Another Ban Failed: NM Albuquerque

Judge Rules in Backyard Smoking Trial
May 17th, 2010
An Albuquerque couple that claim their neighbor’s cigarette smoke is creating a health hazard had their day in court Monday.
Plaintiffs Jesus and Pat Martinez said their neighbor Linda Garcia’s smoking in her own backyard hurt their quality of life, and filed a suit against Garcia.
But Monday, Judge Rosie Allred read her verdict in favor of Garcia.
“After hearing the facts, she said what Ms. Garcia was doing on her own property was not unreasonable,” said defense attorney Stephen Lane.
In court, the plaintiffs argued that Garcia’s smoke would waft through the air and settle in their home.
“I have suffered from illnesses I have never suffered from in my life,” said Pat Martinez.
They had two experts testify, but the experts couldn’t detect smoke in their house.
Plaintiff Jesus Martinez smoked when the couple were first married and quit 10 years later.
“It’s fair to say that she didn’t have problems when you were smoking?” asked Lane.
“That’s correct,” said Jesus Martinez.
“She never tried to sue you while you were smoking?” pressed Lane.
Lane said this is a rare case, with only one other like it in the country.
The attorney for the plaintiffs would not go on camera, but said he is disappointed with the verdict, and that the smoke is a real problem his clients have to deal with every day.

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Navajo president vetoes smoking ban
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press Writer
08/07/2008
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—The leader of the Navajo Nation on Thursday vetoed a measure that would have banned smoking and chewing tobacco in public places, resulting in strong criticism from lawmakers and health advocates.
Tribal President Joe Shirley Jr. said he rejected the measure because he feared it would infringe on religious ceremonies and inhibit gambling revenue. He also said the measure didn’t focus enough on underage smoking.
Shirley said in his veto message that the law “is unreasonably broad, unenforceable, provides no administrative appeal process, puts the nation at a competitive disadvantage and fails to address the real problem on the Navajo Nation of underage smoking.”
Tribal lawmakers approved the ban during their session last month in the Navajo capital of Window Rock, Ariz. Shirley had 10 days to consider the measure.
The ban would have prohibited smoking and chewing tobacco in public buildings and shared public air space, but it would not have affected tobacco used in ceremonies for traditional or religious purposes on the reservation, which encompasses parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
Supporters, including the American Cancer Society, said they hope to work with tribal
lawmakers to override Shirley’s veto.
Shirley argued that the law was ambiguous about the type of tobacco that would be allowed for use in bona fide religious ceremonies, leaving the practitioners and those attending the ceremony liable.
The president also said the ban would put planned Navajo casinos at a disadvantage that could result in lost revenues and fewer jobs in the tribe’s new gaming initiative. Other tribal casinos in New Mexico allow smoking.
“The revenue-generating potential is huge and we simply cannot afford to risk this potential with well-intended legislation that will put the Nation at a competitive disadvantage,” Shirley said.
The president said he would work with the legislation’s sponsors to develop a law that addresses the problem of underage smoking while not infringing upon religious ceremonies or affecting the tribe’s casino revenues.
Thomas Walker Jr., the legislation’s sponsor and a member of the Navajo Health and Social Services committee, said dozens of community-based organizations, medical professionals and spiritual leaders had thrown their support behind the ban.
“We had hoped the president would sign the bill into law,” Walker said Thursday. “In previous years and more recent, the president’s activities and words in public seemed to indicate that he would be in favor of such a measure.”
Walker pointed out that about two years ago, Shirley issued his own tobacco-free proclamation and has endorsed anti-tobacco educational efforts across the reservation.
Walker acknowledged the gaming industry’s influence and said casino officials had joined the debate in the 11th hour. However, he said the bill’s supporters would continue to advocate for tobacco prevention measures and awareness.
“So this isn’t the last day for this kind of measure,” he said.
Dr. Patricia Nez Henderson, one of those who testified for the measure, said the measure would have decreased the number of young tribal members starting to smoke, helped those who want to quit and protected others from secondhand smoke.
“I’m very disappointed that the president of the Navajo Nation has vetoed this landmark legislation,” she said. “He, of course, knows that it is all about the health of the Navajo people but he’s basically putting money before health.”
Henderson said if nothing is done about tobacco related issues, the tribe could see negative impacts such as higher rates of lung and other cancers in the decades to come.

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Victory in Albuquerque, New Mexico!?

May 17, 2008

Albuquerque City Councilman Michael Cadigan withdrew his plans for an indoor smoking ban for all the retail stores and bars in the City of Albuquerque, New Mexico.? The reason that he withdrew his smoking ban proposal is that, “I just didn’t get a lot of strong, positive reaction to the idea of eliminating the retail tobacco exemption.” – City Councilman Michael Cadigan.
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Of course he did not get a positive reaction to another scheme to make another city in America smoke-free.? That is because the great Citizens of Albuquerque, New Mexico will not stand for the government to come in and try to dictate how they must run their private establishments.
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Let Us Smoke In Peace Committee wants to congratulate one courageous business that stood against the anti-freedom and anti-tobacco politicians of Albuquerque and that is The Albuquerque Cigar Club and its co-owner Keith Holthusen.? “I don’t think the war is over, but this particular battle seems to be” – Keith Holthusen.? And you know what he is right.?
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You and I have to keep on fighting to protect our lives and businesses from these anti-freedom politicians, not to mention, anti-tobacco too.
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?You and I can govern our own lives and not have the government govern it for us.
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For that Let Us Smoke In Peace Committee applauds and commends this brave individual that fought so bravely against these politicians to keep his establishment and his city, smoker-friendly.?
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If you are ever in Albuquerque, New Mexico on business or pleasure, please stop by The Albuquerque Cigar Club to relax and smoke a cigar.?
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The Albuquerque Cigar Club
2685 Louisiana Blvd. NE, Encantada Sq., Albuquerque, NM 87110 505.830.2189
Co-Owner: Keith Holthusen
Thank you very much for your support for a smoker-friendly America!
Sincerely,
Federico Lines M.
President
Let us Smoke in Peace Committee

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Smoking ban widens

June 11, 2007
Christopher Sanchez
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No lighting up on city grounds starting Friday

Smokers have gotten used to taking it outside in recent years, but even that’s going to get harder come Friday.

Mayor Martin Chavez announced today a ban on smoking on all city-owned property, including parks, golf courses, bus stops, Isotopes Park and Albuquerque International Sunport grounds.

Chavez, a former smoker, said the ban will help keep families away from secondhand smoke. It can also help people kick the habit, he said.

“Sometimes people need a little kicker like this to take the initiative to quit smoking,” Chavez said at a news conference.

Chavez’s executive order takes effect Friday, the same day as a statewide ban on smoking signed by Gov. Bill Richardson in March.

New Mexico becomes the 17th state to restrict smoking in public.

The bill prohibits smoking at restaurants, workplaces and bars.

Albuquerque has had its own smoking ban – the Clean Indoor Air Ordinance – since 2003. It prohibits smoking inside most workplaces, including restaurants.

“Many said the sky would fall” when the ordinance was passed, Chavez said today. “Well, the sky didn’t fall.”

Chavez said he expects the new ban to be enforced by Albuquerque residents, city workers and police officers. There are no fines or legal penalties, he said.

If the order needs more teeth, Chavez said, he will go to the City Council with legislation.

Editorials: Bouquets and brickbats

June 11, 2007
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Here’s the problem with those plastic license-plate covers people are buying to foil Albuquerque’s red-light cameras:

They’re making it harder for police to read vehicles’ plates. Ultimately, this is bad news for law-abiding citizens, because it gives an advantage to lawbreakers – in the same manner as any sort of identity-concealing scam, such as putting the wrong license plate on a car to throw police off the track. Police are right, then, to cite drivers who use the covers.

State law requires plates to be clearly visible and free of obstructions. The plate covers are obvious obstructions – extra layers through which police must look. And they can make a plate hard to read in the glare of a spotlight or from an angle – particularly newer versions of the cover, with rectangular panels that readily obscure half the plate, depending on the observer’s position, even in daylight.

We can understand drivers’ concerns about red-light cameras – the Big Brother angle, the that-wasn’t-me-driving-the-car angle, the machines-can’t-use-discretion angle, the expense-and-difficulty-of-an-appeal angle and so on.

But the right way to deal with such concerns is to legally challenge the red-light cameras in court or through the mayor or the City Council – not by using a tactic that provides cover for people with bad intentions.

Bouquet: no smoking

Another crackdown unpopular with some is Mayor Martin Chavez’s new ban – beginning Friday – on smoking anywhere on city-owned property. This will include parks, golf courses, bus stops, Isotopes Park and everywhere at the Albuquerque International Sunport. It’s enough to drive already-beleaguered smokers to, well, light up a cigarette.

But the mayor is absolutely right. The ban will help make the air fresher and more healthful to breathe, protect more people from secondhand smoke, add to Albuquerque’s status as one of the nation’s healthiest cities and provide smokers with an extra incentive to quit. Resistance to the ban will be driven more likely by smokers’ addiction to tobacco than by genuine libertarian principles.

Tobacco smoke is a health hazard not just to smokers but to people around them. It never has been a matter of purely individual freedom of choice. Hence, a smoking ban on public property is good public-health policy – the only policy, really, that City Hall reasonably can pursue.