Gas Station Robbed Of Cash, Cigarettes

Roseville police said a gas station convenience store was robbed Tuesday, and the armed culprits took cash and cigarettes.
The robbery took place at 10:36 p.m. in the 1500 block of Eureka Road, police said.
Nobody was hurt during the robbery.
Officials said the robbers were described as two black men in their 20s. One was about 6 feet tall, and was wearing a green and cream camouflage-patterned hooded sweatshirt and dark-colored baggy jeans, police said. The other was about 5 feet 8 inches tall, with a thin beard along his jawbone. He was seen wearing a black beanie, a gray hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans.

Health officials look to extend smoking ban around county buildings

Cowlitz County officials plan to make the entire health department campus — including the parking lot — smoke free this year and are considering eventually extending that to all county buildings.
Smoking is already banned inside county buildings by a state law that also prohibits smoking within 25 feet of entrances or windows. The new ban, which still must be formally approved by county commissioners in January, would mean smoking is now off-limits anywhere on the health department property.
Health officials said it's the right thing to do given their mandate to improve the county's overall health.
"Part of our job is to walk our talk, whether that comes to exercising more or going tobacco-free," said Carlos Carreon, the county's director of health and human services. St. John Medical Center, for example, also has a tobacco-free campus.
Smoking in particular plagues Cowlitz County, which has much higher smoking rates for both adults and teens than state averages. Pathways 2020, a coalition dedicated to improving the county's quality of life, earlier this year gave the county an "F" grade for the number of pregnant smokers and "D" grades for the number of adult smokers and asthma rates.
Health officials polled employees about the change and also talked with other counties, including Mason and Pierce, who have similar bans either at their health department or for their entire county. Local employees overwhelmingly supported the ban in the poll.
Officials plan to post signs about the new policy including asking drivers to extinguish any cigarettes before getting out of their cars. A picnic table on the property also will be off limit to smokers. They also will enforce the policy as "gently" as possible and officials plan to work with human resources "because we realize tobacco is an addiction," Carreon said.
The ban discussed last week deals only with the health and human services property at 1952 9th Ave., in Longview. But, health officials said they hope to eventually expand the measure to all county buildings.
"The long-term goal is to maybe expand it county-wide," Carreon said.
Commissioner Axel Swanson said it's worth investigating, though he cautioned there may be more details that need to be worked out.
"We'll see how it works out (at the health department) but I'd definitely support looking at it countywide," Swanson said.
Commissioner Kathleen Johnson, for example, wondered if such a ban would extend to the cab of a county-owned truck. She also took exception to a line in the proposed health department policy that said employees breaking the policy face discipline including possible termination. Johnson wondered if that would pass muster with the county's unions if the ban was eventually extended to other buildings.
"I support the idea of the health department being a jumping off point, but if we're going to extend this across the board there may be other issues," Johnson said.
Carreon said the health department union representative was involved in drafting the health department's policy. He'll run it by the county's legal and personnel teams, though, to double check.

5 million: Yearly tobacco deaths

Tobacco smoking kills at least 5 million people around the planet every year -- 600,000 of them from breathing secondhand smoke -- the World Health Organization reported last week. The death toll could rise to 8 million per year by 2030, mostly in low-income, low-education, developing countries, the U.N. agency said.
This is a terrible waste of human lives, stemming from a drug addiction that brings no benefit, only a plague of illnesses.
Nearly 170 nations ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003, pledging to protect their populations from the worst preventable health menace, but results have been paltry, especially in the poor Third World.Education and prosperity are the best cures for nicotine addiction. "Smoking levels naturally drop off -- as they have in Western countries -- when populations become richer and better-educated," a report noted.
Sadly, rural West Virginia has America's worst rate of deadly cigarette use, a new U.S. study found last month. With lower income and learning levels, mountain folk are prime victims of the curse that causes cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other ills.
The U.S. report, by the Centers for Disease Control, pointed out that "41.3 percent of persons with a GED certificate smoked cigarettes, compared to 5.7 percent of persons with a graduate degree. . . . Smoking rates among low-income adults enrolled in Medicaid programs are much higher than the general population (33 percent to 19 percent)."
State Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha -- a physician -- wants to add $1 per pack to West Virginia's cigarette tax for a double-benefit: to raise $100 million state revenue and save teenagers from getting hooked on nicotine. Bravo. We hope he draws solid support in the Legislature.
As for adults, each smoker ultimately faces a solitary challenge. It's up to the individual puffer to decide whether to go through the agonizing struggle to break free from one of the strongest addictions. It takes courage and willpower, but we hope more West Virginians bravely make the effort.

Officers seize cigarettes in market raid

THOUSANDS of illicit cigarettes have been seized by customs officials from peddlers at Bathgate Market.
The West Lothian market was targeted during a four-day blitz by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) officials last week, which found almost 92,000 cigarettes being sold at premises throughout the central belt.
Five kilograms of rolling tobacco and 2,000 cigarettes were seized in a BMW car at Bathgate Market as part of operation Dog Wood Prize.
The revenue loss to crooks from the four-day operation is estimated to be £21,554.
HMRC officers were supported by British Transport Police and Lothian & Borders and Strathclyde forces during the raids.
A police spokeswoman said: "The proceeds from this kind of sale are more than likely going to fund serious and organised crime."

Smoking Cessation Classes Set To Begin

In Idaho 16.8% of people smoke. Although that is lower than the national average of 20 % It's a number that's still too high for the Southeastern District Health Department.
Rose Sterner, Smoked for 43 Years: "Sitting down having a cup of coffee and a cigarette was our way of life."
But, after 43 years of smoking Rose has now been tobacco free for 2 years.
Rose Sterner: "It was a lot of money, it was a lot of lost time and hopefully I'm not going to have to pay for the time I blew that way."
Rose and her husband quit with the help of a free tobacco cessation program put on by the Southeastern District Health Department.
Traci Lambson, Health Education Specialist: "It's a class that'll give you the tools so you can quit when you're ready."
The tools include education about tobacco and helps smokers find the best way to quit for them, be it cold turkey or with the help of medication to squash the addiction.
Traci Lambson: "Anytime you couple any class with nicotine replacement therapy your chances of remaining tobacco free are even greater."
Rose Sterner: "It's got to be between your ears, you've got to want to do this."
For Rose and her husband it's given them a new lease of life; a life that no longer revolves around cigarettes.
Rose Sterner: "I don't think I'd go back to smoking. It has no interest to me."

No tobacco advertising at newspaper hawker stalls from November 1

Hong Kong (HKSAR) - The Tobacco Control Office (TCO) of the Department of Health reminded licensed newspaper hawkers that the exemption for display of tobacco advertisements at their stalls would be revoked on November 1. "There will be no exemption from the tobacco advertising ban thereafter," a spokesman said. Under the Smoking (Public Health) Ordinance, no person shall display, publish, distribute, broadcast, exhibit by film or place on the Internet any tobacco advertisement.
Offenders are liable to a fine of up to $50,000 and in case of a continuing offence, to a further penalty of $1,500 for each day the offence continues. "We have written to all licensed newspaper hawkers and their trade associations to remind them of the repeal of exemption, and to remove all tobacco advertisements before November 1," the spokesman said. He called for the co-operation of licensed newspaper hawkers to enable the smooth implementation of the ordinance.
To increase awareness of all licensed newspaper hawkers and the public of the revocation of exemption, the TCO has mounted a publicity programme comprising radio announcements, advertisements via Internet and pamphlet distribution to licensed newspaper hawkers during inspections. Up to September this year, the TCO had received 29 complaints about tobacco advertisements and took enforcement action in eight cases of illegal advertising. Some of the 2009 complaints are still under investigation.

Tobacco Trust Fund grants available

Innovative projects that address agricultural issues and the needs of communities and farmers affected by the changes in the tobacco industry can apply now for grant funds. The North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission in Raleigh has announced its next grant cycle and is accepting applications until Dec. 4. Grant winners will be announced by May 1, 2010.Previous grants include farmer’s market renovations, new crop research, agricultural marketing campaigns and assistance for unemployed workers to improve job skills. The NCTTFC also funds programs designed to decrease farm energy costs, assist value-added producers and provide research on brambles, improved pasture grazing and strawberry season extension.

12 years for violent robbers

Two men, who went on a robbery spree and terrorized two families in May 2005, have been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment each by the Lautoka High Court.
In his ruling, Judge Justice Paul Madigan noted that 25 year old Isei Turagakula and 22 year old Manasa Volau embarked on a night of violent action on May 22nd, 2005.
The two first entered the home of a Surendra Prasad at 1:30am and threatened the occupants with a wooden pole.
The two forced the occupants to crawl through the house before tying them up with wire. 
They then stole money, mobile phones and electronic equipment. Before making off in Prasad's vehicle, they threatened Prasad that they would kill him if he called the police.
The robbers then went to the bakery shop of the second victim, punched him in the face and took bread, cigarettes, money and another mobile phone.
The two were arrested by police hours later and confessed to their crimes.
In his ruling, Justice Madigan stated that, what was probably a joyride for the two was a night of terror for the victims.
He said the offences were committed at night resulting in a heightened state of fear for the victims, the two acted in concert as one fearsome force to invade private and commercial premises. 
Turagakula is to serve 12 and a half years imprisonment while Volau is sentenced to 12 years behind bars.

Tobacco Disappears From Health Law

A section regulating tobacco as an addictive substance in the newly passed Health Law has been removed despite approvals from the legislative and executive branch, a former lawmaker has revealed on Wednesday.
Hakim Sorimuda Pohan, a former member of the drafting committee of the health law who was no longer elected for the 2009-2014 term said on Wednesday during a discussion on “Corruption on Health Law” in Jakarta, that Section 2 of Article 113 could not be found in the final document at the House of Representatives.
The missing section was written as follow: ”Addictive substance as referred in section (1) includes tobacco; solid, liquid, and gas products that contain tobacco which are addictive and could harm its users and or their immediate surroundings.”
Hakim said the change could come from the legislative or the executive branch and said the Health Department have denied any knowledge about the change. Hakim said exclusion of the section is a criminal offense, and should be thoroughly investigated to bring the perpetrator(s) to justice.
Kartono Muhammad a health expert which was also a member of the drafting team said punishment should remain to be imposed to the perpetrators although the section could be automatically re-incorporated into the article.
Chairman of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (Yayasan lembaga Konsumen Indonesia) Tulus Abadi said this is the first time such crime was uncovered. While a researcher from the Political Corruption Division of the Indonesia Corruption Watch, Abdullah Dahlan said the section cold automatically be restored into the Law, as it has been passed during the house plenary session.