More butts, not fewer, found after public service push to keep Knox beautiful

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — After a summertime public service campaign about cigarette butts in Knox County there are more of them, not fewer.

The group Keep Knoxville Beautiful launched the campaign after a canvass of 0.2 miles of Maynardville Highway on June 1 turned up 1,386 butts.

Volunteers collected the spent cigarettes again on Aug. 31 and found 1,493 of them.

Beautification group executive director Allison Teeters told The Knoxville News Sentinel she hopes the increase was because of the summer tourist season.

But Teeters said some people who would never think of throwing out other trash don't think twice about flipping a cigarette butt from a vehicle.

Teeters said the group plans to do another scan at the end of September.

Do You Have A Guilty Conscience Becasue You Smoke Cigarettes

If you are still a cigarette smoker and you feel guilty every time you light one, rest assured, you are not alone. Smokers can suffer a tremendous amount of anxiety because they use tobacco. They smoke it or chew it everyday, which means they probably feel guilty everyday. Smokers can also feel ashamed because they still smoke or chew because they know for a fact how deadly it is for them to continue to do it. They know they are cutting their life short. They know they will likely spend less time with their family and friends because they will likely die sooner than they should. They know their smoking related illnesses and diseases are likely to be a burden on their loved ones one day.

So, why is it that smokers just keep on smoking if they have to deal with all of these thoughts of guilt and shame when they light up a cigarette? That is something that even smokers themselves can not usually answer. All they know is that when they do not get a cigarette when they want one, it usually drives them crazy. It sounds simple enough, but actually what smoking does to the body is anything but simple. How the body reacts to when they smoke is not simple. It involves a lot of brain activity that is normal, but the components and chemicals in the in the tobacco smoke causes the brain to react differently than normal, more of certain brain chemicals are released than should be, and the structure of cells can be altered. It is indeed a lot more complicated than a simple craving.

All of these changes in the body, the emotional attachment to smoking, and the addiction to the nicotine and other things in the tobacco are all part of the reason that a smoker deals with the guilt and shame they might feel because they smoke. Without serious intervention, a determined willpower, or even medical treatment, many smokers could never overcome their tobacco use. It is so much more than just a matter of wanting a cigarette and giving in to that want.

Anytime you introduce foreign substances into the body, the body will have a reaction of some kind. It can be good and bad at the same time. Smoking tobacco, just like many other drugs, makes the user feel good in some ways while causing damage to their body at the same time. They can either stop the damage by stop using the drug, but they must give up the thing that makes them feel so good that they ae addicted to both physically and psychologically. Human being do things they might feel guilty about all of the rime and smoking cigarettes is no exception.

Smokers to be turfed outside, then walled in

PUBS will be forced to build a wall through the middle of their beer gardens to separate smokers from non-smokers. 
The Territory will be the last jurisdiction to ban smoking in pubs - forcing smokers outside on January 2, 2010. 
But Health Minister Kon Vatskalis yesterday said that ban would go further after 12 months - with mandatory non-smoking areas in beer gardens as well. 
Pubs will then be forced to designate half of the beer garden as "non-smoking" from January 2, 2011. 
Mr Vatskalis said pubs could install a wall dividing these areas or create a three metre buffer area. 
Staff will not be allowed to serve customers in the smoking area. 
"Let common sense prevail. We've got people who smoke - it's still a legal product - and these people want to go out the same way the people who don't smoke want to go out," he said. 
Mr Vatskalis said a Tobacco Action Taskforce would be formed to make the transition "as smooth as possible". 
Smoker Andrew Morrison said he was often treated like a social leper, but would not mind the changes - provided there would always be a smoking area. 
Australian Hotels Association NT chief executive Amy Williamson said she was looking forward to working with the Government on these changes, but said there was still not enough information about the indoor ban - which starts in three months. 
But Mr Vatskalis said there was no more to give.
"No smoking inside the pubs. It's as simple as that. There are no more details on that one," he said. 
Mr Vatskalis said the Territory was the "last bastion" of smoking - with 36 per cent of us lighting up regularly. 
He suggested the laws may restrict smokers further with public support. 
"Smoking is going out of fashion," he said. 
"Things have changed, so we have changed."