters to the editor, consistent attendance and advocacy at board of health meetings, two public comment periods, and a strong presence by supporters.  Despite setbacks they encountered, this group resolved not to give up until the job was done no matter how long it took. Without this effort we would not have seen this momentous  public health accomplishment in Harrison County."

Smoke Free Mon County is grateful to these dedicated Harrison County advocates for staying the course. Your efforts inspire us maintain our energy and focus here in Monongalia County.  We will rise to meet our challenges, for as long as it takes.  Ultimately we will win smoke free air for all!  
Posted August 26, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Monday, August 25, 2008. Used by permission.

Wheeler: No position yet on smoking ban; New BOH member says he’s ‘looking forward’ to serving Mon County  
by Tracy Eddy; the Associated Press contributing
 
   Robert Wheeler, who was appointed to the Monongalia County Board of Health earlier this week, said the appointment caught him by surprise.
   “A lot of very competent people applied,” Wheeler said. “And I feel honored that someone would select me.”
   Wheeler said he doesn’t have a position on the proposed countywide smoking ban.
   “I have to listen to all sides of the argument before I can take a position,” he said.
   The list of West Virginia counties where smoking is no longer allowed in bars and gambling parlors is growing.
   On Wednesday, Harrison County became the 20th county to ban smoking in bars and gambling parlors. The prohibition is part of an expanded clean indoor air regulation approved by the Harrison-Clarksburg Board of Health.
   The revised regulation takes effect Jan. 1, 2009.
   Catherine Whitworth, co-chair of Smoke Free Mon County, said she was very encouraged by the action the Harrison County BOH took in approving the smoking ban.
   “We think its wonderful for the citizens of Harrison County,” Whitworth said. “We applaud the Harrison County Board of Health for performing their duties and protecting the public.”
   Whitworth said Smoke Free Mon County is ready for the BOH to pass an expanded clean indoor air regulation of its own to protect its residents.
   Chico said the Mon County BOH would address the proposed smoking ban again “when the time comes.”
   “It’s taking its course right now,” Chico said.

Wheeler’s resume   

   Wheeler is the president of Industrial Environmental Health Consultants LTD, of Morgantown.
   He received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in civil engineering from WVU and a master’s in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health. He is a retired U.S. Public Health officer, having served 21 years of active duty with the U.S. Army and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
   He said he thinks the work and traveling he’s done over the years could be beneficial to the county health department.
   “I like to think I’ve seen how other people deal with public health issues,” Wheeler said. “The background I’ve gained through all the things I’ve done and all the places I’ve traveled to, I could bring that to Mon County.”
   Sam Chico III, chairman of the BOH, said he was looking forward to working with Wheeler.
   “The resume of Mr. Wheeler is ideal for the Board of Health,” Chico said. “His education and experience that he will bring to the table is very exciting for us here at the health department and on the Board of Health.”
   After Wheeler is sworn in, he will be given a tour of the health department and a rundown of the programs it offers, he said.
   “I want to see what people are doing, and if I can help make things better, I will,” Wheeler said. “I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to serve the citizens of Mon County.”
Posted August 26, 2008
Smoke Free Mon County Marks a Full Year of Smoke-free Advocacy   

  This month marks a full year of our coalition's advocacy for smoke free air with the Monongalia County Board of Health.  Unfortunately, July's Board of Health meeting brought no surprises.  Smoke Free Air was not addressed at all except by members of the public during the comment segment at the end of the meeting.  We do not know if or when the board will take up the issue again, but do not expect it to happen quickly.  As disappointing as their lack of action is, we believe it is better to wait until the board of health is ready to do their job and pass an effective smoking ban that protects everyone rather than accept a compromised, weak regulation.   Once a bad regulation is passed, it would likely take years before the board would consider enacting a better one.  We will continue our work in educating the public and encouraging our board of health to pass an exemption free regulation that is fair and effective in protecting all of our county's residents, workers, students, and visitors.  While this issue is tabled by the board of health, we will also explore other ways of securing protection for the public from secondhand smoke. 
   Meanwhile, please encourage establishments that you frequent, or would like to frequent, to provide a smoke free environment for their customers and employees.  And don't forget to check our website at www.smokefreemonc.org for updates, media coverage and the latest information on secondhand smoke.
   We are grateful for your support and look forward to continuing our partnership to clear the air in Mon County.
Posted July 31, 2008
This is part of an article that appeared in the Dominion Post on Thursday, July 31, 2008. Text by Tracy Eddy.  Title added by SmokeFreeMonC.org. Used by permission.

July BOH Meeting:  No Action on Smoking Ban    

The smoking ban issue was not on the agenda, but it was brought up during the public comment portion of the meeting.
   Christina Mickey, project coordinator for the Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia, encouraged the BOH members to leave the current smoking regulation as it is, rather than rush into a poorly put together regulation.
   “It’s better to have no regulation, than a regulation designed to create little impact,” Mickey said. “Once a bad regulation is in place, there are additional years before we can amend it.”
   The Monongalia County Health Department’s current rule bans smoking in public places, except in designated areas. It also limits, but doesn’t outright ban, smoking in work places, according to the health department’s Web site, monchd.org.
   Catherine Whitworth, cochairwoman of Smoke-Free Mon County, also asked the BOH to leave the current regulation unchanged.
   “Take your time to get it right and not to make a mistake to create a regulation that is simple and fair,” Whitworth said.
   Bell, who’s also a member of the BOH, thanked Mickey and Whitworth for their comments.
   “There has been an adversity between the Board of Health and the Smoke-Free Initiative that needed to be softened,” Bell said. “This was a perfect way to do that.”
Posted July 31, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, June 27, 2008. Used by permission.

BOH Ethics Complaint Dismissed;  Sate: There’s No Conflict for Vote on Smoking Ban
by Cassie Shaner

   The West Virginia Ethics Commission has dismissed a complaint filed against three members of the Monongalia County Board of Health alleging a conflict of interest on a proposed countywide smoking ban.
   The ethics commission’s Probable Cause Review Board met Wednesday to consider complaints that had been received during the past month. Members of the Smoke-Free Mon County coalition, the organization that filed the complaint, received word of the board’s decision by letter Thursday.
   An attached dismissal order says the coalition’s claims “do not constitute a material violation of law upon which the the Ethics Commission could properly act.”
   The letter, written by Ethics Commission Executive Director Lewis Brewer, listed the coalition’s claims against each board member and explained why each is not a violation of the state’s Ethics Act.
   The coalition contended that Sam Chico III, who owns and operates a chain of convenience stores, and August Lucci, the uncle and employee of one of the smoking ban’s main opponents, had business interests that could affect their vote on the proposed regulation.
   But Brewer indicates that public officials are permitted to vote on matters that affect more than five businesses in an area.
   “As there are five or more businesses in Monongalia [County] which will be affected by the smoking ban, the Review Board found these allegations failed to state a claim,” Brewer said in the letter.
   The coalition noted that Bob Bell had received campaign contributions from Chico and Steve Lorenze Jr. — Lucci’s nephew and a coowner of Suburban Lanes and Kegler’s sports bar — but Brewer said campaign donations alone do not bar an official from voting on an issue.
   “If a campaign contributor were to be affected individually as opposed to being a member of a class, then we may recommend the public official not vote,” Brewer said. “How- ever, even in that situation, the Ethics Act does not expressly prohibit the casting of a vote.”
   The coalition also claimed that Chico failed to adhere to the board’s bylaws when he did not call for a vote on the conflicts of interest after they were presented at a public meeting. Brewer, however, said that “failure to comply with the board’s bylaws does not constitute a violation of the Ethics Act.”
   Chico — who prefers to be contacted through Shelley Martin, public health educator for the Monongalia County Health Department — did not return a call to The Dominion Post for comment Thursday.
   On Tuesday, Martin said Chico would not comment on when the BOH planned to take up the smoking ban for consideration again.
   “Sam said every board member wishes to pass a stronger clean indoor air regulation,” Martin said. “As soon as conditions permit that, it should occur.”
   Bell also did not return a call to The Dominion Post for comment Thursday.
   Catherine Whitworth, co-chairwoman of Smoke-Free Mon County, said she was relieved by the decision, as it clears the way for BOH members to make a decision on the proposal. Chico tabled the measure last month, saying the ethics complaint and other tactics employed by those interested in the issue — though he refused to say who — had made it impossible for the board to make a decision.
   In light of the dismissal, Whitworth said she hopes the board will call a special meeting on the matter before a new member is appointed to the board.
   Board member and smoking ban supporter Dorcas Davis’ term expires Monday. Though she asked to be reappointed to a third fiveyear term, Kennedy and Commission President Bob Bell refused to second a motion from Commissioner John Pyles to reappoint Davis at a meeting earlier this month.
   “If they appoint a new member, it may take some time for them to get up to speed on smokefree issues,” Whitworth said. “I would hate for there to be another delay.”

Board members   

   Though others have expressed interest, County Administrator Diane DeMedici said three qualified candidates — Richard Meckstroth, Brian Krolczyk and Irv Schuetzner — have filed formal letters of interest with the Monongalia County Commission to fill Davis’ seat.
   By law, no more than two of the county’s five board members can live in the same magisterial district — Eastern, Central or Western — or have the same occupation. No more than three can be of the same political party.
   Davis, a retired schoolteacher, resides in the Eastern District, and she is a registered Republican. Her replacement must be a registered Republican or Independent who lives in the Eastern or Western district.
   Meckstroth, chair of the Department of Dental Practice and Rural Health at WVU’s School of Dentistry, filed his letter of interest Wednesday. He noted that he “can offer the Board of Health a combination of public health principles along with an understanding of business issues,” but he did not indicate his stance on the smoking issue.
   Krolczyk, 42, has a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from WVU and works as a consultant for Lifepath LLC. In his letter, Krolczyk said he chaired a committee to help make HEALTHSOUTH smoke-free.
   “Our committee heard passionate testimony from all sides and considered all the options while moving forward,” Krolczyk said. “We set up educational treatment opportunities for smokers and leadership development training for managers. It was a unique challenge.”
   Schuetzner, director of transportation for Monongalia County Schools, has said that he would like to see greater cooperation between the BOH and the school district. In a letter published in The Dominion Post earlier this year, he indicated that he does not support a proposed countywide smoking ban.
   Whitworth said her primary concern is that the commission has qualified candidates to choose from to replace Davis.
   “I think that anyone with experience in public health or public health administration would be a candidate that would be beneficial to the health department,” Whitworth said.
   Kennedy has previously indicated his intent to restaff the board with more business-minded individuals. With the exception of Schuetzner, Kennedy said he plans to interview the candidates for the board before making a decision.
   “I know Irv well enough,” Kennedy said. “Why would you interview someone that you already know well?”
   Commission President Bob Bell and Commissioner John Pyles said they also plan to interview the candidates they don’t already know and make a decision in the coming weeks. Earlier this week, Kennedy said he expects to select a candidate by mid-July — before the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting.
   “We don’t need to [appoint a replacement] until right before the next board meeting,” Kennedy said. “My thought would be that we’d do it in mid-July or something.”
Editorial Comment from Smoke Free Mon County regarding this article:

   The Ethics Commission did not issue a ruling on the truth of Smoke Free Mon County's allegations or whether a conflict of interest existed, but simply that the allegations did not meet the legal standard to state a claim under the Ethics Act.  The Review Board also stated that failure to follow bylaws does not constitute a violation of the Ethics Act and is a matter best addressed by the prosecuting attorney.
   We sincerely hope that the Board of Health will end the delays and now move forward in passing a clean indoor air regulation that protects everyone.


West Virginia Public Radio featured a piece on the Monongalia County smoking ban.  Read or listern to it at www.wvpubcast.org
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Tuesday, June 3, 2008. Used by permission.

EDITORIAL

Healthy Ethics Should Matter; BOH Right to Table Action on Policy in Light of Complaints About Conflicts  

   This is a complicated message on a simple topic: Ethics do matter in the debate over a smoke-free policy for Monongalia County. But that doesn’t mean it’s all either right or wrong. Just witness the Monongalia County Board of Health in its recent response to a proposal to ban smoking in all public places, including bars and workplaces.
The BOH was right to table the discussion on this initiative while the state Ethics Commission investigates complaints that several members of the board have a conflict of interest. The members of the BOH and its decision cannot afford to be second-guessed or go back to the drawing board on something that should have already been approved.
   There’s a need for the state’s ethics panel to look into these alleged conflicts. Though we are at odds with the formal complainants to the Ethics Commission on the number of board members who have a conflict of interest, this is a legitimate issue. If the board was to take action on this proposal and it was later determined one, two or three of its members have a conflict, anything they did would be undermined. We are as disappointed as anyone else that this issue was put on hold again, but it should not proceed with a cloud of suspicion hanging over it, which would only taint a decision. The state Ethics Commission should make every effort to expedite its investigation and decision, but at the very same time, there should be no rush to judgment. What the BOH has gotten wrong — from almost the outset of this debate — is that this ban on smoking should have been approved from day one. There was no need for a 60-day public comment period or poll, countless meetings, alternative proposals, mindless worries about marginal concerns and, in general, blowing smoke at a decision that is self evident. Perhaps if it was a transit authority or the County Commission or some other public body, we could almost understand the months of deliberation and obfuscation. However, the Board of Health’s mandate is clearly to promote, protect and care for the health of our community — not a particular sector of the business community.
   This issue is more than a decade old — California imposed a statewide ban more than 12 years ago while this spring even the casinos in Atlantic City, N.J., began enforcing such a ban.
   Apparently, the BOH in Monongalia County takes no small comfort in knowing that smoke-free policies exist in more than a dozen other counties in West Virginia, a host of states, scores of cities and many countries. None of them got it wrong.  We urge the Ethics Commission to help the BOH get it right.
Posted June 3, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Tuesday, June 3, 2008. Used by permission.

Davis Not Reappointed to Health Board;  BOH Member Strong Smoking Ban Supporter
by Eric Bowen

   The Monongalia County Commission decided not to reappoint Dorcas Davis to the Board of Health on Monday, despite her request to continue serving on the board.
   Commissioner John Pyles made a motion to reappoint Davis, but it died because neither of the other two commissioners seconded it.
   Commissioner Asel Kennedy said that Davis has served on the board for 10 years, and he would like to see new people serving. He said that he is continuing with a plan to re-staff the BOH to have more businessminded people on the board.
   “It was over a year ago that I sent a memo to Bob [Bell] that we need to change the Board of Health members out,” Kennedy said. “I haven’t changed my position on that.”
   Davis has been one of the most outspoken BOH members in support of a new smoking regulation that would ban smoking in most public places. The BOH tabled the measure last week after the Smoke-Free Mon County coalition filed a complaint with the West Virginia Ethics Commission, alleging that three members of the county’s Board of Health have conflicts of interest related to a proposed smoking ban.
   Davis read a statement at the commission meeting Monday asking to continue serving after her term expires June 30. She said she wanted to finish the work on the smoking regulations and asked the commissioners not to appoint someone else until the vote had been taken.
   “I think in the interest of continuity on this important health issue, it should be voted on by the current board members,” Davis said.
   Kennedy said that his decision not to reappoint Davis had nothing to do with the smoking regulation. He said that Davis had served for many years and the issue had never been raised until this past year.
   Kennedy also clarified statements he made about the role of the BOH last week. He said that the state regulates so much of the public health laws that the BOH only has jurisdiction over clean air, which includes indoor smoking. He said the BOH should focus more on its role of overseeing the financial aspects of the Health Department, which requires people who are more business-minded.
   Pyles said his motion to reappoint Davis wasn’t related to the smoking ban either. He said people should be able to continue serving on county boards if they have the experience and interest to do so.
   “I think she’s fulfilled all of the reasons why people should serve, and why they want to serve,” Pyles said. “I don’t know of anybody who has done a better job on the Board of Health than she has.”
   So far, only one person has applied to fill Davis’ seat on the Board of Health.
   Irv Schuetzner, director of transportation for Monongalia County Schools, applied about a month ago to serve on the board. He said Monday that he would like to see greater cooperation between the BOH and the school district.
   Schuetzner sent a letter to The Dominion Post in April saying that the Board of Health shouldn’t pass a smoking ban. He said in the letter that if customers don’t want smoking they should let businesses know, and smart business owners will realize there is an opportunity to serve new customers.
   Schuetzner said Monday that the issue of smoking has taken up a lot of the BOH’s time, and it should get back to other issues. But he said that he would consider all sides on the smoking issue if he were appointed to the board.
   “I wouldn’t honestly want to make a vote until I had heard all of the information,” Schuetzner said. “I don’t make decisions unless I have enough facts.”
   Catherine Whitworth, co-chairwoman of the Smoke-Free Mon County coalition, said she supports reappointing Davis to the BOH.
   Whitworth said Davis has served well on the board and she should continue.
   She said Davis has been in on all of the informational sessions about the smoking issue, and it would be unfortunate to have to bring another board member up to speed on the public health issues involved.
   “We would like to see the reappointment at least postponed until the current board can see all of this through,” Whitworth said. “To bring someone new in to deal with this issue now would not be beneficial to anybody.”
   In other business Monday, the commission accepted several grant contracts, including grants for the Safe and Drug Free Schools grant program, court security and community participation. The commission also made a motion to oppose closing a road between Monongalia County and Dunkard Township, Pa.
Posted June 3, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, May 30, 2008. Used by permission.

Health Board Tables Smoking Ban Vote; Chair Says Ethics Complaint Hampers Ability to Decide  
by Cassie Shaner

   The Monongalia County Board of Health tabled a vote on a proposed smoking ban Thursday, after Chairman Sam Chico III had a heated exchange with members of Smoke-Free Mon County.
   Chico asked why they chose to file an ethics complaint just days before the board was to consider a proposed smoking ban.
   Chico asked the board to table any discussion of the proposed regulation at Thursday’s meeting. He said “the methodology that’s been used for special interests to advance their own agenda” has made it impossible for the board to make a decision.
   “I wonder if that was a strategy or a true ethics interest. Did you really want a result before the meeting, or did you want to confuse the process? Just a question,” Chico said, addressing a comment from Valerie Frey-McClung, co-chair of the Smoke-Free Mon County coalition.
   The coalition filed a complaint with the West Virginia Ethics Commission this week accusing Chico and board members Bob Bell and August Lucci of conflicts of interest related to the proposed clean indoorair regulation. The complaint also claims that the board violated its bylaws in March by failing to vote on the alleged conflicts at a public meeting.
   Catherine Whitworth, co-chair of Smoke-Free Mon County, said the coalition was following Chico’s advice when it filed the complaint.
   “You did advise us to take it up with the ethics board. ...,” Whitworth said. “We were simply following the advice you gave us.”
   But Chico asked what took so long.
   “It would have been nice to have it 60 days earlier, instead of just before the vote,” Chico said. “But nice try.”
   Whitworth said the coalition needed time to collect evidence to support its claims.
   Earlier in the meeting, Chico indicated that the coalition, by filing its complaint, has defeated its main purpose — passing a more stringent clean indoor air act.
   “There’s not a board member on this board that I’m aware of that does not want a more intense clean indoor air policy. ...,” Chico said. “I do believe in my heart that this would already be done if it weren’t for people’s overzealous personal interests. I’m amazed that we have not passed it yet. I believe that people who have the best intentions have subverted the whole process. That is the only reason why it has not happened yet.”

Ban postponed   

The board voted 3-1 in favor of a motion from Bell to table any action or discussion on the smoking ban. Chico, Bell and Lucci supported the motion, while board member Donna Tennant voted against it.
   Board member Dorcas Davis said she did not vote. She objected to Chico’s suggestion that the board table the smoking ban, noting that Chico promised the board would vote on the issue before her term expires June 30.
   “I hope to do that. ...,” Chico said. “I am truly sorry that so far I have not been able to live up to my promise, but I know what your date is and I am hoping to find a way to do it.”
   The board’s next regular meeting is July 31. After Thursday’s meeting, Chico said he is not certain when the board might take up the smoking issue again or whether a special meeting will be scheduled before Davis’ term ends.
   Chico said something — though he would not say what — must change in order for the board to make a proper decision.
   “It’s going to take a different air for the whole process,” Chico said. “The personal attacks on the outstanding board members that we have are completely unwarranted. For people to improperly attack their integrity to serve their own special interests is disturbing to me.”
   Chico refused to identify the individuals, groups or circumstances that have hindered the board’s decision-making process, but he said everyone involved in the process needs “to act as appropriate, educated adults.” He noted that he has “seen fraternity house votes that are more dignified.”
   “We have to bridge a gap,” Chico said. “It makes no sense to take a vote. It’s like volunteering to jump off a plank into a tank of alligators.”
   Davis said the board’s decision to postpone a vote on the smoking ban was “asinine.” By not passing a comprehensive smoking ban, she said the board has failed to fulfill its mission to protect the public’s health.
   “It’s kind of an oxymoron that we have that as our mission,” Davis said during the meeting.
   Tennant did not return a call to The Dominion Post by press time to explain why she voted against tabling the clean indoor-air regulation, but she has previously spoken in favor of the proposed ban.
   Bell and Lucci also did not return calls to The Dominion Post by press time Thursday to explain their decision to table consideration of the ban.
   At the time of the vote, Bell said he wanted a ruling from the ethics commission on the conflict-of-interest allegations before proceeeding. Earlier this week, Bell said he contacted the ethics commission himself to ask for a decision on whether a conflict of interest exists.
   Lewis Brewer, executive director of the ethics commission, has said the commission’s Probable Cause Review Board will meet on June 18 to consider any complaints it has received. He said the commission is prohibited from disclosing whether it has received a complaint or not.

Other business   

The board also:
   Approved a $4.197 million budget for the health department for fiscal year 2008-’09.
   According to the budget document, the agency’s nutrition services department represents both the greatest source of revenue and expense. Nutrition services is expected to generate about $995,765 in revenue and cost about $922,689 in projected expense.
   Approved a strategic plan for the health department for fiscal years 2008-’10. The document lists objectives designed to accomplish several goals for the agency in the coming years, including improving the agency’s financial status and minimizing illness in the community.
   Agreed to offer pre- and postvaccine testing for Hepatitis B on a sliding fee scale. Each test would have to be purchased separately, and the price ranges from $20.50 to $40.

The Monongalia County Board of Health meets at 9 a.m. July 31, at the Monongalia County Health Department Training Center, 453 Van Voorhis Road.
Posted May 30, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, May 30, 2008. Used by permission.

Davis Doubts She Has Support to Keep Health Board Seat; Term Ends June 30; One Person Applies For Consideration  by Cassie Shaner

   Monongalia County Board of Health member Dorcas Davis said Thursday she is certain she will not be reappointed to the board when her term expires June 30.
   Davis is serving her second fiveyear term on the board. Though she has submitted a letter to the Monongalia County Commission seeking another term, she does not believe she has enough support on the commission to be reappointed.
   “I’m not one of [commission President Bob] Bell’s favorite people,” Davis said. “I don’t vote his way. ... [Commissioner Asel] Kennedy wouldn’t reappoint some of the other people that have asked to be reappointed. I don’t know if he’ll reappoint me or not. I just don’t think he will.”
   Kennedy, who indicated his intent to restaff the health board last year when he refused to reappoint former chairwoman Mary Jane Kerns, said he will not support another term for Davis, either.
   “Her term is up, and she had said earlier she didn’t want to serve and then she changed her mind and said she did,” Kennedy said. “I won’t reappoint her.”
   Kennedy said he wants to appoint a business-minded person to the board, as most of the board’s decisions deal with finances and meeting set goals and objectives.
   “It’s not a health thing, in my opinion. They don’t make health decisions, other than one,” he said, describing the proposed smoking ban as a health decision.
   But Davis said it makes sense to have someone on the board with experience.
   “It would be to their advantage to have someone appointed to the board who doesn’t have to be reintroduced to everything, especially at this critical time,” Davis said. “If they get a new member on the board, it’s going to take them at least three or four months to get up to par on what’s going on.”
   Commissioner John Pyles agreed. He said he supports Davis’ reappointment.
   “She’s been a faithful member and done a credible job,” Pyles said. “She knows the ropes. You don’t want to put someone else in there that’s going to take several months to learn how things work.”
   Bell did not return calls to The Dominion Post by press time for comment on Davis’ reappointment.
   By law, no more than two of the county’s five board members can live in the same magisterial district — Eastern, Central or Western — or have the same occupation. No more than three can be of the same political party.
   Davis, a retired schoolteacher, resides in the Eastern District. She is a Republican.
   The remaining board members are Donna Tennant, a Democrat and marketing director for Sundale Nursing Home, Western District; Bell, a Democrat, Central District; August Lucci, a Democrat and retired businessman, Central District; and Sam Chico III, a Republican and business owner, Eastern District.
   Because there are already two representatives from the Central District and three Democrats on the board, Davis’ replacement can live in either the Eastern or Western district and must be a registered Republican.
   Pyles said Irv Schuetzner, director of transportation for Monongalia County Schools, has submitted a letter of interest for Davis’ seat. According to the letter, Schuetzner, a Republican, resides in the Eastern District.
   Schuetzner, who said he submitted his letter a month or so ago, is interested in serving on the board because of the health department’s extensive involvement with the school system. He said he has been involved in the community for more than 20 years and hopes to help expand health department services.
   “I talked to the school nurses and the superintendent, and they thought if it opened up, it would be a good opportunity,” Schuetzner said.
   Davis said she had no idea who might be appointed to the board in her place, but she believes it will be someone who meets the approval of Bell and Kennedy.
   “It’ll be someone that they can control,” Davis said. “It’ll probably be someone that will vote the way [Bell and Kennedy] want them to.”
   Schuetzner said he knows Bell and Kennedy, but he was not asked by either commissioner to seek a seat on the board. If he is selected to the board, he said he intends to think things through and make welleducated decisions.
   “My feeling is everything should be looked at from a logical perspective,” Schuetzner said. “You gather all the information, and you make the best decision.”
   Kennedy said he has no one in mind for Davis’ seat on the board, and he expects to receive more letters of interest in the coming weeks. He plans to interview any applicants he does not already know.

The Monongalia County Commission meets at 7 p.m. Monday, in commission chambers, Monongalia County Courthouse, 243 High St. Anyone interested in submitting a letter of interest for the Board of Health can contact the commission office at 291-7257.
Posted May 30, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Wednesday, May 28, 2008. Used by permission.

Group Files Health Board Complaint; Asks State to Rule on Smoking Ban Conflict
by Cassie Shaner

   The Smoke-Free Mon County Coalition has filed a complaint with the West Virginia Ethics Commission, alleging that three members of the county’s Board of Health have conflicts of interest related to a proposed smoking ban.
   The complaint also indicates that the board violated its bylaws when its members failed to vote on publicly aired concerns about potential conflicts raised at a meeting in March.
   In a letter sent to Lewis Brewer, executive director of the ethics commission, on Friday, the coalition asked the commission to investigate board members Bob Bell, August Lucci and chairman Sam Chico III and force them to abstain from participating in any further discussions or votes on the proposed policy.
   Brewer said Tuesday that the commission is prohibited from disclosing whether a complaint has been received. The commission’s Probable Cause Review Board will meet on June 18 to review any complaints and determine whether “at its face value, the complaint states a violation of the ethics act,” he said.
   “They would direct an investigation, and they would monitor and oversee that investigation,” Brewer said.
   The West Virginia Ethics Act, listed under W.Va. Code 6B-2-5, is a code of conduct for elected and appointed public officials. It includes guidelines for soliciting gifts, licensing proceedings and private interests in public contracts, purchases and sales.
   The coalition’s complaint indicates that Chico, who owns and operates a chain of convenience stores, has a conflict of interest because of the proposed smoking ban’s potential impact on business.
   The coalition provides documentation that indicates Lucci is employed by nephew Jerry Lorenze, a bar owner and vocal opponent of the proposal, who paid postage for petitions submitted against the ban.
   And Bell, also president of the Monongalia County Commission, has received campaign contributions from Lorenze and Chico, according to the complaint.
   Chico and Lucci did not return calls to The Dominion Post by press time Tuesday for comment.
   Bell said he contacted the ethics commission by e-mail this week and asked its members to rule on whether he has a conflict of interest on the proposed smoking ban. He said he indicated that the matter is urgent and asked for a response by the time of the board’s meeting Thursday, if possible.
   “If there is [a conflict], I have no problem with recusing myself,” Bell said, noting that if a conflict exists, it’s “very minimal.”
   “How did I know nine years ago that I would be voting on something that would affect these people?” he said.
   Consideration of a Clean Indoor Air proposal is listed on the agenda for Thursday’s board meeting. Valerie-Frey McClung, co-chairwoman of Smoke-Free Mon County, said the coalition had no intention of delaying a vote on the matter by filing its complaint.
   Even if Chico, Lucci and Bell are told to abstain Thursday, she said the five-member board could still make a decision.
   “A quorum would be present. They just wouldn’t be voting,” Frey-McClung said. “If the other two members were in favor of the motion, I would think it would pass.”
   Frey-McClung said the board should make a decision at this week’s meeting. She noted that, at the board’s March meeting, Chico said the board had plenty of time to make a decision before board member Dorcas Davis’ term expires.
   “This is the last regularly scheduled meeting before her term expires on June 30,” Frey-McClung said. “I would ask that the Board of Health do the board’s work and protect the public health.”
Bylaw violation?
   The board’s bylaws indicate that its members must vote to determine whether a conflict of interest exists, but the coalition alleges that the board failed to do so at a March meeting.
   Article VIII of the board’s bylaws state that “a member of the public, either in writing or orally, may declare that a Board or committee member has a conflict of interest. When the conflict is contended, its existence will be determined by a majority vote of the Board.”
   Smoke-Free Mon County Co-Chairwoman Catherine Whitworth accused Lucci and Chico of conflicts of interest during the public portion of the board’s March meeting and asked them to recuse themselves from any vote on the ban, but Chico dismissed her claim and addressed other matters.
   “The board violated their bylaws by not recognizing that a conflict of interest had been asserted,” Frey-McClung said Tuesday. “Their bylaws are very specific about how to handle that.”
   At the time, the coalition did not have the documentation to allege a conflict of interest against Bell, but Frey-McClung said the board has had ample time to address the potential conflicts with Chico and Lucci.
   “I think it was pretty clear,” Frey-McClung said of the accusations. “We gave the board plenty of time to address the conflict of interest charge. They chose to ignore it. [Filing an ethics complaint] was not what we wanted to do.”
   Frey-McClung said the coalition will likely ask the board to address the conflict of interest charges again Thursday.
   “According to their bylaws, they have to take a vote to determine whether a conflict of interest exists,” she said.

The Monongalia County Board of Health meets in regular session at 9 a.m. Thursday, at the Monongalia County Health Department Training Center, 453 Van Voorhis Road.



Posted May 28, 2008
Correction printed May 28, 2008: Due to a reporter’s error, a Tuesday story included incorrect information about a countywide smoking ban proposed to the Board of Health by a representative of Smoke-Free Mon County. The proposal does not include a specific restriction for smoking in parks. A representative for the Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia, a separate group, has asked BOPARC to prohibit the use of tobacco products in public parks.

This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Tuesday, May 27, 2008. Used by permission.

Group Seeks Tobacco-free Parks; BOPARC Rules Already Ban Other Drugs
by Casssie Shaner

   Just one week before the Monongalia County Board of Health meets to consider a proposed countywide smoking ban, BOPARC is being asked to make Morgantown’s parks tobacco-free, too.
   At a meeting of the Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners on Thursday, Christina Mickey, project
coordinator for the Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia, suggested the agency alter its existing rules and regulations to include a provision that would ban the use of any tobacco product on park property.
   “That would include all types of tobacco, not just smoking,” Mickey said. “Tobacco-free policies are a perfect fit with the other health initiatives they already have in place.”
   Executive Director Mark Wise said BOPARC already prohibits smoking in its indoor facilities, but not in outdoor parks.
   Section E of BOPARC’s rules and regulations includes provisions that prohibit alcohol consumption, glue-sniffing and the use of narcotics, opiates and hallucinogens on park property. Adding tobacco products to that list would be a simple change, Mickey said.
   “If they’re already monitoring alcohol abuse and other policies that affect wellness, this fits right in,” she said.
   Mickey said there is scientific evidence that warrants policies that ban smoking and the use of tobacco products outdoors. Just because park-goers cannot see the smoke, that doesn’t mean it’s not there, she said.
   “Tobacco smoke is unlike other pollutants,” Mickey said. “It’s scientifically justifiable to ban it in outdoor public places. ... Even outdoors, we show more pollution in areas where smokers gather than we do for other types of pollution.”
   Local boards of health can also implement rules that restrict smoking in public parks, and a proposed countywide smoking ban presented to the Board of Health by Catherine Whitworth, chairwoman of Smoke-Free Mon County, includes restrictions for smoking in parks.
   An alternative proposal presented by the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Association would restrict smoking to only designated areas within public parks and at least 15 feet from the center of a paved rail-trail, but Mickey said the rules would be easier for BOPARC to enforce.
   The rules “are better suited for entities like BOPARC,” Mickey said. “They’ve already got the personnel there, and they can get the signage in place.”
   Mickey also presented BOPARC with a list of the potential benefits of tobacco-free policies in parks. It notes that tobacco-free policies help save money, among other things.
   “These are good ways for parks to decrease litter and maintenance costs,” Mickey said. “It’s a tremendous savings.”
   Wise said BOPARC could easily provide additional signage in its parks to increase awareness of the dangers of smoking, but exactly what changes are made will be up to BOPARC’s board members to decide. He said the matter will be listed on the agenda for BOPARC’s June meeting.
   “I’m not sure where we’re going to go with it, but we’ll definitely look at that at our next meeting,” he said.

The Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners meets in regular session at 5:30 p.m. June 26, in the conference room of the Morgantown Public Safety Center, on Spruce Street.

The Monongalia County Board of Health meets in regular session at 9 a.m. Thursday, at the Monongalia County Health Department Training Center, 453 Van Voorhis Road.
Posted May 27, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, May 25, 2008. Used by permission.

EDITORIAL

Snuff Out Conflicts of Interest on BOH:  Two members Should Not Vote on Smoke-free Policy Initiative

   The Monongalia County Board of Health needs to stop blowing smoke.
   On Thursday, the BOH will cast an up or down vote on a policy that would prohibit smoking in public places and workplaces.
   Though we are on the record in support of the smoke-free policy, we have remained mum on the accusations and motions that some BOH members have a potential conflict of interest.
   But before we get ahead of ourselves, the smoke-free policy issue is beyond debate. Because, if the BOH is charged with promoting and protecting public health, there’s nothing to debate.
   Secondhand smoke in public places is hazardous to the health of people who frequent those places, but more importantly, to the people who work there. Period.
   Members of the organization lobbying for this smoke-free policy have accused three of the five members of the BOH of having a conflict of interest: Sam Chico, August Lucci and Bob Bell.
   They made a motion before the BOH at its March session to disqualify Chico and Lucci because of their positions in life. That motion was dismissed.
   Even though we had little trouble making up our mind about the issue of whether or not this smokefree policy should be enacted, we are torn about the assertions of a conflict of interest on the BOH.
   However, after much debate, we have decided two members on the BOH do have a potential conflict of interest on this issue: Lucci and Bell.
   Although Chico owns businesses that sell cigarettes and tobacco products, we cannot go along with the smoke-free advocates, who link a potential decline in his profit margin to his vote for or against their initiative. They cited one 1992 tobacco industry study that shows smokers facing these bans smoke less and have a higher than average quit rate.
   That’s a far cry from evidence that a potential conflict of interest exists. In all honesty, we seriously doubt this smoke-free policy will have a marked effect on the minority of our county’s population that continues to smoke.
   However, with regard to Bell and Lucci, their connections — in Lucci’s case overwhelming, and in Bell’s marginal — to perhaps the most vocal opponent of the proposed smoking ban, cast a shadow on their ability to remain objective on this issue.
   And as a result, we call on Bell and Lucci to step aside on this Thursday’s vote on the proposed ban on smoking in Monongalia County’s public places.
   Lucci is potentially influenced by his employer, who has helped lead and finance the campaign to defeat this anti-smoking policy, and who is also his uncle.
   Meanwhile, County Commissioner Bell has been the recipient of a $1,000 contribution to his campaign by the same smoke-free opponent.
   In Bell’s case, we admit the perception of a conflict of interest is limited. It’s still in this community’s interest and Bell’s to step aside from this vote so no perception of impropriety exists.
   If Bell and Lucci decide to step aside, as we encourage them to, that should go a long way toward clearing the air on this issue.
Posted May 25, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, May 25, 2008. Used by permission.

Year-old Smoking Bans in 2 Counties Still Spark Debate on Economic Effect
by Cassie Shaner

   If Ohio and Randolph counties are to provide any indication, the debate about a proposed smoking ban in Monongalia County will rage on long after the board of health votes on the matter.
   Though both counties enacted comprehensive clean indoor-air regulations more than a year ago, public health advocates and business owners still disagree about whether the rules have affected business, and to what degree.
   Fraternal clubs in those communities said they’ve been hurt, but business as a whole appears unaffected, officials said.
   Christina Mickey, project coordinator for Smoke-Free West Virginia, said the fundamental argument about protecting a community’s business interests versus public health interests never goes away.
   “It’s an argument that has been present ever since the very first [regulation] was passed, in California in 1986,” she said.
   Ohio and Randolph counties are two of the 18 counties in West Virginia that have approved comprehensive clean indoor-air regulations. Marion County passed the state’s most recent law, joining Braxton, Calhoun, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Ohio, Pleasants, Pocahontas, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, Summers, Tucker, Upshur, Wirt, Wood and Wyoming counties in prohibiting smoking in nearly all public places and workplaces.
   Mickey defined comprehensive regulations as those that prohibit smoking in all workplaces, including bars and restaurants.
   The Monongalia County Board of Health is considering two proposals that would alter the county’s clean indoor-air regulation. One, a comprehensive law presented by Smoke-Free Mon County, in November, lists 18 public spaces where smoking would be prohibited, including restaurants and bars, which fall under the definition of a restaurant in the proposal.
   The other, presented by the Monongalia County Bar and Lottery Association, in March, would ban smoking in many public and work places, but not in bars or video lottery rooms. It would also permit smoking in the “physically separated bar areas of restaurants, hotels and other smoking facilities,” as long as ventilation systems are installed.
   To see how a comprehensive regulation might affect local businesses, The Dominion Post contacted officials and business owners in Ohio and Randolph counties to see how the smoking bans were done and what economic impact the rules have had.
   Though smaller than Monongalia County, Ohio and Randolph are the counties most similar in population that have bans on smoking in bars and restaurants. The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department and the Marion County Health Department — which serve populations closer in size to Mon County — have all enacted comprehensive regulations, but the rules have yet to take effect.

Wheeling/Ohio County

   The Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Health enacted its first clean indoor-air regulation in 1996, as many other counties across the state began adopting rules to limit smoking in public places, according to Ohio County Health Department Administrator Howard Gamble. Rather than amending the original regulation, the board then drafted a new law in 2005 that included “massive changes,” Gamble said.
   The law bans smoking in bars, restaurants and most other public places. Gambling facilities — including free-standing video lottery rooms and areas devoted to placing bets, such as Wheeling Island’s gaming floor — are exempt, as well as designated hotel and motel rooms, private residences, personal care homes, retail tobacco stores, private assembly rooms and bingo halls that serve more than 100 people.
   At the time the regulation was being considered, the local newspaper published dozens of letters for and against it, and board meetings were packed, Gamble said.
   “When it was discussed, you would have public attending, whether it was bar owners, restaurant owners, people from the track,” Gamble said. “They were there on a regular basis.”
   Because of the public reaction and the potential economic impact, the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce did not support the ban, according to President Terry Sterling.
   “We felt that it was an infringement on business practices, and our members were very vocal about it,” Sterling said. “Our position was that our individual members should be able to decide whether they want to be smoke-free or not.”
   Sterling said he does not have hard numbers that indicate whether the ban has hurt business in the area, but the chamber’s position has not changed.
   Wheeling City Council candidate Duane Ellis, also a trustee for The Cave Club, said the ban has “crippled” his fraternal organization and others in the area.
   “Our beer sales have dropped 130 cases a month,” Ellis said. “We’re really hurting. We have a lot of members. That’s the only reason we still have money.”
   If he is elected to council, Ellis hopes to restaff the Ohio County Board of Health and have fraternal organizations exempted from the ban. He claims that at least two fraternal organizations have closed as a result of the ban, and others — including The Cave Club — have had to cut back on community donations.
   Before the ban passed, The Cave Club contributed about $15,000 a year to local charities and other community groups.
   “Now we’ve stopped,” Ellis said. “All of them have stopped. The valley’s really hurting because of this.”
   Despite Ellis’ claims, Gamble said he has not seen an increase in the number of businesses closing in the Wheeling area, and noted that the health department is “issuing permits left and right, as far as new businesses opening up.”
   The majority of the new development in Ohio County has been in the Highlands area, near Cabela’s, he said.
   “The major development in this area has been smoke-free. It’s etched in glass,” Gamble said. “As far as impact, what we can see as far as the new development is that it’s all smoke-free.”
   Gamble said business owners still occasionally show up at board meetings to protest the regulation, but the public as a whole seems supportive of the smoking ban.
   “The public, for the most part, has accepted the regulation and why it was written, and that’s to protect the public’s health,” Gamble said.
   Charlie Schlegle, owner of the Wheeling restaurant Ye Olde Alpha, said he supported the ban from day one.
   “How can you logically argue against it?” Schlegle said. “You just can’t make the argument.”
   Schlegle had experience with smoking bans when the regulation took effect. The state of Maine did it when Schlegle lived in New Hampshire and worked for a nearby restaurant chain.
   “It’s easier for me to support it because I’ve been through it,” Schlegle said. “I know that eventually it will even out. The businesses will suffer when you first ban smoking, but long term, it will even out.”
   The ban has not affected Ye Olde Alpha at all, Schlegle said. Since he bought the business, in 2005, Schlegle said, annual sales have increased from less that $1 million to more than $2 million.
   “It hasn’t hurt us,” Schlegle said. “A great deal of that has to do with better food and better service, but it still hasn’t hurt us.”

Elkins/Randolph County

   The Randolph County Board of Health’s regulation went into effect Aug. 1. According to Warren Elmer, a sanitarian for the county health department, the board decided to amend the county’s existing rule because residents sent letters and petitions urging the board to strengthen it.
   “The public brought about this ban,” Elmer said. “The public started calling us. The board of health didn’t just sit down one day and decide to make the regulation stronger.”
   The new law prohibits smoking in most public and work places, including bars and restaurants. Like many regulations around the state, it exempts designated hotel and motel rooms, private residences, select personal care homes, retail tobacco stores, private assembly rooms and bingo halls that serve more than 100 people.
   Outdoor work places are also exempt.
   Elmer said most business owners opposed to the ban came forward after the law was passed. The board’s August meeting had to be held in a larger room because of the public response for and against the ban, he said.
   “Most of the argument was over their rights as the operator of a bar, not so much as a smoker, but as an operator,” Elmer said.
   Roger Ware, commander of American Legion Post 29, in Elkins, said about a dozen people attended one board meeting to protest the ban on behalf of various businesses, but their concerns fell on deaf ears.
   “We only went once,” Ware said. “From the information we gathered, it didn’t make a difference. They didn’t really care.”
   Ware said the smoking ban has dramatically affected raffle ticket sales at several local fraternal organizations, including the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Based on the drop in sales during the first four months, officials at the American Legion — which generally contributes $40,000 or more to local charities each year — projected they would be able to donate only $28,000 this year.
   “It seems like the nonprofit organizations are the ones that get punished,” Ware said. “Money that we generally give back to the community, as far as donations, has been greatly reduced.”
   But Elmer and Ellen Spears, director of the Elkins-Randolph County Chamber of Commerce, said most people seem to be happy with the ban. Many of the early complaints came from bar owners, they said, but even those have diminished.
   “To a certain extent, they still complain,” Spears said. “There is the attitude that, ‘Oh, you can’t tell me what to do on my property.’ That still exists, but I think it’s the minority.”
   Though it may have affected business initially, Spears said, many bar owners have come up with inventive solutions to encourage smokers to come back. Some establishments have built covered terraces and other outdoor areas where smokers can go to light up.
   “I don’t think anyone’s gone out of business as a result of the smoking ban,” Spears said. “They’re coming up with creative ways to try and appease the smokers.”
   Elmer said the number of permits issued by the health department has not increased or decreased since the ban, though existing businesses have until June 30 to renew their permits.
   “We lose some and we gain some anyway, but it’s all about the same,” Elmer said. “I don’t think we’ve lost any more than we normally do.”
   Don Smith, owner of Scotties of Elkins, said the new regulation has helped his business. Smokers who used to loiter in the small restaurant and purchase little food now come in solely to eat and then leave, he said.
   “I used to have to tell people to get up and make space for other customers,” Smith said. “Now I don’t have that problem.”
   But Ware claims several bars and private clubs have closed as a result of the ban. He and about 50 others attended a Randolph County Planning Commission meeting earlier this year to protest the ban. The planning commission agreed to send letters to the board and the County Commission asking them to reconsider the ban, but Ware said there has been no response.
   At least one county official supports the efforts of Ware and others who wish to amend the Randolph County regulation. Julia Elbon, president of the Randolph County Commission, said fraternal organizations and other members-only clubs should be exempt.
   “Private clubs should have the option of letting their membership decide whether or not they want to allow smoking,” Elbon said. “That’s a private, uninvited destination for people.”

‘Society adjusts’?

   Ultimately, counties must go through the experience of banning smoking to see what the effects will be. In most cases, Mickey said, doomsday business predictions are inaccurate.
   “We have seen throughout the country that the anticipation of all these negative impacts rarely comes to fruition,” Mickey said. “All the arguments fall to the wayside. ... Once they’re implemented, most people forget about them. Society adjusts.”
   But several business owners have cited statistics at recent Monongalia County Board of Health meetings that indicate smoking bans can severely affect sales at bars and video lottery facilities.
   Little objective research is available to support either claim. A recent Internet search for studies on the impact of smoking bans nationwide returned dozens of results, but nearly all of the studies were commissioned by public health advocacy groups, hospitality industry associations or the public bodies that enacted the rules.
   A study conducted by Ridgewood Economic Associates on behalf of the New York Nightlife Association found that a statewide smoking ban in New York resulted in 2,000 lost jobs, and $28.5 million in lost wages and salary payments.
   But another study — conducted by several New York City administrative departments — determined that business tax receipts in New York City increased by 8.7 percent, and employment in New York City’s bars and restaurants increased by 10,600 after a citywide smoking ban was enacted, in 2003.
   John McGraw, a spokesman for the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Association, admitted that data are available to support both sides of the issue. He said the economic impact of smoke-free laws varies in different regions of the country.
   “If you’re in a warm climate, it seems to affect businesses less than it does in colder climates, where people don’t want to go outside and smoke a cigarette when it’s 15 degrees,” McGraw said. “I believe here it would affect business because of the climate we have in this area.”
Posted May 25, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, May 25, 2008.Used by permission.

 
Posted May 25, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, May 25, 2008. Used by permission.

State a National Model in Passing No-smoking Rules; Health Advocates Still Not Pushing for Statewide Law  by Cassie Shaner

   West Virginia is one of the national leaders for locally adopted clean indoor-air regulations, but the level of comprehensive protection is far too low to push for a statewide law, according to public health advocates.
   Annie Tegen, a senior program manager for Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, said West Virginia is second only to Hawaii in the adoption of smoke-free county laws. According to Christina Mickey, project coordinator for Smoke-Free West Virginia, each of West Virginia’s 55 counties has adopted some sort of clean indoor-air rule.
   “West Virginia is a model for passing local legislation,” Tegen said. “We know when we pass local smoke-free regulations the laws are easier to enforce. People support them when they’re passed at the local level.”
   Mickey said public health advocates in Kentucky and other states look to West Virginia to learn how clean indoorair laws can be passed to improve secondhand smoke protection levels and reduce smoking rates.
   Clean air laws are necessary because education alone will never reduce smoking rates enough to eliminate secondhand smoke, she said.
   “It has be combined with the ultimate supportive environment that promotes less use in our society,” Mickey said.
   Comprehensive smoking bans — those that prohibit smoking in bars and restaurants — are most effective, Mickey said, because they target the 18-to 25-year-old age group, which has the highest smoking rates.
   “If you don’t have bar protection, the regulation does very little to impact that 25 percent of the population,” Mickey said. “That’s where they are. That’s who we’re trying to target.”
   According to Tegen, 84.3 percent of West Virginians live in a city or county with a law that requires workplaces to be 100 percent smoke-free, but only 14.1 percent of state residents are covered by a rule that requires bars and restaurants to prohibit smoking.
   Tegen said 32 city or county laws in the state prohibit smoking in restaurants, and just 20 of those laws also ban smoking in bars.
   She said West Virginia has “a high percentage when it comes to office workers being protected, but they’re still low when it comes to restaurants and bar workers being protected.”
   Tegen said the state’s close proximity to “tobacco country” may be one reason West Virginia has been slow to pass more stringent anti-smoking rules.
   “The South is generally considered tobacco country, and they’re often reluctant to pass strong smoke-free regulations, but that’s changing, particularly in the Southeast,” Tegen said. “Workers are expecting to work in a safe environment, and restaurants and bars are workplaces, too.”
   Tegen and Mickey said public health advocates generally recommend that at least 50 to 60 percent of a state’s population be covered by comprehensive smoking bans that include bars and restaurants before pushing for a statewide law.
   John McGraw, a spokesman for the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Association, said a statewide law would level the playing field for restaurants, bars and video lottery facilities across the state.
   “No group of citizens in the state of West Virginia should have more rights than any others, and that’s what these county bans do,” McGraw said. “That’s why we want a statewide law.”
   Mickey noted that the tobacco industry has an easier time defeating laws at the state level, so most public health groups aim to have a majority of counties covered by comprehensive regulations before working to pass a state law. Even when state laws are proposed, health advocates refuse to support them unless they preserve local control by allowing counties and municipalities to pass additional laws.
   In West Virginia, “there’s not a consensus among grassroots tobacco prevention advocates to move toward a statewide regulation,” Mickey said. “If you can’t get your bar workers protected at the local level, your chances of getting something done statewide are slim.”
   State Sen. Mike Oliverio, DMonongalia, said it’s much easier to pass a law at the local level than it is at the state level, and he noted that local laws can include more restrictive rules than statewide clean-air laws.
   “The makeup of the Legislature is such that the county would be better to implement tobacco-free policies,” Oliverio said. “Even if the state were to do a plan, the people of Monongalia County would probably want a law with higher clean-air standards ... I do think we’re best served when the closest government to the people makes the ultimate decision. For this, that’s the board of health.”
   But McGraw said politicians should take a stand on the smoking issue.
   By refusing to pass a law that makes smoking rules consistent from county to county, he said, state legislators are “skirting their responsibilities.”
   “I don’t know why they don’t want to address this issue,” McGraw said. “Maybe they’re afraid of losing votes. No matter which side you’re on, it’s a very important issue. For them not to get involved is just ludicrous.”

Proposals get snuffed out   

Laws have been proposed to ban smoking statewide, but they often die in committee. Senate Bill 209, called the Smoke Free West Virginia Act, was introduced in the Legislature earlier this year.
   It would have eliminated smoking in all public and work places in the state, including restaurants, bars and gambling facilities.
   After its introduction Jan. 11, the bill was forwarded to the Senate committee on government organization, and it died there when the legislative session ended, in early March.
   McGraw and others in the local business community spoke in favor of the proposed law at Monongalia County Board of Health meetings, but Mickey said she and other public health advocates are cautious of state laws that are introduced without the support of the state’s public health advocates, as they can sometimes contain pre-emption language.
   “Pre-emption language is basically a sneaky little paragraph or a set of words that’s put into different bills or a bill by itself that would basically limit any locality from adopting any smoke-free laws more stringent than what’s at the state level, or any laws in general,” Mickey said.
   Laws are introduced nearly every year in West Virginia containing pre-emption language. House Bill 4068, proposed earlier this year, would have given the state the power to set smoking regulations in all private clubs and fraternal organizations. It included pre-emption language.
   At one time, as many as 22 states had pre-emptive laws on the books, but many have repealed those laws and restored local control, Mickey said.
   Two states that border West Virginia — Pennsylvania and Virginia — still operate under pre-emptive laws that prohibit local boards of health from passing clean indoor-air rules, while other nearby states — Ohio and Maryland — have adopted statewide comprehensive smoking bans.
Posted May 25, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, May 25, 2008. Used by permission.

Putnam County Steps Back, Decides to Ease Its Strict Ban; Enforcement, Technicality Snag Process  by Cassie Shaner

   The Putnam County Board of Health bucked state and national trends last year when it repealed a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants in favor of a less-restrictive 1996 regulation.
   At a recent meeting to discuss changes to Monongalia County’s clean indoor-air rule, board of health Chairman Sam Chico III said he wants to consider the changes carefully to avoid making a mistake. He noted that Putnam County rescinded its smoking ban just a few months after the rule took effect.
   “If we pass this, I would like it to be the last time I ever address it,” Chico said at the meeting.
   Though Mon County also rescinded a more comprehensive smoking regulation after it was passed, in 1999, Christina Mickey, project coordinator for Smoke-Free West Virginia, said it’s “very uncommon” for local boards of health to reverse a smoking ban.
   “Generally,” Mickey said, “once boards of health have committed to clean indoor air, they rarely rescind those.”
   The Putnam County Board of Health adopted a rule that prohibited smoking in bars and restaurants in 2006.
   The ban took effect Jan. 1, 2007, but after three months, Mickey said, an administrator at the county health department became frustrated by the lack of enforcement support from the prosecutor.
   To remedy the situation, the administrator proposed a change to the regulation’s enforcement provision: Any bar or video lottery facility caught violating the smoking ban would have its liquor and/or video lottery license revoked for up to 30 days.
   According to Mickey, the proposal — which did not affect restaurants and other businesses where smoking was prohibited under the ban — caused “more uprising than we’ve ever seen in any of our counties to date.
   “It was unfair treatment,” Mickey said. “It was an unconstitutional proposal and an unequal application of the enforcement provision on these bar owners, and they responded.”
   Dr. Sam Henson, health officer and acting administrator for the county health department, said he doesn’t recall there being an enforcement issue with the ban, but he admitted that “so much went on around that time that I can’t remember everything.”
   As the regulation came under fire, it was revealed that the board’s vote to approve the rule was taken improperly.
   Henson said the mistake — which he called “a glitch in Robert’s Rules of Order” — was discovered by a local bar owner.
   According to Henson, three of the board’s five members were present when the vote was taken, but only two of the board members present voted.
   “The president didn’t think she had to vote,” Henson said. “Since only two board members voted, it wasn’t a quorum.”
   In August, the board voted 3-2 to reinstate a 1996 regulation that permits smoking in bars and restaurants with posted restrictions for who can enter the establishment.
   “The regulation simply says that if any business is going to allow smoking, nobody under 18 can enter that business,” Henson said. “If you run a restaurant and you want to allow smoking, you can’t allow children to enter.”
   Henson said he is not sure why the board decided against the comprehensive ban. Dr. Jeanne Bailey, chairwoman of the county board of health, did not return a call to The Dominion Post for comment.
   “I can’t speak for the board,” Henson said. “All I can say is at the next meeting, there was a full count of the board there to hash it out.”
   Mickey said the tobacco industry endorsed age-restricted smoking regulations, like the one in Putnam County, during the 1990s, but they are rarely adopted anymore.
   “It’s been successfully defended that they have no enforcement and offer very little protection to anyone,” Mickey said.
   But Henson said the regulation, which took effect in March, works well in Putnam County. Most restaurants went smoke-free as a result, he said, and smoking has been primarily restricted to bars.
   “I don’t know if we’ll ever get a 100 percent ban. You can’t have 100 percent of anything,” Henson said. “We haven’t had any problems, and I haven’t smelled smoke in a single restaurant I’ve been in."
Posted May 25, 2008
Even Brief Secondhand Smoke Exposure is Injurious to Health

According to a study by the University of California, San Francisco, the amount of secondhnad smoke a person might normally inhale in an average bar setting was enough to cause measurable blood vessel injury in nonsmokers.  It also interfered with the body's repair mechanisms to the blood vessels’ injury. Many of these effects persisted 24 hours later.  The study helps to explain why there is about a 20 percent drop in hospital admissions for heart attacks when cities and states pass laws mandating smokefree workplaces, restaurants and bars.  For the complete news article, visit the USF News Office web site.
Posted May 5, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Monday, April 28, 2008. Used by permission.

Area Reps Speak on Smoking Ban; No Elected Officials Contacted BOH with Comments
by Cassie Shaner
 
  State and local representatives were tight-lipped on the county’s proposed smoking ban because it was not their place to comment on the matter, officials said this week.
   The Dominion Post reviewed 3,578 public comments submitted on the proposal and found that none of the area’s elected officials contacted the Monongalia County Board of Health regarding the ban.
   State Sen. Mike Oliverio, DMonongalia, said the public comment period was “an opportunity for the public to engage in public policy dialogue,” rather than elected officials.
   “That’s something they don’t normally get a chance to do,” Oliverio said. “We engage in that dialogue all the time.”
   Oliverio noted that he and other state legislators have consistently weighed in on the smoking issue by increasing taxes on cigarettes to deter tobacco use.
   Monongalia County Commissioner John Pyles said there is no need for the commission to comment on the matter because it appoints the members of the board.
   “We expect them to do every- thing possible to protect the public’s health,” Pyles said. “That’s the reason they’re there. I think they know that or at least I hope they do.”
   Morgantown City Council voted 6-1 to pass a resolution supporting smoke-free policies in public places and places of employment April 1. Mayor Ron Justice said the resolution — which was designed to support such policies in general, rather than the specific proposal being considered by the board — was council’s way of providing input.
   “I think we were going to let the resolution stand as our comment,” Justice said. “I don’t want to speak for all of council, but that was my understanding.”
   The board sought public input on proposed changes to the county’s clean indoor air law for 45 days, ending March 16. The amended regulation would prohibit smoking in most public places and places of employment, including bars, restaurants and video gambling facilities.
   The city’s resolution was passed the first week in April — after the board’s March 29 meeting, at which time its members could have voted on the proposal.
   Justice said council had to wait to pass the resolution because of the time frame in which it was introduced. Catherine Whitworth, chairwoman of the Monongalia County Tobacco Prevention Partnership and Smoke-Free Mon County, presented the resolution to council during the public portion of February’s committee-of-the-whole meeting, but council had to wait until March’s committee-of-thewhole meeting to introduce it for consideration.
   Committee-of-the-whole meetings are held on the final Tuesday of each month.
   “That’s our policy,” Justice said of the delayed vote. “In order for something to move onto our agenda for official action, we have to discuss it at committee-of-the-whole, and [councilman] Don [Spencer] wanted it to be an official action.”
   Spencer has spoken in favor of the ban at board meetings.
   “It’s important that the county do the right thing in terms of public health,” he said. “Public safety and public health trump individual liberties.”
   Councilman Jim Manilla, the lone vote against the resolution and a former businessman, opposes the ban because of its potential impact on businesses. However, he didn’t make up his mind about the ban until the week of council’s vote, and he said he didn’t know enough about the issue to recommend any course of action to the board.
   “It’s just not our place,” Manilla said. “It’s a health department issue. They’re the ones that make that decision.”
   One prominent resident who does not fear the ban’s impact on business is Steve LaCagnin, chairman of the board of directors for the Morgantown Area Chamber of Commerce. Though he is not an elected official, LaCagnin said his responsibility as chairman of the board of directors for the Wellness Councils of America prompted him to send a postcard to the health department in support of the ban.
   “The evidence is indisputable that secondhand smoke is dangerous to nonsmokers and smokers, as well,” LaCagnin said. “It kills many people every year.”
   Though there is also evidence that argues such policies hurt business, LaCagnin said history indicates that business eventually stabilizes at many establishments after communities adjust to smoking bans.
   Bars and other facilities that permit smoking “don’t get my business,” LaCagnin said. “And I know there are a whole bunch of people who would go out and enjoy some of these facilities a lot more often if they didn’t allow smoking.”
   The board met in special session last week to discuss the proposed smoking ban and an alternative proposal presented by the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Association. The board has tentative plans to meet again before its next regularly scheduled meeting May 29 to discuss the two proposals further.
Posted April 28, 2008
Atlantic City Bans Smoking in Casinos

With a vote of 9-0, the Atlantic City council closed a loophole in New Jersey's statewide public smoking ban by prohibiting smoking on casino floors.  Gamblers will still be able to smoke in totally seperate rooms that employees are not required to enter.
    Casino workers chanted  "Thank you, thank you, thank you" when the votes were counted. Read more about it at  CBSNews.com 
Posted April 26, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, April 25, 2008. Used by permission.

Smoking Ban Spurs Many Form Letters;  Majority of 3,578 Public Comments About Proposal   By Cassie Shaner

   Dozens of form letters were submitted to the Monongalia County Board of Health opposing a proposed smoking ban on behalf of local bars and video lottery facilities.
   On Thursday, The Dominion Post reviewed 3,578 comments submitted on the proposal. According to a tally from the health department, about 1,441 comments supported the proposal and 2,137 opposed it.
   Monongalia County Circuit Court Judge Robert Stone granted the newspaper unrestricted access to the comments Wednesday. The newspaper filed a lawsuit against the board last week, after the health department refused to provide unaltered copies of the comments in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
   As board Chairman Sam Chico III indicated at a meeting last month, a majority of the comments from both sides of the issue were form letters or pre-addressed postcards. Many letters were submitted on behalf of specific bars and restaurants, including Bugsy’s, Dimitri’s Steak and Seafood, Automatic Slims, Good Times Lounge, Lojak’s, Nick & Terri’s Tavern and Starz.
   Patrons of Mundy’s, on the corner of Madigan and Mississippi streets, submitted more than 25 form letters.
   Jerry Hofawger, 38, of Elysian Avenue, said he volunteered to fill out one of the letters after someone else brought it into the bar.
   “I don’t smoke, but I know what I’m getting myself into if I go into a bar, and I think people should have the right to smoke,” Hofawger said.
   The Mon County Health Department received three basic versions of form letters from those opposing the ban — a general letter, a letter for business owners and a letter for nonsmokers. Each letter states that private citizens have the right to choose whether they want to smoke and whether they want to patronize businesses that permit smoking.
   John McGraw, a spokesman for the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Association, and Jerry Lorenze, owner and manager of Kegler’s, Kegler’s 2 and Suburban Lanes, were not available Thursday to comment on who produced the letters or how they were distributed.
   Several petitions against the ban were sent in envelopes with return addresses for Suburban Lanes.
   Nonsmoker Leah Adkins, 40, of Green Street, sub- mitted the general form letter against the ban. She said she is worried about how the ban will affect bars such as Gene’s Beer Garden, on Wilson Avenue.
   Adkins estimated that 80 percent of the customers at Gene’s are smokers.
   “I really fear for some of the smaller businesses, that it’s going to hurt them in the long run,” Adkins said. “I’m a nonsmoker, but I certainly know the risks I take when I go in there.”
   Hundreds of pre-addressed postcards were submitted to the board from advocates of the smoking ban. Catherine Whitworth, chairwoman of the Monongalia County Tobacco Prevention Partnership and Smoke-Free Mon County, said the coalition’s 70 members handed out the postcards.
   A few volunteers set up a table at WVU’s Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center for anyone who was interested.
   “We just gave those out at our meetings, and then people distributed them however they could,” Whitworth said.
   More than 500 postcards were provided by the Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia, Whitworth said, but volunteers printed out others on their personal computers.
   Christina Mickey, project coordinator for the Smoke-Free Initiative of West Virginia, did not return a call to The Dominion Post by press time for comment on the cost of the postcards.
   Volunteers also offered stickers with messages such as “I urge the Board of Health to pass a comprehensive smoking ban that covers all public places.” Whitworth said the stickers were offered with the postcards, but were not automatically affixed to each card.
   “We did not choose what people would say,” Whitworth said. “They actually made the choice to use one or hand write” a postcard.
   WVU student Justin Genwright, 19, of North Carolina, filled out one of the cards in support of the proposal. He would like to see smoking prohibited in restaurants, in particular.
   “Anytime you’re in a restaurant and you have someone smoking near you, it ruins your whole meal,” Genwright said.
   Chelsea Becker, 21, of Pittsburgh, submitted a letter in support of the ban. Becker, also a WVU student, works in two bars — one that allows smoking and one that does not.
   Becker said she enjoys bartending, but she would prefer not to work in the smoke.
   “I’m in college. Bartending is the best job you can get without a degree, in my opinion,” Becker said. “It’s my job and I like it, but I wish I didn’t have to deal with the smoke.”
   The board sought public input on proposed changes to the county’s clean indoor air law for 45 days, ending March 16. The amended regulation would prohibit smoking in most public places and places of employment, including bars, restaurants and video gambling facilities.
   The board met in special session last week to discuss the proposed smoking ban and an alternative proposal presented by the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Association. The board has tentative plans to meet again before its next regularly scheduled meeting May 29 to discuss the two proposals further.                                                         Posted April 25, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Thursday, April 24, 2008. Used by permission.

Paper Gets Access to BOH Letters; Smoking Ban Comments Ruled Public Under FOIA
By Cassie Shaner

   Monongalia Circuit Court Judge Robert Stone granted The Dominion Post unrestricted access Wednesday to 3,578 public comments on a proposed countywide smoking ban.
   The Dominion Post filed a complaint for injunction against the county health department and the Monongalia County Board of Health last week, after the board refused to release unaltered copies of the written comments.
   “I’m pleased with Judge Stone’s ruling,” said The Dominion Post Editor Geri Ferrara. “Although we were confident that the letters submitted to the BOH should be a matter of public record, it is reassuring to have our stance backed by law.”
   Stone cited precedent from the 1996 case Daily Gazette Co. v. W.Va. Development as justification for his decision.
   “When citizen letter-writers ‘go public’ by writing to a government official concerning a public issue, they lost their expectation of confidentiality, as do the government officials who write in response,” Stone said, reading from the case.
   Public comments submitted by U.S. postal mail or e-mail are essentially equivalent to the input that would be provided at a public hearing.
   “This seems to me the same thing extended, because we can’t accommodate everybody saying it personally to us, so we invite you to email or write in,” Stone said. “It was labeled public comment, not private comment.”
   Representing The Dominion Post, Harry M. Rubenstein, of Dinsmore & Shohl law firm, said Stone applied the law in a fair manner that justified the newspaper’s decision to file suit.
   “I think I agree with his analysis,” Rubenstein said. “He applied the law to come to the conclusion that the public comments are not exempt from disclosure.”
   Ferrara said Stone’s approach to the case was impressive.
   “Judge Stone recognized the import of the issue,” Ferrara said. “His attitude was apparent in how seriously he addressed the case, the case law he considered and the homework he did on the issue.”
   Assistant Prosecutor Phil Magro, counsel for the board and the health department, asked Judge Stone to bar access to the letters in their entirety.
   He argued that the comments were protected under the eighth exemption of the Freedom of Information Act, which restricts “internal memoranda or letters received or prepared by any public body” from public disclosure.
   Magro cited the 1996 suit in his answer to the complaint, filed Tuesday in Monongalia County Circuit Court, as the reason why the comments should be exempt from disclosure. The case law indicates that written communication between a public body and “outside consultants or experts” obtained as part of the body’s decision-making process is exempt from disclosure.
   But Stone said Magro’s application of the 1996 case “took a wrong direction.” The public comments submitted to the health department on the smoking ban do not constitute expert opinions, Stone said.
   “This [1996] case actually supports the petition in this case that these records should be provided, all of them without redaction and without striking of names and addresses ...,” Stone said. “I do not find that these public opinions affect the deliberative or the decision-making process in the manner that this [1996] case indicates it must affect it before it’s the kind of communication which should be exempt from disclosure.”
   Ferrara said a ruling against the newspaper would have prompted an appeal.
   “It is important to remember that the press is the public and this was, symbolically, a major case for public access. It is vital that the FOIA, the Open Public Meetings Act and other public access laws are upheld to prevent secrecy in government.”
   The board sought public input on proposed changes to the county’s clean indoor air law for 45 days, ending March 16. The amended regulation would prohibit smoking in most public places and places of employment, including bars, restaurants and video gambling facilities.
   The newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking copies of the public comments last month, after Sam Chico III, the board chairman, denied a verbal request to obtain copies at a meeting March 29.
   At that meeting, Chico said the names, addresses and phone numbers submitted with each comment constituted “private information” that should not be released to the public.
   Chico instead released a tally of the comments that indicated a total of 3,578 comments were received; about 1,441 supported the proposal and 2,137 were against it. A majority of the comments from both sides of the issue were form letters, he said.
   Representatives for the newspaper will review the comments today. The results of the paper’s analysis will be published in a future edition of The Dominion Post.
   The board met in special session last week to discuss the proposed smoking ban and an alternative proposal presented by the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Association. The board has tentative plans to meet again before its next regularly scheduled meeting on May 29 to discuss the two proposals further.                                                        Posted April 24, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Wednesday, April 23, 2008. Used by permission.

EDITORIAL
BOH Clouding Up the Issue; Board Needs to Focus on Smoking Ban and Stop Going Off on Tangents

   Some members of the Monongalia County Board of Health want to hang a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door.
Rather than make a decision on a proposed smoking ban in most public places and workplaces, we get the impression the BOH wants to continue sleeping on it.
Last week, at a special meeting of the BOH to review proposals on smoking in public places, the BOH’s chairman raised the issue of restricting smoking in private hotel and motel rooms and clarifying the rules on smoking outside hospitals.
The chairman said the need for clearer language on smoking restrictions in hotels is a result of nonsmokers sometimes being forced into smoking rooms due to limited space. There are some weekends in the Morgantown area when there may not be any vacancies due to WVU football games or other university events.
But we cannot help but think this issue is just a ruse to avoid a decision.We urge the BOH to stay focused on health issues. If there are not enough nonsmoking rooms available to accommodate football weekends, we would think that is the province of the hotel industry and developers. They supply the demand. It’s not the responsibility of the BOH to assure hotels have enough nonsmoking rooms.
   And it’s not like the public doesn’t have the choice to go to a nearby hotel. Nor can the public inadvertently just walk into a smoking room without paying for it.
   We also suspect that Ruby Memorial Hospital and other medical facilities do not need further clarification on rules that propose smoking areas must be at least 15 feet from its exits and cannot block the entrances.
   Hospitals, you would think, might be inclined to ban smoking on their campuses, including their parking lots.
   Perhaps the mere discussion of how widely to apply a smoking ban is a step forward. We’re not talking about whether or not we should ban smoking — we’re talking about the kind of exceptions to approve. However, many communities and even states made the transition to ban smoking in restaurants and other workplaces years ago.
   Since January 2007, nine states have enacted laws prohibiting smoking in restaurants and bars, with a mix of exceptions, according to the American Lung Association. In all, more than 17 counties in West Virginia, 22 states and the District of Columbia have comprehensive smoking bans.
   There’s a reason that such issues as a smoking ban in public places are handled separately from such issues as hotels having enough rooms to cater to nonsmokers. That’s because the BOH decides issues that protect the public health. Period.
   The vast majority of this community is tired of having this issue becoming an ongoing subject of debate. If we have to come back and tweak it, fine.
   Time to flip the sign on the door to “Please, Make Up Your Mind.”
                                                                                                            Posted April 23, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, April 20, 2008. Used by permission.

Alan Ducatman
Best Job in the World? He’s Not Blowing Smoke   by Deana Landers

   Ask Dr. Alan Ducatman what the best thing about his job is and he will tell you it’s everything.
   “I have the best job in the world,” he said. “I am surrounded by great people doing leading work around the world, I have the opportunity to recruit young faculty and watch them grow, and I am invited to make a difference in the community where I live.”
   Ducatman is a professor of medicine and community medicine, a department chairman and a clinician at WVU. His administrative assistant, Linda Lilly, said he carries a workload equal to that of three full-time faculty members.
   “His day begins very early in the morning and he rarely leaves the office before 6:30 p.m. or later,” she said. “When he is not teaching a class or meeting with a student, or carrying out the voluminous administrative details involved with leading one of the largest academic units in the [WVU Robert C. Byrd] Health Sciences Center, he is in the clinic seeing patients.”
   Ducatman’s specialty is occupational medicine. He treats patients suffering from workplace or environmental exposure to toxins such as coal, silica, asbestos and lead.
   He also works with the local health department on issues such as smoking in the workplace and the need to protect workers. His professional society’s position paper on the health hazards of smoking in the workplace forms part of the basis for public policy in West Virginia.
   He testified in Marion and Monongalia counties about the risk of lung cancer and heart disease caused by secondhand smoke. His recommendation to the Monongalia County Board of Health, after carefully documented research, was to enact a comprehensive clean indoor-air law that guarantees workers and the public the right to breathe smoke-free air in the workplace.
   “I think that the county taxpayers and businesses save money, and reduce impending liability, each time a harmful risk can be removed at low cost,” Ducatman said. And, he said, there is also substantial literature indicating that business is not lost.
   As a professor, Ducatman teaches environmental health, a core area for the Master of Public Health program, which he created with Dr. Bill Carlton, for the department of community medicine.
   Robert White, a regional epidemiologist for the Monongalia County Health Department, was one of Ducatman’s students.
   “He was a very caring professor, and he provides the health department with good information, leads and resources for community projects,” White said.
   Ducatman is proud of the work done in his department and the people on his team. “As a department chair, I have the joy of working with colleagues that do so much, with not a lot of resources, and they make a difference,” he said.

Alan DucatmanPOSITION:   Professor and Chair, Department of Community Medicine, West Virginia University, adjunct positions in the Department of Medicine, and the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Consumer Consumer Sciences, both at WVU

NATIONAL VOLUNTARY POSITION:   Chair, Board of Scientific Counselors, National Environmental Health Center, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

 HOMETOWN:  Morgantown for past 16 years; grew up on both coasts.
Alan Ducatman  has testified locally against the dangers of secondhand smoke. EDUCATION:  BA at Columbia, MS at CUNY/Hunter and Mt Sinai, MD at Wayne State (Detroit)

RESIDENCIES:  Brown and Mayo Clinic

FAMILY:  Wife Barbara (MD, also at WVU), and sons Joseph, David, Sam (3 college students, 2 at WVU)

HOBBIES:   Running, biking, swimming, not sitting still

QUOTE:   “To make a difference”

Posted April 21, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Thursday, April 17, 2008. Used by permission.

BOH Torn on Smoking Ban:  Argue Personal Choice Versus Health Rights
by Cassie Shaner

   The Monongalia County Board of Health discussed whether smoking should be permitted in bars at a special meeting Wednesday, debating the value of protecting personal rights over public health and vice versa.
   The board also asked Christina Mickey, project coordinator for Smoke-Free West Virginia, on Wednesday to add language to a proposed smoking ban that would restrict smoking in hotels and motels, and clarify the rules for smoking outside hospitals.
   The meeting was held to review two proposals that would alter the county’s existing clean indoor-air regulations. The first, presented in November by the county Tobacco Prevention Partnership, would prohibit smoking in most public places and places of employment, including bars, restaurants and video gambling facilities.
   The second, presented to the board in March by the county Bar and Video Lottery Association, would ban smoking in many public places and places of employment, but not in bars or video lottery rooms.
   Board chairman Sam Chico III said he understands the board’s mission is to protect the public’s health, but it’s hard to deny a person the right to consume a legal product.
   “It’s hard for me to reconcile the logic that we, as a health department, allow primary smoke and don’t allow a consenting adult to expose himself to secondhand smoke,” Chico said.
   Board member Dorcas Davis shared a personal story of a cancer patient, wearing a mask, who she saw escorting his wife outside to smoke at the hospital recently.
   “Our sole purpose, Sam, is to protect the people of this county,” she said.
   Chico said he agreed with that statement, “to some degree.”
   “There’s no amount of legislation that’s going to protect people from themselves,” he said.
   Later, Davis debated the issue again with board member August Lucci. She said she would like to attend more live music shows, but she doesn’t because of the smoke in those establishments.
   “We can’t take away the opportunity for these people to make their own choices,” Lucci said.
   “But my liberty’s being taken away from me, Auggie,” Davis said. “I want the same opportunity to do things as everybody else.”
   Several members of the public, permitted to address the board briefly, also addressed the issue of civil liberties and public health rights.
   Lou Scotchel, who operates Classics 3, in Sabraton, said state law permits him to decide who enters his business — a private club by permit — and a smoking ban would restrict his right to run it as he sees fit.
   “You’re taking away my rights to allow me to do my business according to the laws of West Virginia if you put a smoking ban on me,” Scotchel said. “Who’s going to enforce it? I do not have to let them in a private club, and I shouldn’t have to be the police officer to tell somebody not to smoke.”
   But Allison McClung — who works two part-time jobs, one at the WVU Health Sciences Center and one at a bar downtown — argued that she has the right to be protected from secondhand smoke at work, regardless of where that may be.
   “What I don’t understand is that I’m protected from secondhand smoke at one job, but not the other,” McClung said. “I think that we just need to get to the point about the bars. I think that needs to be dealt with. The health department is the health department. Honestly, secondhand smoke kills, and there’s research that proves it.”

Hotels and Hospitals   

Chico suggested two specific changes to the proposals presented Wednesday, listing hotel rooms and hospitals as two key areas in the current clean indoor-air regulation that should be strengthened.
   He said smoking should be restricted in all hotel or motel rooms rented out nightly, as nonsmokers are sometimes forced into smoking rooms due to limited space.
   “If it’s just something where someone’s going to pay by the night, I don’t think it’s fair to pollute that space for everyone else,” Chico said.
   Though board member Bob Bell argued that such a rule might be hard to enforce, Mickey said the health department already regulates nearly every aspect of a hotel’s or motel’s daily operations.
   “The health department’s job is not to enforce” smoking rules, Mickey said. “It is the business owner’s job to do the enforcement. We’re just there to step in if they fail to be compliant.”
   Chico said he does not want to restrict smoking in private residences, noting that some people live in hotels or condominiums above hotels, but Mickey said the regulation could address that distinction. She noted that the hotel permit for many large hotels, such as the Waterfront Place Hotel, only extends to a certain level, and rules that apply to the hotel would not affect the condominiums above that level.
   Chico urged her to make the language in the provision as clear as possible. “I don’t want any gray areas. I don’t want to even put my toe across that line. I don’t want anything to do with private residences.”
   Chico also asked Mickey to clarify the rules for smoking outside a hospital, as people who enter Ruby Memorial Hospital are often forced to walk through the facility’s designated smoking area to enter the building.
   Proposed changes to the county’s smoking rules would require smoking areas to be at least 15 feet from the entrance or exit of a building.
   Mickey said the changes also state that smoking areas must not block the entrance of a facility.
   “Even if you didn’t change anything, Ruby and those places would be out of compliance,” Mickey said. “They would have to move it to be in compliance.”
   At Chico’s request, Mickey agreed to revise the provision to make the rules for hospitals more clear before the board’s next meeting.
   Though Bell suggested Chico meet with board member Donna Tennant and Mickey to develop a revised proposal, Chico said he would prefer to meet in a public setting. Board members agreed to try to schedule another meeting to discuss the two proposals before the board, as well as Mickey’s additions, before the board’s next regular meeting, May 29.
   Even after another meeting, Bell admitted, the law may never meet everyone’s satisfaction, but he said there’s room for improvement.
   “I think we can strengthen this,” Bell said. “I think this needs to be tweaked. ... I think we can work toward a better air regulation. I don’t think it will ever be 100 percent, but maybe 99.”  

THE MONONGALIA COUNTY Board of Health’s next regular meeting will be at 9 a.m. May 29, at the Monongalia County Health Department Training Center, 453 Van Voorhis Road. The board has tentative plans to convene again before that meeting, but an exact time and date have not been determined.       Posted April 17, 2008
Public Forum Thursday for Commission Hopefuls
Dominion Post  Letters -- April 16, 2008   

   On Thursday, there will be a public forum for the candidates running for County Commission. At this time, Monongalia County has issues of traffic, growth and planning, among others, which many people have a great interest in solving.
   This year, we are electing someone to a seat on the County Commission in which there is no incumbent. There are four Democrats running and one Republican. Only one of these Democrats will be elected in the primary to run in the fall against the Republican, Ed Hawkins.
   Come to the candidate forum at 7 p.m. Thursday, at Suncrest United Methodist Church/ Drummond Chapel Campus, on Van Voorhis Road.
   Meet Bill Bartolo, Steve Cook, Hawkins, Denny Poluga and Bill Rice and ask them questions. Be ready to make an informed decision May 13, when we choose someone who can help Monongalia County meet the challenges of the next six years.
  
Catherine Lozier
League of Women Voters
The County Commission also appoints the Board of Health.  Which candidates support clean air?  --Smokefreemonc.org                                          Posted April 16, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Tuesday, April 15, 2008. Used by permission.

2nd Smoking Ban: Legal Issues?  Alternate Plan May Draw Suits, Lawyer Reports
by Casssie Shaner

   An alternative smoking ban proposed by the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Association could create legal problems for the Monongalia County Board of Health, according to an attorney for Smoke-Free West Virginia.
   At the request of Smoke-Free West Virginia, Teresa Dumire, an attorney with Kay, Casto & Chaney, reviewed two laws being considered by the board to limit smoking in public places and places of employment.
   The first — proposed last November by the Monongalia County Tobacco Prevention Partnership — “is nearly identical to the provision that has been passed in 18 other West Virginia counties and has withstood court challenges in various venues throughout West Virginia,” Dumire said in a letter sent to board members Monday.
   But the second proposal — presented to the board last month by the bar and lottery association — could have costly legal ramifications, she said.
   For example, the proposal permits smoking in bars, and labels a bar as any place that sells alcohol — which would include grocery and convenience stores.
   “Collectively, the proposed [bar and lottery association] amendments create internal conflicts within the regulation as well as ambiguous and redundant exemptions for the same conduct, all of which is designed to frustrate enforcement and open the [board] to prolonged litigation,” Dumire said.
   John McGraw, a spokesman for the association, said that was never the group’s intention. The proposal was based on input gathered from local business owners during the six-week period that the original proposal was posted for public comment, he said.
   Because of the tight time frame, McGraw said, there was no time to have the proposal reviewed by an attorney, and he admitted that some minor changes may be necessary.
   “We don’t write these proposals for a living like they do,” McGraw said. “Certainly there may be some words that need to be changed. Our intention was not to expand smoking or make it hard to enforce.”
   Catherine Whitworth, chairwoman of the Monongalia County Tobacco Prevention Partnership and Smoke-Free Mon County, cited the association’s definition of a bar as one major concern.
   “They redefine a bar as an establishment that sells — not serves, but sells — any kind of alcohol at all,” Whitworth said, noting that grocery stores, convenience stores and bowling alleys could arguably permit smoking under that definition. “It expands places where smoking is permitted beyond what even our current regulation allows.”
   McGraw said the definition could be altered to encompass businesses that serve, rather than sell, alcohol without changing the basic objective of the association’s proposal.
   “Maybe that was an oversight on our part,” he said. “Our proposal wants to restrict smoking just as much as theirs, if not more.”
   McGraw cited public parks as an example. In her report, Dumire acknowledged that the association’s suggestion to restrict smoking in public parks and along rail-trails has merit and should be considered by the board.
   But another addition — to restrict smoking in vehicles where children are often present — would be hard for health department employees, who are not authorized to make traffic stops, to enforce, Dumire said.
   McGraw said the association has since reviewed that provision.
   “It would be hard and, in fact, it would probably have to be a state law,” McGraw said. “We think this whole issue should be regulated by state law, rather than county by county. We’ve argued that from day one. If there’s going to be no exemptions, there should be no exemptions.”
   The association’s proposal does exempt businesses that restrict access to people over the age of 18 from the definition of a “public place.” Though Whitworth said the definition could entice many businesses to impose age restrictions and thereby allow smoking, McGraw said age-restricted establishments cannot truly be considered a public place.
   “It’s not open to all of the public,” McGraw said. “It’s only open to a segment of the public that’s over 18.”
   Christina Mickey, project coordinator for Smoke-Free West Virginia, said she requested the legal review as an additional resource for the board to consider in making its decision. She said Smoke-Free West Virginia has provided funding to review clean indoor air proposals for boards of health across the state.
   “Local boards of health are not agencies with lots of resources,” Mickey said. “They rely on the prosecutor for defense. ... Anything we can do to help them out of court, we do.”
   In addition to the legal issues, Mickey said the board has a responsibility to protect the public’s health — something the association’s proposal does not do.
   But McGraw claims the board is obligated to protect residents within reason, without violating their personal rights. He noted that consuming an excessive amount of red meat or alcohol is also bad for one’s health, but the board is not likely going to impose rules that further restrict the use of those products.
   Cigarettes are “a legal product,” McGraw said. “We believe people should be able to use a legal, adult product in an adult environment.”    



THE MONONGALIA COUNTY Board of Health meets in special session at 2 p.m. Wednesday, at the Monongalia County Health Department Training Center, 453 Van Voorhis Road, to discuss two proposed clean indoor air regulations. Both proposals can be viewed online at smoke freemonc.org.
Posted April 15, 2008
This editorial appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, April 13, 2008. Used by permission.

EDITORIAL
The Facts Don’t Blow Smoke -- BOH Should Fulfill Duty to Public, Not Public Opinion

   The Monongalia County Board of Health doesn’t need public opinion on its side — it has the facts.
   In the coming weeks, the BOH is going to review and discuss two proposed initiatives on public smoking and more than 3,500 public comments that were submitted to it earlier this year. It has also heard from the public at several meetings on this issue.
   Some might think otherwise, but the purpose of this public input has not been for reasons of polling or surveying opinion.
   The BOH’s primary obligation is to protect the public’s health, and there’s no one who can make a reasonable argument that smoking is not hazardous to your health.
   And it’s empowered by the law of the land to do that within the public domain.
   We have already endorsed the Monongalia County Clean Air Coalition’s proposal that bans smoking in all public locations and in workplaces, and we won’t change our mind for public opinion.
   It’s been said where facts are few, experts are many. In this circumstance, the facts are overwhelming, but those with the most opinions pretend to be the experts — with the fewest facts.
   Admittedly, some elected and even appointed public officials do make decisions based upon public opinion research, but that’s not the way it’s supposed to work.
   That’s why we elect and appoint our representatives. They make the decisions based on facts and conscience, not public opinion. If our nation were to put every issue in the form of a public referendum, the gridlock in Charleston and Washington might look promising.
   We are not discounting public opinion. This section of our newspaper publishes it daily. Yet, in this instance, regarding the BOH, it should only be for informational purposes that might shed light on this issue — not determine who’s for it and against it.
   Especially when the evidence is so well documented. This issue is not revolutionary, either. Cities, counties, states and nations have banned smoking in all public venues — including Chicago, New York state, Italy and 17 counties in our state.
   All of these places and hundreds more have smoke-free restaurants and bars.
   There’s no reason to have a BOH if it’s sole purpose is to rubber-stamp public opinion. Clearly, we are never going to be able to regulate or legislate common sense, but we can regulate and legislate public health and safety in public places.
   The reason BOH exists is to make such decisions, without kow-towing to politics or public opinion.
   How could the BOH not support a smoking ban that protects everyone? Only by ignoring the facts and its responsibility.      Posted April 13, 2008
THE MONONGALIA COUNTY Board of Health meets in special session at 2 p.m. Wednesday, at the Monongalia County Health Department Training Center, 453 Van Voorhis Road. The Board will discuss two smoking ban proposals at the meeting. Both proposals can be viewed online at smokefreemonc.org.       Posted April 11, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, April 11, 2008. Used by permission.

Newspaper Suing BOH; Seeks Access to Public Comments on Smoking
by Cassie Shaner

   The Monongalia County Board of Health will face a lawsuit for refusing to provide unredacted copies of public comments on a proposed countywide smoking ban, The Dominion Post Editor Geri Ferrara said Thursday.
   The board agreed last week to release copies of the comments, but with all names, addresses and telephone numbers removed.
   “It is important that this newspaper fight for the public’s right to know,” Ferrara said. “It would be irresponsible for The Dominion Post to simply accept what a government agency decides it wants to share when we believe it is clearly public information.”
   Last month, the newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking copies of the comments, after Sam Chico III, the board chairman, denied a verbal request to obtain copies at a meeting March 29.
   At that meeting, Chico said the names, addresses and phone numbers submitted with each comment constituted “private information” that should not be released to the public.
   Chico instead released a tally of the comments that indicated a total of 3,578 comments were received; about 1,441 supported the proposal and 2,137 were against it. A majority of the comments from both sides of the issue were form letters, he said.
   Harry Rubenstein, an attorney for The Dominion Post, said the suit will not affect the board’s actions on the smoking ban proposal.
   “This Freedom of Information lawsuit seeking access to the unredacted public record will have no bearing on the board of health’s decision,” Rubenstein said. “This has nothing to do with the board’s decision. It really is just about access to the unredacted public record.”
   Rubenstein said the lawsuit will be filed in Monongalia County Circuit Court within a few days and should be resolved quickly.
   “The nature of the Freedom of Information laws provide for expedited consideration by the court,” Rubenstein said. “Soon after filing the lawsuit and serving the papers on the board of health, I would expect a prompt judicial ruling.”
   The board sought public input on the proposed law for 45 days, ending March 16.
   “At no time during that period did the board indicate that respondents should have an expectation of privacy,” Ferrara said.
   The regulation would prohibit smoking in most public places and places of employment, including bars, restaurants and video gambling facilities.
   “The board of health, through its executive director, took the position that names are private, but we have a 1985 ruling from the Supreme Court that says names aren’t private,” Rubenstein said, citing the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals’ 1985 ruling on Hechler v. Casey.
   According to the ruling, names and residential addresses are “public in nature in that they constitute information normally shared with strangers and are ascertainable by reference to many publicly obtainable books and records.”
   In a letter to The Dominion Post last week, Jim Strosnider, executive director of the Monongalia County Health Department, cited a legal opinion from assistant prosecuting attorney Phil Magro in which he states that the Freedom of Information Act’s Internal Memorandum exemption protects public comments — including individuals’ names, addresses and telephone numbers — from disclosure. Magro also discussed the matter with the prosecutor and someone at the state Attorney General’s Office, according to Strosnider’s letter.
   The letter stated that a valid position may be taken that the most recently requested documents may be exempt from disclosure under that memorandum, but that the office would provide the documents with the names, addresses and telephone numbers removed.
   Ferrara previously stated that the newspaper has no interest in publishing information that respondents would prefer remained unpublished, but the origin of the response is key to the credibility of the tally.
   “However, the public should be able to know the source of the information on which this public body is relying to make this extremely important decision,” Ferrara said.
   “After all, where is the credibility of the ‘public response’ if, for example, it was discovered that all 2,137 letters against the ban happen to be written by tobacco company owners or employees?
   “Now, I gather that isn’t the case, but what if they were?” Ferrara said. “Shouldn’t the public have the right to know that that is the source being used by board members to decide whether or not smoking should be banned?
   “How would we ever know without seeing the original documents?”
   The board will meet in special session Wednesday to review the public comments and the proposed smoking ban, as well as an alternative proposal the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Business Association presented at the March meeting.
   That proposal would ban smoking in most public places and places of employment, except private residences, bingo halls, personal care homes, bars and video lottery rooms. It would also permit smoking in the “physically separated bar areas of restaurants, hotels and other smoking facilities,” as long as ventilation systems are installed “to prevent the free movement of smoke from such areas into any adjoining nonsmoking areas.”
   Chico has said he expects the board to make a decision on the smoking ban at its next regularly scheduled meeting, May 29.     Posted April 11, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Thursday, April 10, 2008. Used by permission.

Health Board Will Ponder Smoking Ban:  Plans to Address Two Proposals at Meeting
by Cassie Shaner

   The Monongalia County Board of Health meets in special session at 2 p.m. Wednesday, at the Monongalia County Health Department Training Center, 453 Van Voorhis Road.
   Almost three weeks after voting to postpone a decision on a countywide smoking ban, the Monongalia County Board of Health will meet in special session Wednesday to address two proposals.
   The meeting will be public, but Monongalia County Health Department officials did not clarify whether the public will be permitted to comment or address the board at the meeting.
   Shelley Martin, public health educator for the health department, said board Chairman Sam Chico III “stated that [the board members] will follow the bylaws, and they will follow West Virginia State Code.”
   The board’s bylaws indicate that all meetings will be open to the public and publicly advertised, but they do not include a provision for public comment.
   State Code 6-9A-3 states that “any governing body may make and enforce reasonable rules for attendance and presentation at any meeting.” The code also says “that persons who desire to address the governing body may not be required to register to address the body more than fifteen minutes prior to time the scheduled meeting is to commence,” but it does not include circumstances when the board is required to accept public comment.
   The board voted 4-1 at its regular March meeting to hold a special session before its next regular meeting, to review public comments submitted to the health department and discuss two smoking ban proposals. Board members Bob Bell, August Lucci, Donna Tennant and Chico voted in favor of the motion. Board member Dorcas Davis voted against it.
   At the time, board members expressed a desire to make the special meeting public, but avoid a lengthy public comment period. Residents have packed the board’s two most recent meetings, taking an hour or more to provide feedback on a proposed smoking ban.
   The proposed law at issue was first presented in November. It lists 18 public spaces where smoking would be prohibited, including restaurants, retail stores, service lines, public transit vehicles, sports facilities, public meeting places, and all areas customarily used by the public in businesses and nonprofit entities.
   Smoking would also be banned in bars, which fall under the definition of a restaurant in the proposed law.
   The board will also discuss an alternative regulation that was presented to the board at its most recent meeting. The proposal would ban smoking in most public places and places of employment, except private residences, bingo halls, personal care homes, bars and video lottery rooms.
   The law would permit smoking in the “physically separated bar areas of restaurants, hotels and other smoking facilities,” as long as ventilation systems are installed “to prevent the free movement of smoke from such areas into any adjoining nonsmoking areas.”
   Chico has said he expects the board to make a decision on the smoking ban at its next regularly scheduled meeting, on May 29.

The Monongalia County Board of Health meets in special session at 2 p.m. Wednesday, at the Monongalia County Health Department Training Center, 453 Van Voorhis Road.  

Posted April 10, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Wednesday, April 9, 2008. Used by permission.

EDITORIAL
Marion Proposal Needs to Be Relit; Passage of Smoking Ban Should’ve Undergone Appropriate Scrutiny

   The expression, “No comment,” rarely satisfies anyone. Particularly when a public body, such as the Marion County Board of Health, attempts to circumvent public comment. On March 28, the Marion BOH approved a smoking ban in bars, video gambling parlors and within 15 feet of the entrance to any public building. That alone does not bother us. Our editorial board has endorsed a proposed smoking ban in public places and workplaces in Monongalia County. We also maintain boards of health are empowered to enact such bans in public places. But that said, such proposals should still be subject to public comment and publicity in the local media. The Marion County BOH did follow the letter of the law. Its bylaws require a meeting’s agenda to be advertised and posted publicly, which it was. Yet, that notice only indicated that the board’s Clean Indoor Air panel would present a report. One board member noted he did not even expect a vote on the proposal then. But most galling to us was this: This proposal was never officially posted by the BOH for public comment or adequately publicized in the local media.
   We realize state code does not require local health boards to conduct public-comment periods on proposals before them. And we are aware that this proposal was advertised in three editions of a Fairmont newspaper.
   Furthermore, we’re also aware the Clean Indoor Air committee posted copies of the proposed law and a document that summarized the changes at the Marion County Courthouse, the public library, the county health department and at the J. Harper Meredith Building for months.
   Yet, how many citizens actually examine such proposals at the courthouse or the library? And although this proposal was legally advertised several times in a local newspaper, this issue deserved more publicity than that.
   The panel eventually received only four comments, and they were favorable. After the reaction in Monongalia County to a similar proposal, we know something was amiss there if that’s all the comments this proposal elicited.
   One BOH member said, neither the board nor the panel gave the public a “legitimate” chance to comment on this ban.
   We agree. Though the letter of the law was maintained, it appears the spirit of the law was allowed to flicker out. The public was never notified properly about this proposal. People did not see this proposal and it was never publicized the way it should have been in the local media.
   The Marion BOH should seriously consider rescinding its smoking ban and giving the public an appropriate opportunity to address this issue — the public’s health.
   As a remedy, an informed public comes recommended for most social diseases. Nothing clears the air better.     Posted April 9, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Wednesday, April 2, 2008. Used by permission.  

BOH to Release Comments; But Will Remove Authors’ Names and Addresse
by Cassie Shaner

   The Monongalia County Health Department agreed Tuesday to release copies of public comments on a proposed smoking ban, but only with all names, addresses and telephone numbers redacted.
The Dominion Post requested copies of the comments Friday, after Sam Chico III, chairman of the Monongalia County Board of Health, denied a verbal request to obtain copies of the comments at a meeting Thursday.
   At that meeting, Chico said the names, addresses and phone numbers submitted with each comment constituted “private information” that should not be released to the public.
   Geri Ferrara, editor of The Dominion Post said, “We are not interested in accepting redacted information when we believe that the documents, for the most part, are public information. We can understand hesitation concerning phone numbers, but names and addresses appear to fall under the public disclosure laws.”
   Chico instead released a tally of the comments that indicated a total of 3,578 comments were received — about 1,441 for the proposal and 2,137 against it.
   Ferrara said, “The Dominion Post salutes those who bothered to share their thoughts on this important issue. We encourage peo- ple to participate in government.”
   Ferrara explained that the newspaper has no interest in disclosing the identities of anybody who wishes to keep their input private.
   However, she said, knowing the identities and addresses of the respondents is important when weighing the credibility of the opinions.
   “What if the majority of those against the smoking ban were asked to sign form letters by their employers who are against the ban? One could question whether or not the employees felt compelled to sign the letters in protest or if they did so because they truly don’t mind working in a smokefilled environment,” Ferrara said.
   “We could never determine such a scenario if the responses were anonymous.”
   In a letter to the newspaper, Jim Strosnider, executive director for the health department, said the decision to provide redacted information was based on an opinion from assistant prosecuting attorney Phil Magro, who consulted with prosecuting attorney Marcia Ashdown and the state attorney general’s office.
   “His opinion stated ‘While a valid position may be taken that the most recent requested documents ... may be exempt from disclosure under the Internal Memorandum Exception regarding public recommendations and suggestions, it would appear that a reasonable accommodation to resolve this matter would be to provide ... copies of all of the documents submitted during the public comment phase redacting from them the name of the author, address, and telephone number,’” Strosnider said in the letter.
   Based on the legal rule cited in Magro’s opinion, Strosnider said the public comments — including individuals’ names, addresses and telephone numbers — would typically be exempt from any disclosure.
   But Harry Rubenstein, the newspaper’s attorney, said that’s debatable. “From my standpoint, they solicited the comments, they received the comments and they said this is the public record. ... I think we’re entitled to that. I don’t think if I solicit public comment and get public comment, that that’s an internal memorandum.”
   Rubenstein said the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals’ 1985 ruling on Hechler v. Casey indicates that names and addresses alone are not personal or private information. The court ruling states that names and residential addresses are “public in nature in that they constitute information normally shared with strangers and are ascertainable by reference to many publicly obtainable books and records.
   “Absent some indication that someone was claiming confidentiality,” Rubenstein said, “the law for 20 years in West Virginia has been that names and addresses are public information.”
   The board sought public input on the proposed law for 45 days, ending March 16. The regulation would prohibit smoking in most public places and places of employment, including bars, restaurants and video gambling facilities.
   Ferrara said the newspaper is considering legal action to protect the public’s right to know.

   The Monongalia County Board of Health meets in regular session at 9 a.m. May 29, at the Monongalia County Health Department Training Center, 453 Van Voorhis Road. A special session will be scheduled before the meeting to discuss the proposed smoking ban and an alternative proposal submitted last week, but a date has not been set.

Posted April 2, 2008
Morgantown City Council Passes Smoke-free Air Resolution

The Morgantown City Council passed a resolution to support policies that provide maximum protection from secondhand smoke.  The resolution was adopted with a vote of 6 to 1. While this is not a binding ordinance requiring any kind of action, it sends another strong message to our Board of Health.  The City Council deserves public thanks and praise for having the conviction to take a stand on smoke free air!  Below is a an abridged version of the document:

RESOLVED:  That the undersigned organization joins the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free West Virginia, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, the American Lung Association the  West Virginia Hospital Association, and the Monongalia County Tobacco Prevention Partnership in supporting policies that provide the maximum protection from secondhand smoke in all public places and in places of employment.

RESOLVED:  That the undersigned organization urges its state and local affiliates and partners to join in the West Virginia campaign to prevent exposure to secondhand smoke in public places and in the workplace.

Morgantown City Council

Posted April 1, 2008
Marion County Goes Smoke-free

  Marion County's Board of Health just passed a clean indoor air regulation that is virtually identical to the model regulation  that Smoke Free Mon County presented to the Monongalia County BOH.  It applies to all workplaces, including bars and video lottery establishments.  
   There was little fanfare, controversy or debate about the new regulation.  Board members cited complete protection from secondhand smoke and leveling the playing field for non-smoking establishments as reasons they voted in favor of going smoke-free.     Posted April 1, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, March 30, 2008. Used by permission.

EDITORIAL
Let Public Know What It Said;  Newspaper Seeks Access to Comments on Smoking Ban

   When did public comment become personal information? Thursday.
   That’s when the Monongalia County Board of Health decided to deny access to 3,578 comments by residents on a proposal to ban smoking in most public places and private workplaces.
   We cannot begin to understand how public comments sought by a public body and compiled with public money can suddenly become private.
   The BOH sought this public input on the proposed smoking ban for 45 days prior to March 16. All the public comments included residents’ names, addresses and phone numbers — contact or personal information the BOH says it’s not obligated to provide the public.
   The arguments for and against the smoking ban are well known, and anyone who has followed this debate is well versed in both sides of the debate.
   However, we are not well versed in just taking a public body’s word for it that public comment is personal.
   We have since filed a Freedom of Information Act request for public information — again — with the BOH that has been forwarded to its legal counsel — again.
   The board of health solicited input for weeks during a public comment period and set a deadline and in no way, shape or form ever did it indicate that this information would become private information.
   We want to remind readers that the BOH asked for this information and indicated in no uncertain terms that it needed this information to do its job — to make a decision on the smoking ban that it postponed until late May. It’s also worth noting that this decision will affect everyone.
   One reason the decision was put off was because of the volume of public comments, which tallied 1,441 in support of the proposal and 2,137 against it.
   This huge response was one reason the comments were not provided to board members before the meeting, when the BOH had been asked to consider the ban.
   Obviously, 3,578 comments might translate into about eight reams of paper, but it doesn’t stand to reason to deny the public all access to them or just have one copy of them on hand.
   According to the BOH, the majority of the comments from both sides were form letters. This fact alone could lend less credibility to the arguments of either side. For example, if every employee of a specific business submitted a comment for or against the proposal, that could change the value of those opinions.
   It’s not comments or votes or even numbers that’s democracy, it’s the public accounting for them that matters.     Posted March 30, 2008 
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Saturday, March 29, 2008. Used by permission.

Paper FOIAs Health Board for Comments; Prosecutor to Review Request and Decide
by Cassie Shaner

   The Dominion Post submitted a Freedom of Information request Friday to obtain copies of public comments sent to the Monongalia County Board of Health regarding a proposed smoking ban.
   Jim Strosnider, executive director of the Monongalia County Health Department, said assistant prosecutor Phil Magro, legal counsel for the health department and the board, is reviewing the request.
   “It is public comment, but I think they just want to be cautious,” Strosnider said of the board. “It’s personal information. Some people told us everything about themselves.”
   Strosnider said the health department will respond to the FOIA request as soon as Magro rules on the matter. Accepting an FOIA request is the health department’s standard procedure for providing information, Strosnider said.
   “As far as I know, almost every agency follows that procedure,” Strosnider said. “If there’s information we have to go research, we need a Freedom of Information request.”
   The board sought public input on the proposed law — which would prohibit smoking in most public places and places of employment, including bars, restaurants and video gambling facilities — for a period of 45 days, ending March 16. All comments were to include residents’ names, addresses and phone numbers — “personal information,” according to board chairman Sam Chico III.
   Chico refused to release the comments at a meeting Thursday, arguing that personal information should not be provided to the public. Instead, he released a tally of the comments that indicated a total of 3,578 comments were received — about 1,441 for the proposal and 2,137 against it.
   The majority of the comments were form letters, Chico said. He permitted health department officials to provide The Dominion Post with a copy of a form letter submitted repeatedly by residents opposed to the ban, with all personal information redacted.
   Chico did not return calls to The Dominion Post by press time for further comment.
   After Thursday’s meeting, he said the board will take the comments into consideration, but they will not be the deciding factor on the issue.
   “It’s not a vote of whether it passed or failed,” Chico said. “It’s just a gauge of public opinion.”
   Board member Dorcas Davis said Friday that she was not sure whether the health department should be legally obligated to release the comments.
   “I don’t know,” Davis said. “Names and addresses and telephone numbers were on them. That’s the main thing. I think that’s what they were concerned about.”
   Davis also was not certain whether comments submitted regarding a proposal that is being considered by a public body become part of the public record.
   “That would probably be up to the individual,” Davis said. “Maybe they don’t want it known that they wrote a letter.”
   After Thursday’s meeting, board member Bob Bell indicated that The Dominion Post is entitled to copies of the public comments. Although he returned several calls to the newspaper Friday, he could not be reached for comment.
   Board member Donna Tennant was unavailable for comment Friday, and board member August Lucci did not return calls to The Dominion Post by press time.     Posted March 29, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, March 28, 2008. Used by permission.

Mon County Board of Health Delays Vote on Smoking Ban; Wants Until May 29 to Study the Issue  by Cassie Shaner

   The Monongalia County Board of Health will likely wait another two months before deciding on a proposed countywide smoking ban, according to chairman Sam Chico III.
   Board members voted 4-1 Thursday to meet before the board’s next regular meeting to review public comments submitted to the health department and discuss concerns about the proposal. Board members Bob Bell, August Lucci, Donna Tennant and Chico voted in favor of the motion. Board member Dorcas Davis voted against it.
   Board members indicated that meetings scheduled to address the matter will be open to the public, but residents will not be permitted to participate or comment.
   Jim Strosnider, executive director of the health department, said Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Phil Magro is reviewing the board’s wishes to determine what kind of meeting can be scheduled — a work session or a special meeting — and what rules the board must adhere to.
   Chico said he expects the board to vote on the proposal at the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting, on May 29.
   “It’s a highly controversial issue,” Chico said. “It’s very charged. I don’t want to make a mistake.”
   Chico noted that Putnam County enacted a clean indoor-air regulation in 2007 that prohibited smoking in bars and restaurants, and later rescinded that decision.
   “If we pass this, I would like it to be the last time I ever address it,” Chico said.
   The proposed law before the board lists 18 public spaces where smoking would be prohibited, including restaurants, retail stores, service lines, public transit vehicles, sports facilities, public meeting places, and all areas customarily used by the public in businesses and nonprofit entities.
   Smoking would also be banned in bars, which fall under the definition of a restaurant in the proposed law.
   Bell said the proposal fails to address smoking rules for public places outdoors, such as a public swimming pool or Milan Puskar Stadium, where smoking is permitted in the outdoor concourse area.
   “In my opinion, there’s a lot of ambiguity in what’s been proposed,” Bell said. “I would like to see this board review this in a couple of sessions. ... I’d hate to pass something and look back and say we made a mistake.”
   Chico said he also wanted time to consider an alternative regulation that was presented by the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Business Association at Thursday’s meeting. The proposal would ban smoking in most public places and places of employment, except private residences, bingo halls, personal care homes, bars and video lottery rooms.
   The law would permit smoking in the “physically separated bar areas of restaurants, hotels and other smoking facilities,” as long as ventilation systems are installed “to prevent the free movement of smoke from such areas into any adjoining nonsmoking areas.”
   But Davis questioned the board’s intentions in delaying the vote. She noted that her term expires June 30, and the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting in May will be her last chance to weigh in on the smoking matter, which was also a hot topic at the time she joined the board, 10 years ago.
   “I came on during this heated issue,” Davis said. “I would like to see it resolved before I leave the board. ... I think this is a stall tactic to delay it so that I can’t vote.”
   Chico disputed Davis’ claim.
   “It’s not a delay tactic,” he said. “We have plenty of time to consider it before June.”
   In other business, the board:
   Agreed to a proposed change in its bylaws that allows board members added flexibility in scheduling meetings. The change allows the board to reschedule the date and time of its bi-monthly meetings at board members’ discretion.
   The “target time” for each meeting will remain at 9 a.m. on the final Thursday of odd-numbered months.
   The proposed change will be posted for public comment for a period of 30 days.
   Approved a Food Manager’s Recertification Course that all local food establishment managers will have to attend by the end of 2008. The course will cost $50, which covers training materials, a manager’s recertification certificate, and oneyear food worker’s card.
   The course will update managers on changes in the Food and Drug Administration’s 2005 Food Code, adopted by the state Legislature earlier this month. The state previously operated under the 1999 version of the Food Code.
   Agreed to offer a Hepatitis A vaccine to the public. The cost will range from $32 to $44.

The Monongalia County Board of Health has tentative plans to meet next week at the Monongalia County Health Department Training Center, 453 Van Voorhis Road. An exact time and date for the meeting have not been determined, but that information will be published in a future edition of The Dominion Post.    Posted March 28, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Friday, March 28, 2008. Used by permission.

Smoking Ban on Hold -- Health Chairman: Keep Public Comments Secret; Packed House Airs Opposing Views to Health Board  by Cassie Shaner

   County residents turned out in force Thursday to take their stand on the proposed countywide smoking ban.
   Dozens came to the standing-room only Monongalia County Board of Health meeting to oppose the ban, wearing American flag T-shirts and buttons that read “Civil Liberty. My Bar. My Business.”
   Many supporters of the ban carried signs and wore stickers that read, “I support smoke-free air everywhere.”
   Meanwhile, the Board of Health refused to release public comments regarding the proposed smoking ban Thursday, arguing that personal information should not be provided to the public.
   The board sought public input on the proposed law for a period of 45 days, ending March 16. The regulation would prohibit smoking in most public places and places of employment, including bars, restaurants and video gambling facilities.
   All public comments were to include res- idents’ names, addresses and phone numbers — information the board should not be obligated to provide to the public, according to chairman Sam Chico III.
   “Giving everyone copies or making them public was not an option, in my opinion,” Chico said. “Personal information is personal information.”
   Chico presented a tally sheet to board members at a meeting Thursday that show a total of 3,578 comments were received — about 1,441 for the proposal and 2,137 against it. Comments that did not include the appropriate contact information and duplicate comments from a single individual were not included in the final tally.
   The large response is one reason the comments were not provided to board members before Thursday’s meeting, when the board had been asked to consider the ban for a vote.
   “It was just voluminous,” Chico said. Giving each board member a copy “wasn’t really an option.”
   Chico also said it’s easier to protect the personal information submitted with each comment if there is only a single copy on file with the health department.
   A majority of the comments from both sides of the issue were form letters. One letter, submitted repeatedly on behalf of the opposition, stated that, “private citizens have the right to choose whether or not they smoke and whether or not they patronize businesses that allow smoking indoors. Additionally, they have the right to decide if they work for a company that allows smoking or not. This is not a decision that should be made for them by the Board of Health.”
   The Dominion Post will file a Freedom of Information Act request with the Board of Health today to obtain copies of the comments.

Voices For and Against

Carrie Bates, of Brookhaven Road, said at the meeting that she respects non-smokers’ right not to smoke and wants them to respect her decision to smoke.
   “Leave it to the bars and restaurants if they want to allow smoking,” Bates said. “There’s a lot more things in this world that can damage people’s health.”
   One supporter, former smoker Alex Lubman, of Raven Rock Drive, said liberty should not be an issue.
   “The definition of liberty does not include the right to harm others, or to provide a place where others can be harmed, even with their informed or uninformed consent,” Lubman said.
   Lubman cited an economic report that indicated business actually improved in New York City after a smoking ban was enacted.
   “No impartial study has found that business drops off when a smoking regulation is passed,” he said.
   Many business owners in attendance disagreed.
   John McGraw, of the Monongalia County Bar and Video Lottery Business Association, presented an alternative ban on behalf of the business owners that would permit smoking in bars and video gambling facilities. He asked the board to give the suggested law the same consideration as the other proposal before the board.
   “To do anything less than that is a denial of our due process of law,” McGraw said, with loud applause from those opposed to the original ban.
   But Catherine Whitworth, chair of the Monongalia County Tobacco Prevention Partnership and Smoke-Free Mon County, argued that the board is obligated to protect the public’s health.
   “Any regulation that denies protection to a segment of the population is inadequate,” Whitworth said.
   Several students also took part in Thursday’s meeting, expressing their support for the ban through personal stories.
   University High School senior Anna McClung, of Westover, said secondhand smoke from a neighboring facility filters into the dance studio where she takes lessons. She asked the board to vote in favor of the ban to protect her health.
   “I shouldn’t be exposed to someone else’s secondhand smoke when I’m paying to take dance classes,” McClung said. “In fact, I should never be exposed to secondhand smoke.”
   The board agreed to meet before its regularly scheduled meeting in May to review verbal and written comments and discuss both proposals.   Posted March 28, 2008
BOH Decides to Delay Action on the Smoke Free Regulation

    Many thanks go out to those of you who were able to attend the Board of Health meeting this morning.  Despite our efforts, the Board decided (4 to 1) to delay action on clean indoor air, in part because they received a counter proposal from the opposition and because they wanted to carefully study the model regulation we have proposed. The Board has scheduled a work session that will be open to the public on April 2 at 2pm.  After the work session, the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Health will be on Thursday, May 29 at 9:00. We expect a vote to occur on May 29.  
   Again, thanks to all of you for your support. Keep up the good work.  Together we can achieve smoke free air in Mon County.     Posted March 27, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Thursday, March 27, 2008. Used by permission.

BOH Might Put Off Vote on Smoking:  Members Didn’t Get Info on Public Input
by Cassie Shaner

  The Monongalia County Board of Health meets at 9 a.m. today, at the Monongalia County Health Department Training Center, 453 Van Voorhis Road. The proposed smoking ban is included on the agenda.
   A decision on the county’s proposed smoking ban may be postponed today to allow Monongalia County Board of Health members additional time to review public comments submitted regarding the proposal.
   Board members said they did not receive the comments as part of their packet for today’s meeting, though the 45-day comment period ended on March 16. The packet is typically sent to board members the week before a meeting and contains information on the matters to be discussed.
   “We have not had the opportunity to review any public comments,” board member Donna Tennant said.
   Jim Strosnider, executive director at the health department, did not return calls to The Dominion Post by press time Wednesday to explain who prepared the packets for today’s meeting or why the comments were not included. Art Adams, program manager for public health planning and development services, said he was “not allowed to discuss anything,” and directed all questions to Shelley Martin, the health department’s public health educator.
   Martin said board chairman Sam Chico III would have to answer the majority of the newspaper’s questions. Chico did not return calls left at his office by press time.
   Board member Dorcas Davis said the packet is mailed out by Jim Strosnider, executive director of the Monongalia County Health Department, but she is not certain who prepares the packet or determines what information it contains.
   Davis said she has not received any information from the health department regarding the public comments.
   “All I got were two letters and an e-mail someone sent to me [directly],” Davis said. “I’m not sure who read [the comments], and I’m not sure when we were to have read them.”
   Board member Bob Bell was absent from the board’s January meeting, but said it was his understanding that the board would meet in a work session to discuss the comments that were submitted.
   “I thought they were going to take comments up to a certain period and then take a look at it,” Bell said. “I thought we would sit down and discuss it amongst ourselves.”
   No such meeting has been scheduled, Bell said. Because the board has not reviewed the information, he said the board is not prepared to make a decision on the ban at today’s meeting.
   “I haven’t read the pros or cons,” Bell said. “I haven’t seen anything. ... It probably should be put on hold because I don’t think anybody has received any information.”
   But Davis, who supports the ban, said a delay would be “asinine.” She said the board members have had ample time to collect input from the public and determine their position on the matter.
   “I’ve read the letters to the editor, and I don’t need [the public comments]. I’ve already formulated an opinion. ...,” Davis said. She has discussed the proposal with dozens of county residents. “We are appointed to the health board to protect the public health of the people in Monongalia County, and we’re not doing a very good job of it right now.”
   The proposed law before the board lists 18 public spaces where smoking would be prohibited, including restaurants, retail stores, service lines, public transit vehicles, sports facilities, public meeting places, and all areas customarily used by the public in businesses and nonprofit entities.
   Smoking would also be banned in bars, which fall under the definition of a restaurant in the proposed law.
   The board is not obligated to make a decision on the ban at today’s meeting, but Catherine Whitworth, chair of the Monongalia County Tobacco Prevention Partnership and Smoke-Free Mon County, asked the board at its January meeting to consider the matter for a vote this month.
   Whitworth claims the public comments were verified and ready last week, and she believes the information was intentionally omitted from board members’ packets.
   Officials at the health department were not available to confirm whether the comments were prepared in time for inclusion in the packets. Martin has said the health department cannot release the public comments until they are accepted by the board.
   “I am outraged at any attempt to delay this,” Whitworth said. “It’s time for a vote. The community is ready for a decision on this.”
   Whitworth said the board can vote on the issue, regardless of what information was or was not provided. Over the past six months, Whitworth and other public health advocates have presented the board with several scientific reports regarding the dangers of smoking and secondhand smoke.
   “They can still vote on the health merits presented in the surgeon general’s report,” Whitworth said. “I believe they are educated enough to vote on this issue.”
   But Jerry Lorenze, owner and manager of Kegler’s, Kegler’s 2 and Suburban Lanes, disagreed. He said at least 2,500 letters were sent to the health department from business owners and others opposing the ban, and the board should review those comments before making its decision.
   “They should certainly take under consideration how the comments and signatures add up,” Lorenze said. “The fact that the Board of Health members were asked to retain this information and they haven’t even seen it makes it impossible for them to make a decision.”
Posted March 27, 2008
Board of Health May Vote on Smoke Free Regulation at March Meeting

The Monongalia County Board of Health will meet on Thursday March 27th at 9:00AM at the Health Department (directions).  We expect a motion to vote on the proposed smoke free regulation. The opposition may attempt to convince board members to delay a vote on the regulation which could put it off until May 2008 or later. It is crucial that large numbers of smoke free air supporters attend the March 27 meeting. This critical meeting is scheduled during spring break for Mon County Schools and WVU, but we strongly urge high school and university students to attend if they are not traveling.  Although public comment is overwhelmingly supportive, we were heavily outnumbered by the opposition at the last meeting. Please attend the March 27 meeting and sign up to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting.  Your comment could be as simple as stating your name and requesting that the Board adopt the regulation to protect everyone in Mon County from the dangers of secondhand smoke, with no exemptions. Let's make our community's demand for smoke free air overwhelmingly apparent to the officials entrusted to protect our health!     Posted February 27, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Monday, March 24, 2008. Used by permission.

Potential Conflicts Cloud Smoking Ban:  Some Say Board Members’ Ties Could Affect Vote  by Cassie Shaner

   The Monongalia County Board of Health meets at 9 a.m. Thursday, at the Monongalia County Health Department Training Center, 453 Van Voorhis Road. Board members are expected to vote on a proposed smoking ban.
   Advocates and opponents of a proposed smoking ban in Monongalia County have argued that several Board of Health members should not be permitted to vote on the issue because of potential conflicts of interest.
   The Monongalia County Board of Health is expected to vote this week on a proposed law that lists 18 public spaces where smoking would be prohibited, including restaurants, retail stores, service lines, public transit vehicles, sports facilities, public meeting places, and all areas customarily used by the public in businesses and nonprofit entities.
   Smoking would also be banned in bars, which fall under the definition of a restaurant in the law.
   Catherine Whitworth, chairwoman of the Monongalia County Tobacco Prevention Partnership and Smoke-Free Mon County, said she is concerned that personal and professional relationships could affect some board members’ votes on the ban.
   “I am hopeful the Board of Health members will look past any competing interests to perform their job, which is to provide the highest level of protection to the largest number of people,” Whitworth said.
   Board chairman Sam Chico III owns Chico Enterprises, the parent company of Dairy Mart, All-Star Express, Chico Bakery and Hero Hut. Chico has said he operates 40 convenience stores, including many that sell cigarettes and other tobacco products.
   Several studies have indicated that smoking bans can cause cigarette sales to drop. An inter-office memo circulated by tobacco maker Phillip Morris in 1992, posted on the Americans for Nonsmokers Rights Web site, says that “total prohibition of smoking in the workplace strongly affects industry volume. Smokers facing these restrictions consume 11 percent to 15 percent less than average and quit at a rate that is 84 percent higher than average.”
   Chico did not return calls to The Dominion Post for comment by press time, but Whitworth said she was hopeful that Chico could set any potential conflict with profits aside.
   “Historically, he has been very supportive, and he appears to be doing a good job leading the board,” Whitworth said.
   Concerns have also been raised about board member August Lucci’s family ties to Jerry Lorenze, manager of Kegler’s, Kegler’s 2 and Suburban Lanes, and a vocal opponent of the proposed smoking ban.
   Lorenze said Lucci is his uncle, but that relationship will not affect Lucci’s vote on the smoking ban.
   “The man has a lot of integrity, and he’s a very responsible person,” Lorenze said. “I wouldn’t ask him to [vote against the proposal]. I haven’t even discussed it with him.”
   Lucci did not return calls to The Dominion Post for comment by press time.
   Lorenze said he was disappointed by a letter board member Donna Tennant wrote to The Dominion Post last week supporting the ban. He said Tennant should have waited until after the public comment period ended March 16 before publicly endorsing the ban and should not be permitted to vote on the matter.
   “For her to close her mind is just not fair,” Lorenze said. “There’s no due process.”
   Tennant said she simply indicated that she would support a smoking ban “of some sort,” and is open to what specific rules might be included in the ban.
   Tennant said her decision was based on “hundreds and hundreds” of studies and scientific information from various health organizations about the dangers of secondhand smoke.
   “No one from the opposition has overwhelmed me with information saying that secondhand smoke is not harmful,” Tennant said. “I’m open for it. I’m ready, but I haven’t seen anything.”
   Though people on both sides of the smoking issue have presented conflicting evidence on the economic impacts of a smoking ban, Tennant said state code obligates the board to protect the public’s health, regardless of business or economic issues.
   W.Va. code 16-2-11 (b) (3) states that local boards of health may adopt rules “that are necessary and proper for the protection of the general health of the service area and the prevention of the introduction, propagation and spread of disease.”
   “We can’t say ‘Oh, well you’re going to lose business’ or whatever,” Tennant said. “We have to safeguard the public’s health.”
   Lorenze — who said he operates a bowling alley in Ohio that lost business after a smoking ban took effect — said he plans to present the board with an alternate smoking ban proposal this week that would prohibit smoking in restaurants and other public places, but not in bars and video gambling facilities. He said patrons at those establishments must meet certain age requirements and are responsible enough to make their own decisions.
   He refused to provide further information about his proposal before Thursday’s board meeting.
   Public comments regarding the proposal were accepted through March 16. Shelley Martin, public health educator for the county health department, said the board received “a significant response,” but she could not provide any information about the comments, which are still being reviewed and verified.     Posted March 24, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Sunday, March 16, 2008. Used by permission.

Two at BOH Backing Ban on Smoking; Last Day for the Public to Comment About Plan
by Eric Bowen

   Today is the last day to send in public comments on a proposed smoking ban in public spaces, but some Monongalia County Board of Health members have already come out in favor of the proposal.
   The proposal would eliminate smoking in most public places, including bars and restaurants. The BOH sent the ban out for public comment at the end of January.
   The health department has had a “significant” response to the public-comment period so far, said Shelley Martin, public health educator for the county health department.
   Martin said she didn’t know how many had been received as of Friday because the department has not been able to catalog all of the letters.
   Martin said the department will release information about the letters once all of them are compiled.
   “The Monongalia County Board of Health has received a significant response to the public comment on the proposed clean indoor-air regulation,” Martin said. “The Monon- galia County Board of Health is very pleased with the response and would like to thank the community for their interest in public health issues.”
   The proposed law lists 18 public spaces where smoking would be prohibited, including restaurants, retail stores, service lines, publictransit vehicles, sports facilities, public meeting places, and all areas customarily used by the public in businesses and nonprofit entities.
   Smoking would also be banned in bars, which fall under the definition of a restaurant in the law.
   BOH member Donna Tennant came out in favor of the smoking ban in a letter to The Dominion Post this past week. She said Friday that she decided to support the ban after reviewing research on secondhand smoke.
   Tennant said the response so far from the community has been largely in favor of the ban. She said that as a member of the board of health, she feels a responsibility to ensure the community’s health.
   Tennant said she doesn’t agree with some opponents who have said the smoking ban will hurt certain businesses.
   She said it’s unlikely smokers will give up going out to a restaurant or gambling because they can’t smoke.
   “Personally, I can’t see that there’s going to be that huge of an impact on business,” Tennant said. “It may be positive ... in that more people will come out to do more since there’s not smoking in these areas.”
   BOH member Dorcas Harbert said she is also in favor of the smoking ban.
   She said that as a former smoker, she knows the effects smoking can have, and she wants to prevent secondhand smoke from affecting other people who frequent public places.
   Harbert said she is also concerned about health department sanitarians who have to go into smoke-filled areas to conduct inspections.
   “I think I’m the one that made the motion at the last meeting, and the reason I made the motion is that I think it’s time that we do something,” Harbert said. “I think the time has come.”
   BOH Chairman Sam Chico was unavailable for comment about the ban. Board member Bob Bell and Vice-chair August Lucci did not return phone calls by press time.  
Posted March 16, 2008
BOH Member Donna Tennant Publicly Supports Proposed Regulation

Letter to the Editor, The Dominion Post, March 13, 2008:

Health Board Must Act on Secondhand Smoke

   As a member of the [Monongalia County] Board of Health and a citizen, I would like to take this opportunity to address some of the uncertainty voiced as to the BOH’s role and responsibility in the clean indoor-air issue. There really isn’t any need for debate. Our responsibility is to protect and promote public health.
   State Code 16-2-11 (b)(3) clearly gives the BOH the authority and responsibility to protect the health of its represented population.
   Some have said that the BOH members are not elected and therefore should not be able to establish rules. It’s true BOH members are not elected, but we are appointed by an elected body, the County Commission. The County Commission is required to consider a number of factors when appointing members to the Board of Health:
   No more than three BOH members should belong to the same political party.
   No more than two members may live in the same magisterial district.
   No more than two members may be involved in the same business or occupation.
   Members must have knowledge of and interest in public health services.
   When making decisions, BOH members rely on input from the county health officer (a physician), the health department staff closest to a health issue, community members and other health experts. State Code recognizes that health issues must be addressed outside the political arena. Often, health decisions must be made quickly and without political debate. For example, if pandemic flu or another serious health issue strikes, the BOH will have to respond quickly and decisively to protect the public. Our society has prospered because of this ability. Requiring childhood immunizations, pasteurized milk, chlorinated water and food inspections all originated from health officials’ recommendations. These rules have kept us safe.
   Secondhand smoke is a proven public health issue. Health experts across the nation support a ban on smoking in indoor public places. So yes, the BOH not only has the authority to adopt a clean indoor air regulation, but has the responsibility to do so. A BOH that permits the public’s continued exposure to secondhand smoke is ignoring its responsibilities.
   Each day we permit public exposure to secondhand smoke results in more illness. The time for discussion is nearly over. Again, it is our responsibility to pass a clean indoor-air regulation to safeguard public health.
  
Donna M. Tennant

Posted March 13, 2008
Morgantown Business and Professional Women’s Club Supports SmokeFree Workplaces 

Morgantown Business and Professional Women’s Club
Resolution of Support for Smoke Free Workplaces in Monongalia County

Subject:  Comprehensive smoke-free workplace regulations promote economic growth by reducing employer health care costs and lost productivity.  A healthy and motivated workforce is fundamental to the success of any business, large or small.  A healthy workforce is essential in ensuring the prosperity of businesses.

Issues:  Supporting and enforcing smoke-free workplace regulations is good public policy for a number of health, economic, and liability reasons.

Health Issues:  Secondhand smoke is a serious health hazard.  The US Surgeon General reported last year, “secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance, but a serious health hazard that causes premature death and disease.”  Secondhand smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer, asthma attacks, and sudden infant death. There is no safe level of exposure. 

Economic Issues:  Numerous studies have shown there is no adverse economic impact on businesses in cities where smoke-free workplace ordinances have passed.  Marketing Morgantown as a smoke free community will highlight Morgantown as a destination for business conferences and other tourism venues.  Many organizations, such as the Center for Disease Control, only hold conferences in smoke free communities.

Liability Issues:  Businesses that continue to allow smoking risk lawsuits for exposing employees and customers to known carcinogens.  Secondhand smoke is toxic; it contains more than fifty known carcinogens.   Businesses who fail to provide smoke free environments are placing themselves in economic peril. 

Resolution:  The Morgantown Business and Professional Women’s Club recognizes that smoke-free workplaces lead to a healthier workforce with increased productivity, cleaner and more positive corporate images, reduced insurance costs, and reduced cleaning and maintenance costs.  We encourage local Boards of Health, including the Monongalia County Board of Health, to adopt a clean indoor air regulation that ensures a smoke-free environment for all patrons and workers.

Approved on this Date:  3/6/08
Signed:  Alexis McMillen, President BPW/Morgantown

Posted March 12, 2008
Morgantown Chamber of Commerce Vision 20/20 Health and Wellness Committee
Issues Position Paper Supporting a Smoke Free Regulation

Vision 20/20 Health and Wellness Committee
Smoke-Free Air Position Paper

The following is the vision and mission of the Vision of the 20/20 Health and Wellness Committee:

Vision:  The Health and Wellness Committee promotes better health for the citizens of
Monongalia County through prevention of disease and available access to those in need.  This committee will support specific goals that will increase exercise, healthful nutrition, clean indoor air regulations, mental and spiritual health opportunities.

Mission:  Serve as a liaison, promoter, and connector for all healthy lifestyle
organizations and activities in the area. 

Position paper issues:  Supporting and enforcing smoke-free workplace regulations is good public policy for a number of health, economic, and liability reasons.

Subject:  Comprehensive smoke-free workplace regulations promote economic growth by reducing employer health care costs and lost productivity.  A healthy and motivated workforce is fundamental to the success of any business, large or small.  A healthy workforce is essential in ensuring the prosperity of businesses.

Health Issues:  Secondhand smoke is a serious health hazard.  The US Surgeon General reported last year, “secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance, but a serious health hazard that causes premature death and disease.”  Secondhand smoke has been proven to cause and exacerbate heart disease, emphysema, asthma and cancer. There is no safe level of exposure.  West Virginia continues to rank 47th in the nation in overall health statistics. We rank 50th in the nation in smoking.    We rank 49th in the nation with lung cancer death rate.  Smoking is linked to many chronic diseases.

Economic Issues:  Numerous studies have shown there is no adverse economic impact on businesses in cities where smoke-free workplace ordinances have passed.  Marketing Morgantown as a smoke free community will highlight Morgantown as a destination for business conferences and other tourism venues.  Many organizations, such as the Center for Disease Control, only hold conferences in smoke free communities.

Liability Issues:  Businesses that continue to allow smoking risk lawsuits for exposing employees and customers to known carcinogens.  Secondhand smoke is toxic; it contains more than 50 carcinogens.   Businesses who fail to provide smoke free environments are placing themselves in economic peril.

Vision 20/20 Committee’s Position:  The Morgantown Area Chamber of Commerce Vision 20/20 Health and Wellness Committee recognizes that smoke-free workplaces lead to a healthier workforce with increased productivity, cleaner and more positive corporate images, reduced insurance costs, and reduced cleaning and maintenance costs.  A healthier workforce will lead to improved household and community welfare; lower health care costs and greater productivity.  We encourage the Monongalia County Board of Health, to adopt a clean indoor air regulation that ensures a smoke-free environment for all patrons and workers of Monongalia County.

Signed:   Grant Stewart  and Elizabeth Critch Parsons,  Co-Chairs
              March 12, 2008

Posted March 12, 2008
This article appeared in The Daily Athenaeum on Tuesday, March 11, 2008. Used by permission

Faculty Call for Revote on Mon County Smoking Ban Endorsement by Tricia Fulks, Staff Writer

  The West Virginia University Faculty Senate reversed its position on a smoking ban yesterday.
   Linda Vona-Davis, chair-elect of the Faculty Welfare Committee, renewed a once-failed motion to endorse the ban on indoor smoking in Monongalia County.
   The motion to endorse had been voted down in the February meeting because it was thought to be a “political issue.”
   Nigel Clark, faculty senator, spoke against the motion on Feb. 11, saying it’s not the Senate’s job to endorse but for the individual senators to provide support.
   “I believe it’s a slippery slope whenever the Senate chooses to endorse matters of politics,” Clark said.
   Faculty Senator Mark Tauger supported Vona-Davis when she read the renewed motion.
   “It isn’t a political issue,” Tauger said. “It’s a public health issue.”
   Many senators spoke out for and against the motion.
   Sam Ameri, chair of the Faculty Welfare Committee, said he had previously voted against the endorsement. He now believes that it’s in the University’s best interest to support it because of all of the students, faculty and staff that will benefit from it because they reside in Monongalia County.
   Sophia Blaydes, a retired faculty representative, spoke in support of the motion.
   “We are really a part of the community” with a responsibility to consider the “welfare and well-being” of those around them,” Blaydes said.
   Those against the Senate’s endorsement of the ban believed if the Faculty Senate passes this social issue, they would have many different public interest issues going through the Senate seeking endorsement.
   While Faculty Senator Michael Perone personally supported the ban, he believed it wasn’t in the interest of the Senate to endorse.
   “It seems to me that the Senate does not and should not want to take on these battles,” Perone said, after listing different issues of public interest in the county.
   But Tauger said it’s not the Senate’s job to vote based on precedence, but based on merit.
   “A measure like this will benefit faculty,” he said.
   Eventually, Marjorie McDiarmid motioned to adjourn to a “committee of the whole” and vote on the renewed motion as a committee. She explained this meant that this was a position of the Senate without being the “official voice of the Faculty Senate.”
   After that motion failed with a vote of 23 to 28 with one abstention, senators were asked to vote on the renewed version of the original motion to endorse the ban.
   The motion was approved with a vote of 33 to 13 with seven abstentions.
   When Faculty Senate Chair Steve Kite asked the regional campuses’ votes via a closed circuit TV, the faculty senators from other WVU campuses – Keyser, Parkersburg and Montgomery – had left.     Posted March 12, 2008
This article appeared in the Dominion Post on Tuesday, March 11, 2008. Used by permission.

Senate Changes Mind on Smoking Ban:  WVU faculty vote in favor of measure, 33-14
by Lindsey Fleming

   The WVU Faculty Senate voted to support a ban on indoor smoking in all public spaces and workplaces in Monongalia County on Monday night. The senate originally voted against a similar motion in February.
   Faculty Senator Linda Vona-Davis, who last month brought the motion forward, proposed a renewal of the motion during the new business portion of Monday’s meeting.
   A renewal of a motion means the original motion has changed in some way. Faculty Senate Chairman Steve Kite said, in this case, the motion is different because it has now gone through the senate’s Faculty Welfare Committee and incudes slightly different phrasing.
   Samuel Ameri, chairman of the Faculty Welfare Committee, said he voted against the original motion but changed his mind when the committee reviewed it.
   “We looked at every possible angle and [decided] it is in the best interest of our university ... to support the smoking ban,” he said.
   One of the issues with the original motion was that many senators were unsure whether endorsing such a proposal was beyond the scope of the Faculty Senate.
   Faculty Senator Nigel Clark said at the Feb. 11 meeting that it was a slippery slope when the senate begins to endorse issues that may be considered political.
   This was addressed at Monday’s meeting when Senator Mark Tauger, who is in favor of the proposal, said he disagrees with that line of thinking.
   “It is not a political issue; it’s a public health issue,” he said.
   He said this makes it “directly relevant” to WVU. He cited several reasons for this, among them that WVU doctors encounter patients every day who have suffered from smoking-related illnesses.
   Several senators agreed with him and the renewal of the motion passed by a 33-14 vote. There were seven abstentions.
   Clark was one of the seven senators who chose to abstain.
   “I abstained because I am really unsure of the purview of the senate,” he said. “The issue on its face is fairly clear; it’s just the issue of dealing with it through the body of the senate.”
   Marjorie McDiarmid, a senator who is a law school professor, proposed a motion for the senate to adjourn to committee of the whole and take a vote. She said this would keep the faculty senate from going on record in support of the issue, when there were senators with doubts similar to Clark’s. This motion failed by 28-23. There was one abstention.
   The ban the original motion referred to was proposed by a citizens group called Smoke Free Mon County. The group presented a model law to the county Board of Health in November that would completely ban smoking in all public spaces and workplaces. The Monongalia County Health Department’s current rule bans smoking in public places, except in designated areas.
   It also limits, but doesn’t outright ban, smoking in workplaces, according to the health department’s Web site, monchd.org.     Posted March 11, 2008
West Virginia University Student Government Association Board of Governors
Endorses the Proposed Monongalia County Clean Indoor Air Regulation

Resolution 2008-02
Governor Golomb
Governor Bailey

     Whereas, West Virginia University promotes education, responsibility, and wellness on and off campus, and the students of West Virginia University make up 20-25% of the population of Monongalia County; and
     Whereas, the West Virginia University Student Government Association Board of Governors is the voice of students and supports the initiatives of West Virginia University; and
     Whereas, second hand smoke is a dangerous, cancer-causing health hazard that many students are subjected to not by choice while at public establishments and places of employment; and
     Whereas, Monongalia County has some of the weakest smoking regulations in the state; and
     Whereas, the Monongalia County Clean Indoor Air Regulation proposal, that would ban smoking in all public establishments and places of employment across Monongalia County, is in a 45 day comment period; and
     Therefore, be it resolved the West Virginia University Student Government Association Board of Governors endorses the Monongalia County Clean Indoor Air Regulation proposal.

Emily A. Golomb
Student Government Association
Board of Governors