Smoking Ban

charlestown@herald-mail.com The owner of a seafood restaurant in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., spoke out against a proposed smoking ban in Jefferson County Wednesday night, saying it is not fair that his restaurant would be prohibited from allowing smoking while it would be permissible at the Charles Town Races & Slots. "I don't want to be discriminated against," Danny Smith, owner of The Anvil, told the Jefferson County Board of Health during a public hearing on the smoking ban held in the Jefferson County Planning Commission meeting room.

HAGERSTOWN - It was last call for ashtrays across Maryland on Friday as the state's smoking ban became official in most public places. Several patrons at local bars and clubs said the state law violated their rights. The ban was passed last year by the Maryland General Assembly. "If I want to smoke these cigarettes, it's my business," Larry McMillan said as he drank coffee Friday at The New Del-Mar Inn off U.S. 40 in Hagerstown. "In my book, they're taking a person's rights away.

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. - Dozens of people packed a Morgan County Board of Health meeting Monday night to protest a county ordinance that bans smoking in local restaurants starting Aug. 8. Spilling out into the hallway and down the stairs outside the commission meeting room, the turnout represented only a small portion of county residents against the law, said Sandy McCarty, who presented a petition she claimed more than 300 people had signed....

WASHINGTON COUNTY - Where there's smoke, there's ire. Health advocates are trying again to extinguish smoking from bars and restaurants, the last Maryland workplaces not covered by a statewide ban. The fight over secondhand smoke has returned to the Maryland General Assembly in Annapolis. On Friday, Sen. Robert J. Garagiola, D-Montgomery, filed the Clean Indoor Air Act of 2007. Del. Barbara A. Frush, D-Anne Arundel/Prince George's, plans to file a House version on Wednesday, according to her office.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- While widely publicized as Pennsylvania's smoking "ban," the Clean Indoor Air Act signed into law Friday by Gov. Ed Rendell has enough exemptions that some area businesspeople question how much of an effect the new law will really have. "We're just going to wait and see what happens," said Beverly Hess, who works at VFW Post 695 in Waynesboro, Pa. Several exemptions in Pennsylvania's smoking ban mirror those spelled out in Maryland's own Clean Indoor Air Act, which was signed into law 13 months ago. Like Maryland, smoking will be permitted in homes not licensed as child-care facilities, certain hotel/motel rooms and tobacco shops.

charlestown@herald-mail.com Jefferson County health officials have proposed a Clean Indoor Air Regulation that would ban smoking in many enclosed public places in the county. If it's approved, the ban would go into effect Sept. 1, James Hecker, chairman of the Board of Health, said. Under the proposal, smoking would be banned in enclosed public places including grocery stores, retail stores, restaurants, elevators, restrooms, lobbies, reception areas, patient rooms, waiting rooms, hospitals, clinics, shopping malls, sports arenas, bingo and fire halls, bowling alleys and child-care centers.

HAGERSTOWN - A new law that would prohibit people from smoking in bars, restaurants and private clubs has some members of fraternal organizations fuming. "It's supposed to be United ... U.S.A. Why should you want somebody to dictate what you can and can't do? We're not communists," said Bob Keedy, who on Sunday sat at the bar of the Fraternal Order of Eagles on Locust Street in Hagerstown. The Maryland General Assembly voted near the end of its session to approve a statewide smoking ban. The ban does not include an earlier proposal to exempt private clubs.

This week the Morgan County, W.Va., Board of Health decided to ban smoking in public places. The action is welcome protection for those who work in such establishments, but giving business owners five years to comply seems a little too lenient. The unanimous vote approved an amendment to the county's Indoor Air Regulation, which previously allowed smoking in restaurants if the smoking section was separate from the smoking area. Now it goes to Morgan County Prosecutor Debra McLaughlin, who will review it and make sure it will pass muster in the courts.

MARTINSBURG, W.VA. -- More than 75 people rallied at the Martinsburg town square on Wednesday to air their opposition to the Berkeley County Board of Health's proposed tougher restrictions on smoking in public places and places of employment. The rally at Queen and King streets capped a series of public protests organized by owners of bars and clubs in the last few weeks leading up to the Board of Health's meeting on Monday. A draft of the county's revised clean indoor air regulations that proposes a ban on smoking in bars, clubs and most hotel rooms is expected to be discussed in Monday's meeting at the Berkeley County Courthouse.

Boy pulled from river remains in 'extreme critical condition' County to spend $314,900 for home to widen road Bar owners protest proposed changes to smoking ban Man hospitalized after stabbing at Martinsburg club Man fumbled gun in accidental shooting

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Among businesses that could be affected by tougher restrictions on smoking in Berkeley County's public places and workplaces, King Street Coffee & Tobacco Emporium arguably tops the list. While coffee is first in the shop's name at 320 W. King St. in Martinsburg, pipe tobacco and cigars have been owner Ed Trout's primary calling card for more than 16 years. Tobacco shops are not exempt in the Berkeley County Health Department's existing "clean indoor air" regulations or the newly revised rules that are out for public comment.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A Berkeley County assistant prosecutor who was sued in circuit court last year by a West Virginia State Police trooper in a landlord-tenant dispute has resigned from Prosecuting Attorney Pamela Jean Games-Neely's office. Games-Neely notified the Berkeley County Commission of Gregory V. Smith's resignation in a Jan. 14 memo and noted his last day of employment would be next Friday. It was not clear whether the lawsuit, which is still pending in circuit court, contributed to Smith's resignation.

"I'm a seventh-grader in Hagerstown. I'm just saying that I'm experiencing some shoulder pain from the backpacks, and I really think that people should take home less stuff in their backpacks from school, because you can get hurt. " "Where do elected officials and other politicians get the idea they're supposed to take care of us? Their job is to keep the potholes filled. My job is to live my life carefully, compassionately, cooperatively, cordially, healthily, helpfully, honorably, industriously, inquisitively, intelligently, joyfully, lengthily, lovingly, prosperously, purposefully, respectfully, reverently, thoroughly, thoughtfully, tolerantly and zestfully.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A West Virginia State Police trooper has sued a Berkeley County assistant prosecuting attorney, claiming the lawyer caused more than $15,000 in damage to the Inwood, W.Va., property that he leased to him in 2006. Trooper Joseph M. Walker has asked for a $15,488 judgment, plus interest and attorney fees, from Gregory V. Smith in a complaint filed in Berkeley County Circuit Court by attorney Barry P. Beck. In response, Smith said the trooper's allegations were not supportable and amounted to little more than harassment and public embarrassment.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- While widely publicized as Pennsylvania's smoking "ban," the Clean Indoor Air Act signed into law Friday by Gov. Ed Rendell has enough exemptions that some area businesspeople question how much of an effect the new law will really have. "We're just going to wait and see what happens," said Beverly Hess, who works at VFW Post 695 in Waynesboro, Pa. Several exemptions in Pennsylvania's smoking ban mirror those spelled out in Maryland's own Clean Indoor Air Act, which was signed into law 13 months ago. Like Maryland, smoking will be permitted in homes not licensed as child-care facilities, certain hotel/motel rooms and tobacco shops.

HAGERSTOWN - It was last call for ashtrays across Maryland on Friday as the state's smoking ban became official in most public places. Several patrons at local bars and clubs said the state law violated their rights. The ban was passed last year by the Maryland General Assembly. "If I want to smoke these cigarettes, it's my business," Larry McMillan said as he drank coffee Friday at The New Del-Mar Inn off U.S. 40 in Hagerstown. "In my book, they're taking a person's rights away.