[' ', 'In', 'The', 'News', '{though', 'the', 'fight', 'against', 'discriminatory', 'smoking', 'measures', '==', 'continues', 'nationwide,', 'the', 'past', 'few', 'months', 'have', 'brought', 'several', '“good', 'news”', 'items', 'to', 'the', 'attention', 'of', 'The', 'NSA', 'ee', 'Voice.', 'Here', 'is', 'a', 'wrap-up', 'of', 'the', 'news:', 'Mm', 'Asmoking', 'ban', 'In', 'Columbus,', 'Ohio,', 'was', 'struck', 'down', 'in', 'one', 'of', 'the', 'first', 'court', 'decisions', 'to', 'address', 'the', 'broad', 'smoking', 'bans', 'being', 'adopted', 'by', 'cities', 'nationwide,', 'according', 'to', 'an', 'August', '10', 'article', 'in', 'The', 'Wall', 'Street', 'Journal.', 'The', 'newspaper', 'reported', 'that', 'a', 'state', 'court', 'judge', 'said', 'two', 'local', 'health', 'boards', 'had', 'exceeded', 'their', 'authority', 'in', 'adopt', 'ing', 'the', 'ban,', 'which', 'would', 'have', 'prohibited', 'smoking', 'in', 'restaurants', 'and', 'public', 'buildings.', '“If', 'the', 'power', 'to', 'discriminate', '[in', 'determining', 'where', 'the', 'ban', 'applies]', 'is', 'to', 'be', 'exercised,', 'that', 'power', 'belongs', 'to', 'the', 'legislative', 'branch', 'of', 'govem-', 'ment,”', 'said', 'the', 'court,', 'according', 'to', 'the', 'Joumat', 'report.', 'm', 'The', 'Village', 'Board', 'of', 'Wilmette,', 'Ill.,', 'unanimously', 'defeated', 'a', 'proposed', 'anti-smoking', 'ordinance', 'that', 'would', 'nave', 'prevented', 'smoking', 'in', 'all', 'village', 'restaurants,', 'according', 'to', 'the', 'Chicago', 'Tribune.', 'Wilmette', 'was', 'the', 'third', 'North', 'Shore', 'suburb', 'to', 'reject', 'a', 'discriminatory', 'smoking', 'ban', 'recently.', 'The', 'Human', 'Services', 'Committee', 'in', 'Evanston,', 'Ill.,', 'dropped', '4', 'measure', 'in', 'June', 'after', 'protest', 'irom', 'restaurant', 'owners,', 'and', 'Highland', 'Park,', 'ill.,', 'defeated', 'a', 'proposed', 'restaurant', 'smoking', 'ban', 'in', 'May', 'amid', 'concems', 'that', 'it', 'would', 'hurt', 'focai', 'businesses,', 'the', 'Tribune', 'reported.', 'According', 'to', 'a', 'recent', 'report', 'in', 'The', 'Washington', 'Post,', 'an', 'orthopedic', "surgeon's", 'love', 'for', 'cigars', 'has', 'paid', 'off.', 'After', 'being', 'shunned', 'from', 'a', 'blackjack', 'table', 'in', 'the', 'nonsmoking', 'section', 'of', "Bally's", 'Grand', 'Casino', 'Hotel', 'in', 'Atlantic', 'City,', 'NJ.,', 'Frank', 'Oliveto', 'went', 'to', 'a', '$1', 'slot', 'machine', '—', 'only', 'to', 'win', 'an', '$8.5', 'million', 'jackpot.', 'an', 'Adantic', 'City', 'record!', '  ', '  ', ' ', 'we', 'GORCHR', 'OTE', 'HHSFCECREHEO', 'REET', 'EDE', '  ', 'err', 'rrerrrrrrrerrrrrrrerrrrrr', 'errr', 'rr', 'ere', 'ee', 'reece', 'eee', 'ee', 'ee', '‘', 'EFFORTS', 'OF', 'NSA', 'MEMBERS', 'BRING', 'Goop', 'NEWS', 'FOR', 'SMOKERS', 'W', 'oo', 'do', 'a', 'courtroom', 'in', 'Maryland,', 'the', 'U.S.', 'Congress', 'and', 'an', 'agency', 'of', 'the', 'federal', 'government', 'have', 'in', 'common?', 'All', 'three', 'are', 'arenas', 'in', 'which', 'progress', 'has', 'been', 'made', 'in', 'the', 'battle', 'against', 'discriminatory', 'anti-smoking', 'measures.', 'And,', 'as', 'the', 'National', 'Smokers', 'Alliance', '(NSA)', 'President', 'and', 'Chief', 'Exec-', 'utive', 'Officer', 'Thomas', 'Humber', 'points', 'out,', '“speak-', 'ing', 'up', 'and', 'speaking', 'out”', 'can', 'make', 'a', 'difference.', '“The', 'recent', 'events', 'in', 'Maryland', 'and', 'in', 'our', 'nation’s', 'capital', 'prove', 'that', 'individuals', 'who', 'believe', 'in', 'protecting', 'personal', 'freedoms', 'can', 'have', 'an', 'impact', 'on', 'legislation', 'if', 'they', 'join', 'together,”', 'Humber', 'said.', '“That’s', 'the', 'founding', 'principle', 'of', 'the', 'SA', 'and', 'the', 'goal', 'of', 'our', 'more', 'than', '1', 'million', 'members', 'who', 'are', 'fighting', 'the', 'growing', 'anti-', 'smoking', 'movement', 'in', 'this', 'nation.”', 'Below', 'is', 'an', 'update', 'of', 'the', 'events', 'in', 'Mary-', 'land', 'and', 'Washington,', 'D.C.:', ' ', 'MARYLAND', 'SMOKING', 'BAN', 'PUT', 'ON', 'HOLD', 'On', 'August', '12,', 'a', 'Talbot', 'County', '(Md.)', 'Circuit', 'Court', 'judge', 'put', 'an', 'indefinite', 'hold', 'on', 'a', 'statewide', 'smoking', 'ban', 'adopted', 'by', 'the', 'Maryland', 'Division', 'of', 'Labor', 'and', 'Industry', 'in', 'July.', 'The', 'regulation,', 'which', 'calls', 'for', 'a', 'ban', 'on', 'smoking', 'in', 'nearly', 'every', 'indoor', 'workplace', 'in', 'the', 'state,', 'is', 'now', 'biocked', 'while', 'a', 'full', 'trial', 'on', 'its', 'legality', 'takes', 'place.', 'The', "judge's", 'ruling', 'came', 'after', 'two', 'days', 'of', 'testimony', 'from', 'Maryiand', 'business', 'owners,', 'who', 'cited', 'economic', 'hardships', 'if', 'the', 'ban', 'went', 'into', 'effect.', 'Said', 'one', 'Easton', 'restaurant', 'owner', 'in', 'The', 'Washington', 'Post', '“We', 'estimate', 'that', '30', 'percent', 'of', 'our', 'customers', 'are', 'smokers.', 'To', 'tell', '30', 'percent', 'of', 'my', 'clientele', 'that', 'they’re', 'not', 'welcome', 'would', 'be', 'suicidal.”', 'According', 'to', 'an', 'August', '16', 'Associated', 'Press', 'report,', 'the', 'legal', 'challenge', 'in', 'the', 'courts', 'is', 'expect-', 'ed', 'to', 'extend', 'into', 'next', 'year.', 'The', 'article', 'noted', 'that', 'if', 'this', 'happens,', 'Maryland', 'Gov.', 'William', 'Donald', 'Schaefer,', 'a', 'strong', 'supporter', 'of', 'the', 'ban,', 'would', 'no', 'longer', 'be', 'in', 'office,', 'and', 'a', 'new', 'chief', 'executive', 'could', 'withdraw', 'the', 'regulation', 'or', 'revise', 'it', 'to', 'make', 'it', 'less', 'sweeping.', 'NSA', 'members,', 'who', 'number', 'more', 'than', '150,000', 'in', 'Maryland,', 'should', 'take', 'particular', 'note', 'of', 'this', 'fact', 'during', 'the', 'upcoming', 'governor’s', ' ', '    ', 'race', 'and', 'remind', 'candidates', 'that', 'they', 'expect', 'policies', 'of', 'accommodation', '—', 'not', 'prohibition', '—', 'from', 'elected', 'officials.', 'PROPOSED', 'TAX', 'HIKE', 'REDUCED', 'ON', 'CAPITOL', 'Hitt', '_', '_', 'As', 'debate', 'over', 'health', 'care', 'reform', 'continues', 'on', 'Capitol', 'Hill,', 'NSA', 'members', 'have', 'been', 'the', 'recent', 'winners', 'in', 'the', 'battle', 'over', 'an', 'increase', 'in', 'the', 'federal', 'excise', 'tax', 'on', 'cigarettes.', ';', 'Measures', 'introduced', 'by', 'both', 'U.S.', 'Sen.', 'George', 'Mitchell', '(D-Maine)', 'and', 'U.S.', 'Rep.', 'Richard', 'Gephardt', '(D-Mo.)', 'include', 'a', '45-cents-per-pack', 'hike', 'in', 'the', 'current', '24-cents-perpack', 'tax', '—', 'a', 'substan-', 'tial', 'decrease', 'from', 'proposals', 'by', 'President', 'Clinton', 'and', 'Senate', 'Finance', 'Committee', 'Chairman', 'Daniel', 'Patrick', 'Moynihan', '(D-N.Y.).', 'In', 'addition,', 'both', 'the', 'Mitchell', 'and', 'Gephardt', 'plans', 'would', 'phase', 'the', 'tax', 'hike', 'in', 'over', 'a', 'period', 'of', 'five', 'years,', 'instead', 'of', 'immediately', 'as', 'proposed', 'under', 'other', 'plans.', 'Over', 'the', 'past', 'several', 'months,', 'NSA', 'members', 'from', 'around', 'the', 'nation', 'have', 'contacted', 'their', 'members', 'of', 'Congress', 'to', 'speak', 'out', 'against', '4', 'federal', 'cigarette', 'tax', 'hike,', 'and', 'should', 'continue', 'to', 'voice', 'opposition', 'to', 'any', 'tax', 'increase', 'as', 'debate', 'ott', 'health', 'care', 'continues.', 'As', 'Penelope', 'Hite', 'from', 'Los', 'Angeles,', 'Callf.,', 'wrote', 'to', 'her', 'U.S.', 'senators:', '"The', 'cigarette', 'tax', 'that', 'people', 'pay', 'goes', 'for', 'revenue', 'used', 'to', 'fund', 'programs', 'that', 'benefit', 'every-', 'one.', 'No', 'one', 'group', 'should', 'be', 'singled', 'out.”', ' ', 'FEDERAL', 'AGENCY', 'FLOODED', 'WITH', 'MATL', 'OPPOSING', 'SMOKING', 'BAN', ':', 'According', 'to', 'an', 'August', '13', 'report', 'in', 'The', 'Washington', 'Post,', 'the', 'U.S.', 'Occupational', 'Safety', 'and', 'Health', 'Administration', '(OSHA)', 'has', 'received', 'a', '“record', 'flood', 'of', 'mail”', 'concerning', 'a', 'proposed', 'fedéral', 'regulation', 'to', 'ban', 'smoking', 'in', 'the', 'nation’s', '6', 'million', 'workplaces.', '“—', 'The', 'Post', 'article', 'reported', 'that', 'OSHA', 'has', 'processed', 'nearly', '50,000', 'letters', '—', 'most', 'of', 'which', 'were', 'from', 'people', 'who', 'oppose', 'the', 'regula-', 'tion', 'and', 'cited', 'concern', 'over', 'government', 'interfer-', 'ence', 'in', 'their', 'personal', 'lives.', '“=', 'According', 'to', 'Humber,', 'NSA', 'members', 'gener', 'ated', 'approximately', '20,000', 'letters', 'and', 'will', 'continue', 'to', 'oppose', 'the', 'ban', 'as', 'hearings', 'get', 'underway', 'in', 'late', 'September.', 'TOGOBGVL', 'AG']