Tobacco

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - An investigation by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office concluded that "large amounts of public funds were wasted," but no criminal violations were found in the operation of a state-funded anti-smoking program administered by Franklin County. Invoices for tens of thousands of dollars were submitted for promotional items and a concert, as well as compliance checks using teenagers to investigate whether businesses sold tobacco to minors, according to a court ruling related to the firing of the program's manager.

Tobacco workshop scheduled for Aug. 30 MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A free workshop focusing on the advantages for businesses to reduce employee tobacco use and implementing a tobacco-free workplace policy will be Aug. 30 at City Hospital. "Reducing Employee Tobacco Use: A Solution to Reduce Health Care Costs" will be from 9 to 11 a.m. in the second floor conference room of the Dorothy McCormack Center, according to Teresa E. McCabe, vice president of Marketing & Development for West Virginia University Hospitals-East.

Hagerstown Suns players and Woolie B., the Suns mascot, paid a visit last month to Potomac Heights Elementary School with a message to "Strike Out Tobacco. " The players spoke to the students about the harmful effects of tobacco, and several players gave testimonials about what tobacco has done to people they know.

"I was very upset when I read Tim Rowland's column last night in the paper. In it he says he has 'battle fatigue' from reading about Iraq. A couple of pages over in the same newspaper I read about a family getting ready to bury their 22-year-old-son who died in Iraq. My own son is getting ready for his second deployment in August. And Tim Rowland has the nerve to think he has battle fatigue! What a joke!" "The New York Yankees are dead last. I'm loving it. " - Washington County "I think Washington County should be named the Dandelion Capital of the World.

SHARPSBURG - The Washington County Health Department will be holding tobacco cessation courses Mondays and Thursdays in November and December from 2 to 3 p.m. at Sharpsburg Town Hall at 106 E. Main St. The courses will be Nov. 13, 16, 20, 22 (Wednesday), 27, and 30; and Dec. 4 and 7. Free nicotine patches will be given to Washington County residents. Call 240-420-1796 to register.

HAGERSTOWN - Children filled yellow bags with pens, healthy snacks and Frisbees as they toured booths Wednesday afternoon during the Harvest Fest Health Fair inside the gymnasium at the Martin Luther King Center. Health-related organizations from around the county set up booths and handed out information about their services and good health. "Ew, look at that, look at that!" said one boy as he and his friends looked at a plastic model of a stomach at the Washington County Health Department's booth.

Sometimes when it appears you have won, you really have lost. Such is the case with the recent federal judicial decision concerning the government's case against the top cigarette makers that were charged with deception concerning their product and its health effects, mislabeling of their product and violations of the RICO laws. In her ruling in the long-running case, Judge Gladys Kessler said, "Over the course of more than 50 years, defendants lied, misrepresented and deceived the American public, including smokers and the young people they avidly sought as 'replacement smokers,' about the devastating health effects of smoking and environmental tobacco smoke (second hand smoke)

Several Washington County organizations rallied for an anti-tobacco walk Thursday, a kickoff to the World Health Organization's World No Tobacco Day celebration next week. About 100 walkers, mostly children and teens, gathered at Doub's Woods Park for "Walk For a Tobacco Free World," a quarter-mile trek sponsored by The Coalition for a Healthier Washington County, Washington County Public Schools and the Washington County Health Department. In addition to the walk, the event featured dancers and a performance by Sterlen Barr, a rapper/educator who goes by "No Puff Daddy.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Staying Tobacco Free, a program coordinated by Summit Health, is organizing A Kick Butts Day Shoe drive through April 10. The group's goal is to collect 600 pairs of shoes, in good condition or gently worn, throughout Franklin County to recognize National Kick Butts Day on April 5. The shoes will be taken to Harrisburg, Pa., on April 25 and 26 when Franklin County youth will gather to promote awareness of the dangers of...

We can't change history we dislike To the editor: This is in answer to Mr. Burkett's letter about Maryland, Lord Baltimore, tobacco and American Indians. First off, to the American Indian, tobacco is a sacred sacrament. It carries their prayers to the creator who gave them this sacred plant. It is as holy to them as the Eucharist is to Christians. Second, It was John Rolfe and the Virginians who took tobacco back to England and turned it into a cash crop, not native Americans.