Subject: Theater Night Update 6-11-08

Subject: Theater Night Update 6-11-08
Hello Everyone -

Time for another update. Mark has successfully filed the appeal on behalf of Tom Marinaro. There is no word yet on the breifing schedule. As a reminder, Bugg's Place (in So. St. Paul) is having a fund raiser this Saturday starting at 6:00 pm. Mark and I will both be attending so hope to see you there! Bars are struggling and dying...."The Oz" by Elko Speedway just went under and I heard of another in Mpls. that went under this week..they just couldn't hang on any longer. Some bars want to put in a patio but are finding the cost too expensive....I'm afraid this is just the beginning of the "ending". And what about that gas price....someone should pay and it shouldn't be us....remember November!!

On July 6th, is the 2nd Annual World Defiance Day. Let's join the party and smoke up!! Oooops, I meant speak up!!

It's not over!
The show must go on!!

Sheila & Mark





E-mail from Hawaii's Smokers Alliance Group

Hello all you supporters of the cause....

November is Elections... Pay back time!
It's that critical time of year again...
The 2nd annual World Defiance day has been set for Sunday July 6, 2008 at 1:00 PM at the State Capitol with the traditional smoke IN celebration to follow at O'Tooles!
Last year thousands around the globe in 11 Nations participated with us in the defense of personal and business FREEDOM OF CHOICE!
Be a part of history in the making, National news coverage and possibly global news coverage.
People it's time to put your body where your mouth is...
Get off you can and make a stand!!!
We need a head count as we are looking into Ban the Ban T shirts for all attendee's... Kindly reply with your shirt size by June 15th. (latecomers, we will try to accommodate you as well..)
Check out the :Red List" at http://www.thesmokevote.com for a comprehensive listing of just where your particular Lawmakers stand on this pivotal issue.
And don't forget to bring your broom...


Aloha and thank you for support,


Jolyn Tenn
Co-Chair
Hawaii Smokers Alliance



Star & Tribune Article
Restaurants struggle with cost of patios
Some establishments want outdoor seating for patrons who want ambiance -- or a place to smoke --but find the fees prohibitive.
By DAVID PETERSON and PATRICK LEE, Star Tribune staff writers
Last update: June 10, 2008 - 6:27 PM

The minute smoking was banned inside American Legion Post 643, in downtown Savage, 10 to 15 percent of the smoking clientele vanished. And Tom (Digger) Anderson, the general manager, would like to have those customers back.
Were it not for the fees he'd have to pay the city and the Metropolitan Council, he said, he'd put a patio in "nearly immediately." But he discovered that it would cost about $40,000 in hookups for sewer and water.
"I was shocked," he said, "by the amount of money it was going to cost us to put in a half a dozen chairs, tables, and simply to have a place outside for someone to smoke a cigarette."
The combination of the statewide smoking ban, and a growing civic desire for the ambiance created in historic downtowns by the presence of sidewalk tables on a sunlit evening, has a lot of places across the south metro area eyeing the possibility of moving chairs and tables outside.
But they are finding obstacles -- not only the cost, but concerns from neighbors about clutter and noise from tipsy patrons.
The Met Council's role as an obstacle is ironic. Even as the council's sewer arm needs to pay the bills by charging users a fair rate, as Anderson readily concedes, the same regional agency's planners dish out tens of millions of dollars aimed at subsidizing quaint walkable downtowns with leafy streets and sidewalk tables.
The council needs to charge as much as it does, said spokesman Tim O'Donnell, "because the Met Council must build its sewer pipes and treatment plants with enough capacity to handle the times when restaurants and other businesses are operating at their maximum. That level of wastewater service capacity is in effect year-round, even if businesses scale back seasonally. Because of this, we cannot alter the rates for outdoor versus indoor seating."
But Savage is now considering doing what it can, as a city, to minimize the charges downtown business would have to pay, said city planner Bryan Tucker.
"We'd like to make downtown more of a destination, and give businesses the opportunity to succeed," he said. "The concern is that these charges could discourage folks. Especially because the outside use is seasonal, but they have to pay fees as if it were permanent space."
Phil Roberts, owner of Parasole Restaurant Holdings, which has outdoor tables at several locations--including Good Earth, Chino Latino, Salut and Muffuletta, agreed.
"There are four good months, from mid May to mid September," he said. "But it can be too cold in May and June. It rains some days. ... You might get 70 days all year as you contend with all these enemies."
Charges vary immensely by community, he said. "Some governments are smart and understand that this is not a year-round thing, you don't need bigger sewer or water lines for this. But others seem to need money really badly and imagine we're far more lucrative than we are."
The patio issue has been a preoccupation in Lakeville as well, with noise being a greater concern than cost, said Brian Anderson, assistant city administrator.
Lakeville now dictates that patios within 150 feet of a residential area may not serve alcohol or food after 10 p.m.
Porterhouse Steaks and Seafood, an upscale restaurant in Lakeville, opened in November but is already working on fencing in its patio to meet city and state code. Though it's not a bar, said Executive Chef Chad Grant, Porterhouse could benefit from having a place for people to smoke.
"With it being enclosed, it allows them to sit out there with their drink, if they want to smoke," he said. "It was pretty simple as far as having a smoking patio; it just gets a little tricky if you are serving drinks or food."
Some owners and managers stress that the smoking ban has been a mixed bag: Once they gave their bars a thorough cleaning, they began attracting a new clientele. Said Anderson:
"We replaced the ceiling tile, cleaned our facility, and we gained that back and more from non-smokers who would now come to our establishment because it doesn't smell like smoke."
David Peterson • 952-882-9023
Patrick Lee • 612-673-7452
http://www.startribune.com/local/south/19644179.html?location_refer=$sectionName


Article from Forces
Germany: antismoker exposed for corruption10th June 2008
Former minister of environment for the Nord Rhein Westfahlen region and rabid antismoker Bàrbel Hòhn has been accused of peculation. According to the accusation, Hòhn received unapproved financing without any oversight by the appropriate government agency. There is, in fact, no official record of the money transfer.

The damages are estimated to be over 4.3 million Euros.Bàrbel Hòhn is also a fanatic supporter of smoking prohibition along with the rest of the Green Party, and she went as far as pushing for the prohibition of smoking even on German trains. Needless to say, she used false figures on smoking provided by the cancer centre DKFZ of Heidelberg, which collaborates heavily with the health Nazis of the World Health Organization. Her most ludicrous claim to date is that, in Ireland, there has been no decrease whatsoever of business in pubs since the smoking ban!
The DKFZ, in turn, was involved in a corruption scandal in March 2007, exposed by FORCES Germany, concerning falsification and manipulation of data by director Dr. Poetscke-Langer. We report here from our archives the comments we wrote at the time.
March 13, 2007 [04:30 GMT] - Antismoking is fraud, fraud is antismoking, antismoking is the WHO. Another "public health" document, another fraud: why are we not surprised? - A good ventilation in locales DOES decrease the danger of harmful molecules in the air. But Dr. Poetscke-Langer director of the Heidelberg cancer centre quotes documentation that turned out to be manipulated (false). The document showed that even a good ventilation system in a locale would not be sufficient to decrease the "dangerousness" of cigarette smoke. However, the studies upon which the document was based showed quite the opposite.
Federal government member Paul Werner voiced his hope that all the arguments on cigarette smoke by Dr. Poetscke-Langer are not manipulated as well. The DKFZ (German Cancer Research Centre) is a collaborator of the World Health Organization, by which it is controlled, and therefore it works for the elimination of smoking in the world. The use of manipulated and falsified information has put into serious question the integrity and the credibility of the Heidelberg's institute.Netzwerk Rauchen/Forces Germany member of the board Werner Paul pointed out that this paper by Dr. Poetschke-Langer is even more obviously manipulated than her other arguments, and invited the research centre to distance itself politically from the persecution of smokers. It has also asked to split the institution from the tobacco control enterprise in order to avoid contamination by the corruption of the World Health Organization. Finally, Poetschke-Langer has been asked by the Netzwerk Rauchen no longer to take advantage of the integrity of the institution to the ends of the campaign against tobacco consumption. …We are Tobacco Control, corruption is us!
http://forces.org/News_Portal/news_viewer.php?id=1215