Lake Cumberland District Health Department using polls in an effort to get school boards to make campuses tobacco-free

Countywide smoking bans are unlikely to pass anytime soon in most of rural Kentucky, but more county school districts are making their campuses tobacco-free. Now a multi-county health department is trying to get rural school boards to do that, with public-opinion polls showing that county residents overwhelmingly favor the move.

Department logo has been altered to
show Clinton County in yellow.

The Lake Cumberland District Health Department conducted the poll in Clinton County, and said it found that 86.55 percent were in favor and 7.16 percent were opposed. The rest had no opinion.

Making a campus tobacco-free means that members of the public are not free to smoke at school athletic events, so the poll also asked, “Would you like to see our school become tobacco-free at all events?” The results were virtually the same: 85.3 percent answered yes and 8.7 percent answered no, even though one-fourth to one-fifth of the county's residents smoke and it has a long history of raising tobacco.

"The results are perhaps surprising to some, considering the rate of tobacco usage in the county," reports the Clinton County News. The poll of 749 residents has an error margin of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

The department also surveyed 100 teachers in the school system and found that 77 percent would "definitely" support making the schools 100 percent tobacco-free.

The health department presented the survey and other findings to the Clinton County Board of Education June 15, but the board took no action. The department noted that a recent survey found that 28 percent of the county's students in eighth through 12th grades had used smokeless tobacco in the previous 30 days. "That level was the highest in the Lake Cumberland District," the Clinton County News reports.

The Casey County Board of Education adopted a smoke-free policy after a poll by the health department showed 70 percent of the county's residents favored it, the Casey County News reported.

Another Kentucky school district goes tobacco-free and e-cigarette free; efforts largely led by students in Webster County

The Webster County school board voted unanimously May 26 to make all district property, vehicles and buildings officially tobacco-free, Matt Hughes reports for the Webster County Journal-Enterprise. As in some other school districts, efforts for the ban were largely led by students.

“This is something the Youth Experiencing Success Youth Council has been working on for years,” said board member Mickey Dunbar, who has worked closely with Youth Empowerment Services. “I think it is very important that we educate our students' minds and educate them about their bodies.”

The ban will go into effect July 1 and includes all tobacco products, including vapor devices, commonly known as e-cigarettes. It also extends to school-sponsored trips, all sporting events and all school functions.

“I will enjoy being able to walk out of a basketball game without having to navigate a gauntlet of cigarette smoke,” Dunbar told Hughes. “I think this will set a good precedence for the other schools in our area.” Webster County is in the West Kentucky Coalfield.

The YES Youth Council and its adult sponsor first approached the board last fall, and said that while supportive, the board voiced concerns that the community would not be supportive, especially during ballgames. But since then, Hughes said, board members "have gotten a lot of positive feedback from the community."

As of May 2015, Kentucky reported 40 tobacco-free school districts, which include 500 individual schools, according to the Tobacco Free Schools Kentucky website. This amounts to 40 percent of Kentucky's students.

Bourbon Co. teen named South's top youth anti-tobacco advocate for his efforts in pushing for county smoking ban

Tyler Boyle (Photo from
Lexington Herald-Leader)

Tyler Boyle, a Bourbon County High School senior and president of Students Making A Change in the Community, was named the South Region Youth Advocate of the Year by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids for his efforts to push a smoking ban in Bourbon County, Lashana Harney reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Boyle has been a part of SMACC since it was re-established in 2013. The club is a place for youth voices to be heard on smoking issues, with the ultimate goal of a countywide smoking ban -- but in the meantime, working for a school regulation that would ban electronic cigarettes.

The smoking ban has yet to pass, but the schools have added e-cigarettes to their comprehensive tobacco policy, which banned tobacco products of any kind on school grounds.

Boyle told the Herald-Leader that he applied for the award in hopes of bringing more attention to the anti-tobacco cause in his county, which has a long history of tobacco production and sales.

"I applied for this award because of all of the work that I've done in my home community and state for tobacco control," he told Harney. "I thought that if I could make national attention, maybe, it would make the officials in my community take this issue more seriously."

Boyle said that he was honored to receive the award, which was presented at a gala in Washington, D.C., in mid-May. He plans to attend a symposium sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids in Washington in July and the Philip Morris Cos. international shareholder meeting next May.

Boyle told Harney that sometimes he gets frustrated because change is slow to take place, but the will to keep pushing forward always comes back.

"After attending the award gala, I was revitalized and I'm ready for the next step in tobacco control," he said.

Boyle will attend Vassar College in the fall to study political science with a focus on advocacy work and said he would continue his work with the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.

"Tobacco advocacy is something near to my heart," Boyle said. "Vassar is actually going smoke free in July 2015. So, I plan to work hard to implement and support their new policy."

Supporters of smoking bans fear letter from Ky. Association of Counties will halt local efforts to pass such measures

An insurer's letter has warned counties that they may face rate increases if they are sued about local ordinances, including those against smoking. According to a legal consultant to the Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy, the letter from the Kentucky Association of Counties "does not square with laws and a Supreme Court decision under which local governments have authority to bar smoking in public buildings," Bill Estep reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

In February, the McCreary County Fiscal Court voted 4-1 on first reading for an ordinance to ban smoking in public buildings. After KACo sent the governing body a letter warning them of higher premiums, the ordinance died on second reading, Judge-Executive Doug Stephens said. "Stephens said that some residents objected to the law after the first vote but that the notice from KACo was certainly a factor in the decision to drop the issue," Estep writes.

The letter may also discourage other counties and cities from passing ordinances to protect people from exposure to secondhand smoke, said Ellen Hahn, a professor of nursing at the University of Kentucky and head of the Center for Smoke-free Policy.

However, Denny Nunnelley, KACo's executive director and chief executive officer, said the association didn't intend to discourage counties from passing such laws, Estep reports: "Nunnelley said . . . KACo officials thought it made sense to send a reminder that lawsuits challenging ordinances could result in higher insurance costs."

The letter, which addressed smoking in public places, same-sex marriage, right-to-work laws and minimum wage, was sent to all 113 counties for which the organization provides coverage.

One issue with the letter is that the state constitution, state law and a state Supreme Court case all clearly state that counties have the authority to pass and enforce smoke-free laws, said Judy Owens, a lawyer and consultant for the smoke-free policy center. (Read more)

Elementary-school students prompt Middlesboro smoking ban

UPDATE, May 20: The council passed the ban with one member opposing it. Gary Mills said, “I don’t think it’s the government’s right to intrude on businesses owned by individuals. If the public doesn’t like it, they won’t come. . . . This is too intrusive by the government.” Two non-smoking business owners expressed similar sentiments.

The Middlesboro City Council has approved on first reading an ordinance that would ban smoking in public, enclosed spaces. "It remains unclear if the ban would apply to the use of e-cigarettes and vaping products," William Tribell reports for the Middlesboro Daily News.

The ordinance was prompted in part by a March presentation and petition from a group of Middlesboro Elementary School students involved in Destination Imagination, "a volunteer-led, educational nonprofit organization whose purpose is to inspire and equip students to become the next generation of leaders," Tribell writes. "The team was awarded the DaVinci Award for Outstanding Creativity for their efforts and will now compete at the world competition May 20 in Knoxville."

The students drafted the ordinance after researching those in other cities, Tribell reports: "In their presentation to the city council, the team said that 33 percent of Bell County’s population smoke, and they discussed the health effects it has on the community at large."

"The council voted unanimously in favor of the ban ordinance, and it will go up for a second-reading vote at their meeting on May 19," Tribell reports.

Burgin, in heart of Kentucky, is state's 40th school district to go tobacco-free; ban, won by students, applies to vapor products

Burgin Independent Schools, in the heart of Kentucky, will be the latest 100 percent tobacco-free schools in the state, and the first in Mercer County, which has a strong tobacco heritage.

The Burgin Board of Education voted April 8 to ban all tobacco use, including vapor products, on school grounds and during school-related student trips, Robert Moore reports for The Harrodsburg Herald. The policy becomes effective July 1 and includes any building or vehicle owned or operated by the board and applies to any renters of school property.

Burgin will be the 40th Kentucky school district to become fully tobacco-free. Kentucky has 173 public- school districts, with 1,233 public schools, according to the state Department of Education.

The Kentucky 100 percent Tobacco-Free Schools website says, "Studies show that schools with 100 percent tobacco-free school policies for three years of more have 40 percent fewer smokers than those in non-tobacco free school districts." The 2013 Kentucky Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 18 percent of Kentucky youth smoke, and 47 percent of them have smoked at least once.

"I’m really proud we’re going to be a tobacco free campus," board member Priscilla Harris told the Herald after the meeting. "We want to set a good example." The independently owned weekly newspaper recently did a three-part series on tobacco in the county, including Burgin students' efforts to get tobacco banned.

Kentucky 100 percent Tobacco Free Schools map, with Burgin added

McCreary County smoking ban fails; story on hearing offers a picture of the strong feelings, pro and con, that the idea evokes

The McCreary County Fiscal Court was unable to move forward with a vote on a smoking-ban ordinance because it lacked a motion for a second reading, Janie Slaven reports for the McCreary County Record.

The ordinance was first presented to the court by Champions/UNITE for a Drug-Free McCreary County in November, but did not get its first reading until February, on a 4-1 vote. But after a public meeting on March 12 and in the presence of a "packed courtroom," County Judge-Executive Doug Stephens asked for a motion for a second reading, but didn't get one.

Approximately 20 people attended the one-hour public hearing, held two hours prior to the regularly scheduled meeting, Slaven reports.

One citizen against the ordinance vowed to "campaign against everyone who votes for this." Other opponents said that "smokers can't be blamed for every cancer occurrence." While others were concerned that there would be no end to the government's involvement, alluding to the day when caffeine might be banned because of health risk, Slaven writes.

A store owner, Rick Wilson, said that "while he respects Champions' mission, he believes the issue of smoking in businesses should be left to the business owners themselves," expressing great concern that the ordinance also included private spaces within a business, like offices and company vehicles. Other business owners agreed with him, even while recognizing the health hazards of second-hand smoke, Slaven reports.

Advocates of the ordinance also voiced their opinions. One Champions member presented the cost burden of smoking and second-hand smoke, saying the "health effects of second-hand smoke cost $10 billion per year."

The Lake Cumberland District Health Department’s Tracy Aaron noted that nearly 40 percent of people in the county smoke and asked the fiscal court to consider the ordinance a public-health issue affecting not only non-smoking customers but also employees. “People have to work, and it’s hard to find jobs,” she said. Upon this suggestion, citizen Albert Coffey urged her to return to her home county, Slaven reports.

Several citizens offered different solutions to an ordinance including increased community education and also a suggestion to put it on the ballot. State law does not allow that.

"For now, on both the county and state level, the issue is dead," Slaven writes, referring to a statewide smoking ban that passed the Democrat-controlled state House but was placed in an unfavorable committee in the Senate.

Slaven also reports that the McCreary County Board of Education is expected to consider adopting a tobacco-free policy at its March 24 meeting and notes that the school district already has an indoor smoke-free policy.

Warren County school board bans tobacco use on campuses and by students and employees during extracurricular school activities

The Warren County Board of Education voted 4-1 on March 16 to ban the use of tobacco "by students, employees or those on school grounds or during extracurricular school activities" as of July 1, Charles Mason reports for the Bowling Green Daily News.

"Board Chairman Kerry Young dissented," Mason reports. "He said he wanted the district to establish designated smoking areas. Young said tobacco is legal for adults, and is a traditional cash crop for Kentuckians."

However, "Board Member Don Basham said it was in the best interest of the district to promote a tobacco-free environment," and the other three members agreed. 

About 40 of Kentucky's school districts have banned tobacco. "Warren will join Simpson County as the only two school districts in south-central Kentucky deemed 100 percent tobacco-free under state guidelines, Mason reports.

Senate Republican leaders killed the smoking-ban bill passed by the Democratic House but some of them say its time may come

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

On Feb. 13, for the first time, the Kentucky House of Representatives passed a statewide smoking ban to prohibit smoking in workplaces and indoor places. The bill moved to the Senate for consideration. On the same day, a state senator proposed a nearly identical bill. And on Feb. 19, both bills were assigned to a committee that was never going to give them a hearing.

Sen. Julie Raque Adams

Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, sponsor of the Senate bill, said it and the House bill would have been approved by the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, which she chairs. But leaders of the Senate's Republican majority sent it to the Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection Committee, chaired by Sen. Albert Robinson, R-London, who, like Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, opposes it.

“The time has come and gone," Adams said of chances to pass the ban.

If the bill is dead, who killed it? The most common explanation offered during a series of short interviews with senators was the "leadership," members of which have publicly said the bill didn't have the support it needed to bring it to a vote. However, some senators said it did.

“Leadership is not willing to hear it,” said Amy Barkley, chair of the Kentucky Smoke-free Coalition. “It is a small group of people in leadership who don't want to bring it to a vote. Why should a small group hold it up?” Barkley said that she would like leadership to "allow a vote, regardless of the results."

Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nicholasville, said the leadership "makes the decision about whether we hear a bill or not."

Stivers has said he opposes the bill because it would be too much government intervention into private business, and Buford said many other Republicans feel likewise. He said many members of his party "just do not want anybody to tell anybody what to do anymore."

Sen. Perry Clark of Louisville, a libertarian-oriented Democrat and Public Protection Committee member, said Republican leaders strategically placed the bill in the committee.

"It doesn't look like it will [be passed] as long as it is in Albert Robinson's committee," Clark said. "He is adamantly opposed to it. They knew that when they put it in his committee. They could have put it in Julie's committee and she is adamantly for it," he said.

The co-chair of the committee, Sen. C.B. Embry, R-Morgantown, said "Leadership determines what we vote on and when we vote. All the committees serve at the will of the leadership."

"If leadership wants it to pass, it's going to be heard," said Sen. Dennis Parrett, D-Vine Grove, a member of the committee.

Stivers, asked where the leadership stood on the issue, said "Until I see, or other people see in the leadership group, that there is support in the caucus for the issue, it is not going to come to the floor. If there is, it will. I haven't seen that groundswell of support for the issue." Floor Leader Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, said likewise.

Another obstacle contributing to the bill's death was the Republican policy of not allowing bills to reach the full Senate unless they are favored by a majority Republicans, who have 27 of the 38 Senate seats.

Perhaps another was indicated by the latest lobbying report from the parent firm of Philip Morris Cos., Altria Group, saying that its legislative agents were lobbying against it. The sponsor of the House bill, Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, has said Kentucky Farm Bureau was her main foe.

Still, some senators thought there were enough votes for it to pass a floor vote.

“It would pass the floor," Buford said. "I think when you turn the light bulb on and they all have to show their hand, it would pass." Parrett agreed, and so did Sen. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, a co-sponsor of the bill.

While Adams said she thought likewise, she also said she could not say that with "full confidence" because she had found in talking to the senators that many of the potential "yes" votes in the Senate wanted a bill without amendments. The House added provisions that these senators needed time to "digest" and "this session just wasn't long enough for us to do it," Adams said.

Advocates and sponsors continued to work on the bill even after its unfavorable assignment. Early on, co-sponsor Dr. Ralph Alvarado, R-Winchester, explored fellow senators' interest in an amendment allowing local governments to opt out of the ban, trying to make it more palatable to those who strongly favor local control. The advocacy groups opposed such an amendment.

"We rolled it out there and I just don't know that we had enough support," Alvarado said. "I asked individual members what their thoughts were and I got a lot to switch their vote and some who came to the fence, but the fence is not a yes, so that makes it a bit tougher. It would probably get some votes."

Buford said the opt-out option "keeps us from getting a vote" because he thought most senators wanted the law, if passed, to be consistent among all 120 counties.

Sen. Julian Carroll, D-Frankfort, a Public Protection Committee member, said he also opposed the amendment. "I think to make it an effective health statement and to attack the problem associated with so many diseases that result from not only smoking, but secondhand smoke, we have got to attack the problem itself," he said.

Senate President Pro Tem David Givens, R-Greensburg, said the opt-out option "never really caught fire" but he was "confident that it would have caught some votes."

Plans to resuscitate the smoking-ban bill are already under discussion.

"It is not going away," Adams said. "It is very near and dear to my heart, not only from a health standpoint, but from an economic development standpoint – it is very good for business in Kentucky – and finally from a fiscal standpoint, because the savings that we could realize from implementing a smoke-free statewide policy are just too dramatic to discount."

Adams said that they "would take up the House bill in the interim and see what those amendments mean and see if we can't get those people a clean smoke-free bill."

But Alvarado remains interested in compromise. "I think having an all or none response is going to probably get more of a none, so you have to find some method of coming to the middle," he said. "We are hoping that as more and more people come to side with us that they will put pressure on legislators to say this is OK."

Even Stivers offered advoctes some hope when he said that he was "one of 38" senators and that he had been known to put bills on the floor for a vote, despite his opposition, if "there was support in this chamber for that issue" and noted that more Republicans were "wanting to push the issue forward."

Republican Caucus Chair Dan Seum of Louisville said, "I think it is an idea whose time will come. It is about education and moving people (forward). It is also a generational thing."

Givens said that he did see a future for a smoke-free Kentucky, complementing the proponents and how they have conducted themselves in the discussion.

"It is an advocacy effort," he said. "What is happening is the same as what happens with lots of pieces of legislation. There is a large educational component to it and by the proponents continuing the conversation, continuing to promote the effort, they are educating the populace and educating people that elect us – when they start to move the electorate, they certainly start to move us."

Polls in the last year have shown that 57 to 66 percent of Kentucky adults support a smoking ban.

Casey County High School, which will be smoke-free next year, curbs smoking by locking the restrooms most used by smokers

For two weeks in February, Casey County High School students who wanted to smoke in one of the restrooms were unable to do so because they were locked, Editor Larry Rowell reports for the Casey County News. Principal Josh Blevins said he locked restrooms "most frequented by the students who chose to smoke."

In September, the Casey County School Board passed a prospective tobacco-free rule, so students and staff will not be allowed to smoke in school buildings next year. Locking the restrooms was a way of sending a message. "That was not my long-term plan," Blevins said. "I was using this as a launch pad saying it [smoking] wouldn't be tolerated."

Blevins started a policy requiring students to ask permission and use a sign-out sheet to use the bathroom during class. The restrooms located near the administrative offices are never locked. he said students have the option of reporting to class and asking to use the restroom.

At least one parent did not agree with the new rules. Ellena Hussey, whose daughter attends the school, told Rowell that the students should have bathroom access between classes. She said her daughter has received 10 tardy slips because she had to wait in line to use the only unlocked restroom. Blevins said he had not heard from any parents who had a problem with his actions.

Local building contractor Kenneth Blevins said one restroom with four stalls is enough for the 200 students who attend the school. "The building code says you have to have one facility for the first 49 people and an additional one for every 50 you have," he said.

Breathitt County High School employed another method to curb student smoking. "We open all bathrooms at break time between classes," Supt. Larry Hammond told the Casey County News. "They are locked during class, and they can go to the bathroom between classes, before school, during lunch and after school. They are supervised by teachers." Students who need to use the bathroom during class get a pass and use the restroom in the principal's office.

"It at least controls the smell of smoke in the school building," Hammond said. "You don't smell it down the hallway." (Read more)

Smoking-ban bills get unfavorable committee assignment in state Senate, but supporters say they'll keep trying to get votes

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The state Senate's Republican leaders have assigned both the Republican and Democratic smoking-ban bills to a committee that appears unlikely to send them to the full Senate.

The Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection Committee got House Bill 145, which the House had passed 51-46, and Senate Bill 189, filed by Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville.

Adams is chair of the Health and Welfare Committee, and smoke-free advocates had hoped the bills would go there, improving its chances in a Senate that doesn't appear disposed to pass it.

Senate President Robert Stivers defended the assignment, saying the bills relate to public protection. Last year, a smoking-ban bill sponsored by the previous Health and Welfare chair, Republican Julie Denton of Louisville, was sent to the Judiciary Committee and never heard.

Stivers was asked if Adams' bill was sent elsewhere because of her support for it. He acknowledged that it could have been considered a health issue, and "It was a choice." Pushed to answer, he said, "I don't recall anything being made, because we put a lot of bills in chairman's committees that they support whether leadership supports it or not."

Adams did not respond to requests for comment, but Amy Barkley, chair of the Smoke-free Kentucky Coalition, said she had hoped the bill would go to Health and Welfare because it addresses a health issue.

"We hope it gets a hearing in the Senate," Barkley said. "We are hoping that even if those individuals in leadership are not supportive, that they will at least let the bill have a fair hearing and hopefully a vote – and they can vote no if they are not supportive, but we think it deserves to have a vote so we know where people stand."

Sen. Morgan McGarvey, of Louisville, a Democratic co-sponsor of the Senate bill, said he understood how a smoking ban could be perceived as a public-protection matter, but used the assignment as an argument for the legislation.

"There is no bill we can pass this session that would save the state more money than a comprehensive statewide smoking ban," he said. "It will make Kentuckians healthier; it will save the state money."

Advocates' job will be to persuade Republicans, whose policy is not to allow bills to reach the full Senate unless they are favored by a majority of the 26 Republican senators.

The chairman of the Public Protection Committee, Sen. Albert Robinson, R-London, said through his assistant that he wasn't ready to talk about the bills because they had just been assigned to his committee. He told the Lexington Herald-Leader, "I don't know if there is support for it in my committee." He told The Courier-Journal that he opposes the bill.

The legislation has been debated in the legislature for five years. Senate Bill 189 is identical to the original House bill, which was amended. Both bills would prohibit smoking in workplaces and indoor places, and within 15 feet of their entrances, to protect others from secondhand smoke, which is estimated to kill 950 Kentuckians annually.

House Bill 145 passed with three changes: an exemption for cigar bars, cigar clubs, tobacco stores, private clubs and market-research facilities; significantly lower fines for violation; and preservation of any weaker or stronger local bans in effect when the bill would become law, in late June.

The fundamental conflict about the bill, largely along party lines, is whether individual liberties or public health take priority.

Stivers reiterated his stance, siding with those who support individual liberties.

"I do not like smoking. I don't patronize places that smoke. I have allergies," he said. "It costs you money to take your suits to the cleaners and things of that nature, but I just don't think it is the role of government to start telling private businesses what they can and can't do from that perspective."

He suggested that his opposition wasn't decisive. "I am one of 38 [senators] and if you go back and look at respective bills, there have been bills that I haven't voted on that have made it to the floor because they have the support of the body. Actually, I think we voted on one this week or maybe late last week that I did not vote for, but there was support in this chamber for that issue."

Stivers noted that more Republican senators support the ban than last session, mentioning Adams and Sen. Ralph Alvarado, a Winchester physician. Both were elected to the Senate last fall.

Alvarado explained why he values health over liberty on this issue. He said we all have the right to swing punches at another person, but at the point of contact, that person's rights have been violated. "My individual rights to do something ends when it affects the rights of another individual is my perspective, and secondhand smoke is just that," he said.

Alvarado said he continues to talk to senators about why they should support a statewide smoking ban, saying," It would cost nothing to implement and the benefit from a fiscal perspective and lives saved . . . would be tremendous."

As a rookie public official, Alvarado said he still has a "romantic idea" that it is possible to persuade senators to change their positions and "find at least some type of compromise to get more people covered and to reduce (secondhand smoke) exposure."

Sen. Perry Clark of Louisville, a libertarian-oriented Democrat on the Public Protection Committee, said it was too early to say how he might vote on the issue because the bill might be amended. It has been suggested that the bill could pass if local governments could opt out of the ban, but Barkley told The Courier-Journal that would fatally weaken it.

Besides Clark and Robinson, other members of the committee are Republicans C.B. Embry of Beaver Dam, Carroll Gibson of Leitchfield, Ernie Harris of Prospect, Stan Humphries of Cadiz, Chris McDaniel of Taylor Mill, Dan Seum of Louisville, Whitney Westerfield of Hopkinsville, Mike Wilson of Bowling Green and Max Wise of Campbellsville; and Democrats Julian Carroll of Frankfort and Dennis Parrett of Vine Grove.

Opinion: Toward a healthier Kentucky, with a smoke-free law

By the Friedell Committee for Health System Transformation 

It is no secret that Kentucky is among the unhealthiest states in our country. 

Kentucky is No. 7 in cardiovascular deaths, No. 1 in cancer deaths, No. 1 in lung cancer, and No. 13 in asthma prevalence. And Kentucky leads the nation in smoking with 26.5 percent of its adult population.

Even non-smokers are at risk of diseases caused by tobacco. Exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk of coronary heart disease by 25 to 30 percent among nonsmokers.  It increases the risk of lung cancer in nonsmokers by 20 to 30 percent. 

This means that waitresses and bartenders (most of whom do not smoke) in workplaces that allow smoking risk their lives just to earn a paycheck.  Sadly, 68 percent of Kentuckians are currently exposed to secondhand smoke in public places.  At this rate it is no wonder that Kentuckians suffer serious and deadly consequences.

Fortunately, we have scientific evidence that a smoke-free law will reduce disease rates in areas where such a law is in effect. Communities that pass comprehensive smoke-free workplace laws have experienced a 15 percent drop in emergency-room visits for heart attacks.  ER visits for asthma dropped by 22 percent in Lexington after the smoke-free law was enacted. 

Also, adult smoking rates declined by 32 percent in Lexington, saving $21 million per year in health care costs! While a decrease in smoking rates is not the primary reason for secondhand smoke-free laws, many people express an interest in stopping, and the laws make quitting easier.

Our poor health is a problem that affects us all.  It affects our health-care costs, our community health, and a national perception of us as being an unhealthy place to invest in and live.  That problem can be addressed by smoke-free local ordinances, a state law, and/or local boards of health regulations. 

The Affordable Care Act presents a unique opportunity to look at health differently.  We need to start emphasizing prevention of diseases rather than relying only on treatment.  Smoke-free policy is one effective type of prevention. We know that prevention will save lives and reduce health care costs borne by individuals, private business and the government. 

The Saving Our Appalachian Region effort in Eastern Kentucky reminds us that Kentucky can do better.  Going smoke-free is one way. Imagine a Kentucky where no one is exposed to smoke in the workplace and where fewer people actually smoke.  Lives would be saved, diseases would be prevented, and health care costs would decrease.

Thankfully, most Kentuckians agree. Statewide polls show that 66 percent of likely voters are in favor of a smoke-free law.  This makes sense since most Kentuckians do not smoke.  It is time for the state legislature to implement a policy that will improve our health, save lives and reduce health costs.

The Friedell Committee for Health SystemTransformation is an organization of community leaders across the state that knows that Kentucky is not a healthy state but that working together we can do something about it.

Statewide smoking ban passes Kentucky's Democratic House, but its chances don't look good in the Republican Senate

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

FRANKFORT, Ky. – A statewide smoking ban passed the Democrat-controlled state House Friday for the first time, but its chances appear grim in the Republican-controlled Senate though a clear majority of Kentuckians support the bill.

House Bill 145, which would prohibit smoking in workplaces and indoor places, passed 51-46 after the narrow defeat of two amendments opposed by its advocates and three changes that may have put it over the top. Nine of the 44 Republicans joined 42 of the 56 Democrats to pass it.

Amendments to the bill added exemptions for cigar bars, cigar clubs, tobacco stores, private clubs and market-research facilities; significantly reduced the fine for violation, to $25 for individuals and $50 for businesses; and would preserve any weaker or stronger local bans that are in effect when the bill would become law, in late June.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo told Tom Loftus of The Courier-Journal that the latter amendment was key to the bill's passage. Rep. Tanya Pullin, D-Greenup, told the House that it won her vote because it creates a "window of opportunity" for localities to enact their own bans. It was proposed by Democratic Caucus Chair Johnny Bell of Glasgow.

The defeated amendments would have exempted electronic cigarettes and well-ventilated adult establishments prominently displaying a "Smoking Establishment" sign. The e-cig amendment, proposed by Republican Caucus Chair Stan Lee, lost 46-49; the other one, offered by freshman Rep. Jim DuPlessis, R-Elizabethtown, lost 44-45. For the roll calls, click here.

"A couple of the amendments are problematic," Amy Barkley, chair of the Smoke-free Kentucky Coalition, said in a phone interview. "The existing laws in these communities may not protect all workers," she said. "And localities can pass weak laws (before this bill becomes law) and have that forever."

Nevertheless, Barkley said, "This is really a historic moment."

More compromise may be necessary to get the bill through the Senate, where Republican Sen. Julie Raque Adams of Louisville filed a similar bill as the House measure was coming up for a vote.

Senate President Robert Stivers told Bruce Schreiner of The Associated Press, "I am personally not a fan of smoking, but I just don't believe it is the government's role to tell [a business] that you cannot have a facility that smoking takes place in — be it a pool hall a bar or restaurant." He added, "I don't see there being that type of support in the Senate to pass a bill like that."

Barkley disagrees. "There is a lot of support in the Senate," she said.

The sponsor of HB 145, Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, said "I cannot predict what will happen in the Senate. Stivers has said from the beginning that he wouldn't let it have a hearing."

Barkley said advocates are asking Senate leaders to "let your members have the vote and go on record with their position." The next clue to the leaders' attitude will be where they send the bill. If it doesn't go to the Health and Welfare Committee, which Adams chairs, that would be a bad sign for it.

Westrom repeately said that the bill does not ban smoking. "This bill just requests that a smoker step outside 15 feet," she said. "Fifteen feet is not too far to walk to know that 950 people in this state won't die from secondhand smoke related illness." That is the estimated number of deaths each year in Kentucky from secondhand smoke.

Westrom said afterward that she had hoped for a larger margin than five votes, but "I couldn't be happier. This is a historic moment and there is lots to be proud of," referring to the many people and organizations that committed themselves to the cause.

The Kentucky Health Issues Poll last fall found that 66 percent of Kentucky adults favored the ban. It won 57 percent support in last year's Bluegrass Poll for news organizations.

During the House debate, opponents of the bill spoke mainly of private-property rights and individual liberty.

I deplore smoking," said Rep. Brian Linder, R-Dry Ridge, "but my love for liberty is greater than my hate, therefore I vote no."

Earlier, Westrom said, "Our freedoms only extend until they begin to affect others."

Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear hailed the House vote as "an extremely important and significant event," adding, "It sends a very strong statement ... that it is time to move in this direction. It is just such a health problem and health issue in the commonwealth; so many of our chronic conditions relate directly back to smoking."

Advocates of smoking ban, including victims of secondhand smoke, rally at Capitol

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Over 500 Smoke-Free Kentucky advocates spent Wednesday, Feb. 11, asking their lawmakers to pass a statewide smoking ban, wrapping up their day with a rally and news conference in the Capitol rotunda, featuring leaders of the effort and people who said they were victims of secondhand smoke.

"Our efforts are paying off; there is going to be a vote very soon," James Sharp of the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network said to a cheering crowd. "Keep up the good work, keep up the pressure, keep sharing those personal stories. We will get a smoke-free Kentucky because everyone deserves the right to breathe clean, smoke-free air in this state."

Lt. Gov. Crit Luallen, a colon-cancer survivor, said Kentucky "has some of the worst health statistics in the nation" and conditions like heart disease, lung disease and cancer are all linked to smoking. "If we truly care about our children, and our families and the future health of the commonwealth, it is time to pass House Bill 145 and create a statewide smoke-free law," she said.

"I don't know how any public leader today can sleep at night if they are not committed to help reforms like a statewide smoke-free law," Luallen said to a cheering room. "I don't know how they sleep at night knowing we have more Kentuckians dying of cancer than any other state in America."

"This should not be politically risky," Luallen said after the rally. Saying that many rural towns or businesses will not do this voluntarily and statistics support the correctness of this decision, so "Those legislators who are facing a difficult vote have to look at what is the right thing to do."

Health Commissioner Stephanie Mayfield, who has taken a strong stance against smoking and tobacco since she took office, said the law would be a strong, quick advancement toward better health. "Secondhand smoke can kill you,": she said. "The science is clear, The debate is over."

Joe Geraci, a volunteer for the cancer society and a lung cancer survivor, said he was there to represent those with cancer "who did not make it." He said that he attributed his lung cancer to the smoke-filled capitol building that he worked in as a lobbyist for 10 years.

Geraci said many of the legislators told him that they were getting more calls from people to vote against the bill than to vote for it, so he encouraged calls to the legislature's message line, 800-372-7181.

Denny Nafus of Northern Kentucky said his nonsmoking parents, who volunteered at church bingo for decades, died of lung disease, and Kentucky spends $1.92 billion a year on health care and loses $2.3 billion worth of production because of smoking and secondhand smoke.

Roger Cline of Olive Hill said he was there as a "secondhand smoke victim" because he lost his nonsmoking wife to lung cancer from exposure to smoke at her workplace.

Dr. Erin Frazier of Louisville, a breast-cancer survivor, said that she had no other contributing factors for the cancer other than waiting on tables in smoky bars and restaurants between the ages of 16 and 22. She said wait staff have the highest prevalence of exposure to secondhand smoke of any occupation.

"Young, pre-menopausal women who are exposed to secondhand smoke have a 70 percent greater risk of getting breast cancer than those exposed later in life," she said. "and regardless of the age, women who are exposed to secondhand smoke have a 25 percent increased risk of getting breast cancer."

Sandra Castle described herself as a nurse who loved to sing to her patients. She said she worked for 18 years around secondhand smoke, and blamed it for two different cancers, which caused her to lose a vocal cord and undergo spinal surgery. She said she had lost two of the greatest joys of her life, singing and the ability to lift her grandchildren.

Laura Tarakam said secondhand smoke is a trigger for asthma attacks, and a son died from an attack caused by an unknown trigger. Secondhand smoke is a known trigger for asthma attacks, so this puts her living son, an asthmatic, and others with this condition constantly at risk.

Rep. Susan Westrom, five-year sponsor of the bill, thanked the smoke-free advocates for the work they do and encouraged them to be persistent" saying that as lawmakers became more educated, they better realize their responsibility for improving the health of all Kentuckians, not just in the workplace.

Westrom, D-Lexington, also thanked Dave Adkisson, president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, for its support of the bill. Adkisson said "92 percent of business leaders support this legislation" not only because "smoking is killing us as a health matter, but it is bankrupting us as a financial one."

Asked after the rally about the bill's chances in the Senate, Westrom said "our numbers are so positive" in the Republican-controlled chamber, and better than they have ever been. She said there aren't enough votes yet to get the bill to the floor, but it was "very, very close." Senate President Robert Stivers has said he plans to follow his policy of not allowing bills to the floor unless they are supported by a majority of the Republican caucus, which has 26 members of the 38-member Senate.

Sponsor of local opt-out amendment says smoking-ban bill needs it to pass; sponsor and House leaders don't care for it

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

UPDATE: The House didn't vote on this amendment, but Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, says it or something like it would give the bill a better chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate.

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Rep. Steve Riggs of Louisville has proposed an amendment to the statewide smoking ban bill that would allow cities and counties to opt out of the ban every two years, saying he wants to improve the bill's chances of becoming law.

Riggs

“This amendment would negate a lot of concern about taking away local rights,” Riggs, a Democrat who supports the ban, said in a press release.

His Floor Amendment 9 to House Bill 145 proposes that local governments be able to opt out of the ban, but would be required to take another vote every two years to prevent the ban from taking effect in their jurisdiction.

Rep. Susan Westrom, five-year sponsor of the ban, first said she welcomes amendments because that is "how we edit our legislation," but still needed to talk to Riggs – and when asked if she thought this amendment was a good idea, she said it "goes against the intent of the bill."

"It is a little bit too late for this amendment," the Lexington Democrat said. "We have made too much progress."

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, who says he supports the bill but has clashed with Westrom about its handling, agreed. "I think if you started from day one with that as the idea," he said, "it might have been more palatable."

Stumbo and Republican Leader Jeff Hoover said the amendment would defeat the bill's purpose.

Hoover

Hoover noted, "Advocates have said for many years that we have to have a state-wide smoking ban because of the health concerns all across Kentucky."

Riggs said in an interview that the legislation hasn't had the votes for the past five years and it is time to do something different.

"If you keep swinging at the ball and missing time after time, you probably ought to change your stance," he said. "And that is what they need to do. They need to make a change to get more votes so it will pass."

Westrom said, "We have the votes." But House leaders told her Friday, Feb. 6, that she would need to have commitments from 55 of the 100 House members before they would bring her bill up for a vote.

"What it really says is, it takes 51 votes to pass, but we want 55 commitments because we can't trust everybody," Hoover said. "It's not about having a cushion; it's about they can't trust their own members when they say they are going to vote for something." He said Democratic leaders "should have the discipline to keep amendments, such as this one, from being filed."

Riggs said as chair of the House Local Government Committee, he is sensitive to the needs of cities and counties, and "If we give those people an option to opt out of it, we might be able to get some votes up here to pass the bill."

He said his amendment would allow the bill's advocates to get 90 to 95 percent of what they want to accomplish. "Most people consider that an A, excellent," he said. "This bill might bring in another 10 votes, because people feel if they have the option to opt out, that is liberty and freedom."

Riggs also said the idea might improve the bill's poor chances for passage in the Senate because some senators showed interest in the approach last year.

This is the right thing to do because they don't have enough votes to pass the bill in the House and the Senate," Riggs said.

He said smoke-free advocates don't want any changes to this bill and have not been willing to compromise for the past five years, and asked, "How much illness can we put at their feet because they won't change their swing?"

James Sharp of the American Cancer Society's lobbying arm, the Cancer Action Network, declined to comment.

Hoover, one of the relatively few Republicans for the bill, said he is mindful of opponents' arguments about personal property rights, but also of the "associated health risk with smoking and second hand smoke and the cost that this state is incurring in treating those folks who have diseases related to smoke and second hand smoke."

He concluded, "When I do the balancing test for me personally, I come down on the side that this is a step in the right direction to reduce health care cost and save lives."

With 55 votes needed instead of the usual 51, it just got harder to pass a smoke-free workplace law in the House

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

FRANKFORT, Ky. – A bill to ban smoking in public places and places of employment will require the commitment of a supermajority to get a vote on the House floor, making it more difficult to pass.

Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, said in a telephone interview that when she told leaders of the House's Democratic majority yesterday that her bill had 49 votes, two short of a majority, Democratic Floor Leader Rocky Adkins of Sandy Hook told her she would need 55 votes for him to bring the bill before the House.

Asked why she thought there had been a change from the usual 51 votes needed for a floor vote, Westrom said the only reason she could imagine was "There are some members of leadership that don't want to make anyone uncomfortable . . . don't want to ask them to take a vote."

Last year, House leaders declined to bring the legislation to a vote, and Speaker Greg Stumbo of Prestonsburg said many members didn't want to vote on it during an election year.

Adkins said yesterday that a supermajority requirement is not unusual for any bill that is a "high priority" or "one that has been discussed a lot." He said the rule applied to Stumbo's House Bill 2, to raise the state minimum wage. It passed in the House Tuesday, 56-43.

Democratic Rep. Tom Burch of Louisville, the longest-serving member of the legislature and chairman of the committee that approved the bill, said requiring 55 votes to get a floor vote happens from time to time. He said this will "provide a cushion" because "some of these guys will crawfish," or will back off when they see there are 51 votes.

Offering an example of why it it is best to go into a vote with a cushion, Burch recalled 1980, when new Gov. John Y. Brown Jr. took his gas-tax bill to a vote, thinking he had 51. But someone who had committed to vote for it reneged during the vote, leaving Brown one vote short. Burch said he cast the 51st vote at the request of House leaders, who had told him that his vote wouldnt be needed.

"We need a cushion," Burch said.

Westrom said the request from Adkins for 55 votes "comes as no surprise to me."

"We must roll with the punches and keep moving forward," she said. "I am making connections with those in the middle, providing them with information to help them with their comfort zone."

She said that she and other advocates had been educating her colleagues for five years about the importance and need for a smoking ban, but some were just not receptive.

"There are some freshman legislators from rural areas who get it, and seasoned legislators that still don't," she said.

When House Bill 145 passed the Health and Welfare Committee 11-4 last week, Westrom said, "I feel very confident we will get a floor vote." But at that time, she was aiming for 51.

The bill has never gotten out of committee in the Senate and chances in the Senate this year continues to remain doubtful.

James Sharp, lobbyist for the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network, said that with 66 percent of Kentuckians statewide supporting the bill, it is time for state leaders to make "the health and economic viability of our commonwealth" a priority by passing this bill.

"We need our leaders in either chamber, in either party, to step up and lead on this issue," Sharp said. "Bring this bill for a vote. Get it passed for the health of all Kentuckians, sooner than later."

Adkins, asked if leaders are doing enough, said they were listening to and working with their caucuses. "So, I think we are working our way through the process," he said. He commended Westrom and advocacy groups for "an outstanding job of really educating people on this piece of legislation, educating Kentuckians."

Burch said, "I am voting for this bill because it is the right thing to do" and encouraged lawmakers to listen to their constituents.

"If these people would listen to what their districts thought, they would be for this bill 100 percent," he said. "Because 75 percent of Kentuckians don't smoke and don't want somebody blowing smoke in their face and they don't want the results of second-hand smoke."

Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.

Hope is high for a House floor vote and passage of a statewide smoking ban, but the Senate remains doubtful

By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A bill to ban smoking in public places and places of employment is headed to the House floor yet again, and its sponsor says it will finally get a vote. But its chances in the Senate remain doubtful.

Rep. Susan Westrom

"I feel very confident that we will get a floor vote," Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, five-year sponsor of the legislation, said after Thursday's committee meeting. "I am shooting for next Wednesday."

House Bill 145 passed the Health and Welfare Committee 11-4, with all Democrats and two Republicans on the panel for it and four Republicans opposed.

Westrom said the bill is not a smoking ban, but simply asks smokers to step 15 feet outside to smoke. She said, this is "not a huge sacrifice, but the benefits are so incredible."

The bill also requires those smoking electronic cigarettes and hookahs to step outside, which could cause a "battle," Westrom said.

The legislation got to the House floor last year, but didn't get a vote, and has never gotten out of committee in the Senate. Polling shows a clear majority of Kentuckians support banning smoking in indoor public places, but almost 30 percent of Kentuckians smoke, tops in the nation. The state also is No. 1 in lung cancer and deaths from it.

Two Republican senators, pediatrician Ralph Alvarado of Winchester and lawyer Julie Raque Adams of Louisville, chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, sat with Westrom and Rep. David Watkins, D-Henderson, a retired physician, before the committee.

Alvarado gave an impassioned reading of his op-ed that was in the same day's Lexington Herald-Leader to the committee. "Smoking is killing Kentucky, literally and fiscally," he said.

He said an estimated 950 Kentuckians die every year because of secondhand smoke; exposure to it costs Kentucky more than $128 million every year; children exposed to secondhand smoke suffer from repeated ear infections, bronchitis, pneumonia and asthma; and secondhand smoke is a proven cause of heart disease, cancer and stroke in non-smoking adults.

By passing the bill, "The General Assembly can save more lives with this legislation than I can throughout my entire medical career," Alvarado said. Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear supports it.

Adams, who will be sponsoring the legislation in the Senate, told the committee, "We need to see a vote on the floor. We need to talk to our senators. We need to keep up the advocacy because Kentuckians deserve better."

Senate Republican Floor Leader Leader Damon Thayer told Jack Brammer of the Herald-Leader that there is "not much sentiment" for the bill in the Senate: "Let the free market work this out."

Republican Bob DeWeese, a doctor from Louisville, voted for the bill. He said the title of representative was fleeting, but "I'm a doctor for life."

Newly elected Rep. George Brown Jr., D-Lexington, noted that he voted against the smoking ban in Lexington many years ago. "Since that time, I've had an awakening and I understand that the collective rights of citizens are much more important than those of individuals."

Rep. Robert Benvenuti III, R-Lexington, said "liberty interests have to be balanced" between the rights of smokers to smoke in the workplace versus the rights of others to be healthier.

Newly elected Rep. Phil Moffett, R-Louisville, said "I support it at the local level and that is where is should reside," and asked Westrom why the legislature shouldn't just make tobacco illegal "if it is that devastating."

Westrom suggested Moffett ask the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation about that. She said in December that Farm Bureau has been the main obstacle to the bill.

About 5,000 farmers in Kentucky grow tobacco, a greatly reduced number from the days of the federal tobacco program, which ended 10 years ago. Farm Bureau spokesman Dan Smaldone said in December that the organization continues to oppose the legislation because it invades the private-property rights of business owners.

Asked why a farm organization cares about that, Smaldone wrote in an email, "KFB's membership supports policy for rural issues that fall outside of the agriculture industry, including educational and economic issues that impact their local communities. The organization has policy on the issue because its membership determined it was important to take a position on it."

As for the local approach, Westrom said after the meeting that too many local communities have not taken the initiative to pass smoking bans.

About one-third of Kentuckians are covered by strong local smoke-free laws, with 24 communities with smoke-free laws that cover all workplaces and enclosed public places, according to the Smoke-Free Kentucky Coalition website.

Westrom, Alvarado and committee Chair Tom Burch, D-Louisville, said they thought the bill would pass the House, but none were sure about the Senate. Westrom noted that Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, has been vocal against the bill.

"The wonderful thing about Sen. Stivers is that he understands how important the cancer research center is at the University of Kentucky," Westrom said, noting Stivers' call to reopen the 2014-16 state budget to authorize the project: "If we are going to invest that amount of money for a cancer research center, the best thing we can do . . . is make sure the entire state is setting the example of a smoke-free state."

Smoke-Free Kentucky Chair Amy Barkley said, "If the House passes it and puts the ball in their court . . . I'm just going to be optimistic that they will listen to their voters. We know that 66 percent of the voters support a statewide smoke-free law and that crosses all parties and regions of the state." That is the figure in the latest Kentucky Health Issues Poll; a Bluegrass Poll put the figure at 57 percent.

Public opinion will make the difference this year, Westrom said. "Some portions of the state are more that 74 percent approval; 70 percent of the people who used to smoke are in favor of this; and an average of 60 percent of those in rural areas are in favor of smoke-free."

Newport school board's smoking ban, which includes e-cigarettes, would be 38th among 173 Kentucky school districts

The Newport Independent Board of Education passed the first reading of a proposed smoking ban Wednesday, Jan. 28 after adding electronic cigarettes to the ban.

The ban would prohibit smoking on any school campus, including parking lots, cars and the bus garage, and no smoking will be permitted by any groups who rent or meet on any school properties.

The second reading of the ban will be in February and if passed will go into effect July 1, Patricia A. Scheyer reports for The River City News.

"I do expect that it will pass," Superintendent Kelly Middleton told Scheyer. "I haven't had anyone say anything against passing it, and in fact, I have had a couple of comments in favor of it."

If passed, the "Newport school district will be the 38th school district out of Kentucky's 173 districts to become smoke free, joining Beechwood and Dayton Independent schools locally," Scheyer reports.

Weekly paper in Carter County runs voluntary-response survey about statewide smoking ban, finds slim majority in favor

Wikipedia map: Carter County

The Journal-Times, the weekly newspaper in Carter County, is running an online "poll" of reader opinions about the proposed statewide smoking ban and finding a slim majority in favor of it. At 4:20 p.m. Sunday, 52.3 percent of the voluntary respondents said they favored the legislation, while 45.4 percent said they opposed it and 2.3 percent said they didn't care.

Despite those numbers, reporter Leeann Akers writes that the idea "seems to be unpopular in Carter County," based on "overwhelming opinion on social media." She cites the Facebook page of the Carter County Citizens For a Better Way and this post from Brandon Boggs: “If a business wants to prohibit smoking they have that right, however, we have the right to support that business or not depending on our personal preferences.”

Some posters on the page favor the ban. Travis Horton wrote: "I as a nonsmoker think people that smoke in restaurants or in businesses are showing disrespect for people with health issues and other things."

A continuing national survey by the federal Centers for Disease Control has found that between 31 and 46 percent of Carter County residents smoke, with the most likely number being 38 percent, well above the statewide figure of 29 percent in the same survey.

Akers reports that the county's two state legislators, "Sen. Robin Webb and Rep. Jill York, both say they remain undecided on how they will vote if it comes to the floor but both have a history of following their voters." She gives the legislators' email addresses and the telephone number to leave a message for them.

"This is the sort of story that most local newspapers with websites can do," said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, publisher of Kentucky Health News. "But I suggest that they avoid calling any voluntary-response survey a poll, because that word implies that the results are from a scientific, random sample, and that they remind readers of that in giving the results."

Hopkinsville newspaper says it's time for legislators to capitalize on strong public support for a statewide smoking ban

Noting the results of a poll that show two-thirds of Kentuckians support a statewide ban on smoking in public places, the Kentucky New Era of Hopkinsville said in an editorial, "It is time to capitalize on the public’s support for smoke-free legislation."

The locally owned daily, in a town where tobacco remains influential, said "Kentucky lawmakers — especially those from rural areas where tobacco interests have political influence and where residents value private property rights — have been reluctant to expose themselves to any backlash from opponents of smoke-free laws. Unfortunately, this kind of political calculation ignores the heavy toll of tobacco on Kentucky’s health."

The paper noted that a smoking-ban bill "died in the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Hopkinsville. Obviously, Senate leaders expected Westerfield to let the bill languish. The appropriate assignment for the bill would have been the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, chaired by a supporter of the legislation. If the bill does land in Westerfield’s committee again, we hope he will ensure the measure advances to a floor vote."