Smoking Ban

"With the passing of Doug Cochran, now might be a good time for the SHHS Alumni Association to start a campaign to rename School Stadium in his honor. Now that North has its own stadium, there should be nothing standing in the way of renaming the stadium. " "This is to the Hagerstown veteran. I personally am very thankful for everything that you have ever done for this country, but that is a totally different issue than smoking. As far as your private veterans club goes, I can't comment because I'll probably never be in there.

Munson explains his vote for smoking ban ANNAPOLIS - Sen. Donald F. Munson, R-Washington, told the Senate on Thursday that his vote to outlaw smoking in bars and restaurants statewide was historic for him. "This is the first time in 33 years I've ever voted for a bill of this kind," he said, referring to the length of his state legislative career. "I thought this bill was flexible enough that it wouldn't put people out of business," Munson said in an interview after the vote.

WASHINGTON COUNTY - A day after the Maryland House of Delegates passed a version of a bill that would ban smoking in restaurants and bars, restaurant general manager Bobby Resh wasn't holding his breath when asked how the measure would affect business. Talk of the ban already had lit his fire. At Richardson's Restaurant, Resh said "90 to 95 percent" of the bar customers smoke. "Yeah, they're not really saving anybody from anybody because with that said, 85 percent of my staff smokes, so I don't know who's protecting who from whom," Resh, a nonsmoker who opposes the ban, said Sunday.

"I'm glad to see that we have lots of places to relocate for lower gas prices. To the person who said to move - FYI, we are just trying to help everyone see the disparity in the prices. This is totally crazy and we need someone to step up and take a stand with these owners in Washington County. " - Hagerstown "Attention people, gas was selling for a $1.99 at the Freestate station in Frederick and in Hagerstown is running about $2.17. Do you go to a grocery store that has higher prices?

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.

Thanks for support of Shriners' circus To the editor: Thanks, gratitude and appreciation are due to those who attended and supported the 2004 edition of the Ali Ghan Shriners Circus held at the the Hagerstown Community College ARCC on Saturday, April 3. Thank you to the many businesses in the Hagerstown and Washington County area that purchased advertising space in our program. Thank you to those businesses that went the extra mile and were corporate sponsors for the circus.

marlob@herald-mail.com CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - The Jefferson County Board of Health unanimously passed an amendment Friday to the 2003 Clean Indoor Air Regulation, sharpening the definition of bars. But to restaurant owner Danny Smith, the group more importantly finally cleared the way for him to take the same steps as Charles Town Races & Slots to keep smokers happy in certain designated areas in his establishment. "All I want is a level playing field," Smith said.

shappell@herald-mail.com Two staff members from a prison south of Hagerstown were placed on administrative leave following an attempt to bring contraband into the facility, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Division of Correction said Tuesday. Capt. Priscilla Doggett said two employees from the Roxbury Correctional Institution, whom she would not identify, were under investigation in an attempt to bring tobacco products into the prison and will remain on leave until the probe is completed.

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.