Is another Clemson victory near?

Action Alert! Clemson Considers Smokefree Ordinance
Will ALL workers be protected?

Please attend tonight’s Clemson City Council meeting at 7:30 p.m.

Your presence is requested as the Council discusses a smokefree ordinance. The ordinance draft and meeting agenda are available at the following links.

Please be aware that smokefree ordinances are intended to protect ALL workers from exposure to deadly secondhand smoke, especially in indoor workplaces and indoor public areas. The Tobacco Industry frequently introduces “private club” exemptions as a means to avoid compliance with these laws and provide a loophole for compliance with smokefree ordinances. The revised draft of Clemson’s ordinance provides for a private club exemption, but does not mention the protection of workers inside those establishments.

Time/Location: 7:30pm, Council Chambers, Clemson City Hall, 1250 Tiger Blvd. Suite 1 Clemson, SC 29631
Citizen participation: persons who wish to speak may do so during a “public session” at the beginning of the meeting. Speakers may address council for up to 3 minutes each. There is no need to sign up in advance. The period will be announced.

Clemson City Council meeting agenda HYPERLINK "http://www.cityofclemson.org/files/City_Council/Agenda/ag120307.pdf" http://www.cityofclemson.org/files/City_Council/Agenda/ag120307.pdf

Clemson smokefree ordinance draft (revised)
HYPERLINK "http://www.cityofclemson.org/files/City_Council/Agenda_items/120307ItemNo-smokingDraftOrdinance112607.pdf" http://www.cityofclemson.org/files/City_Council/Agenda_items/120307ItemNo-smokingDraftOrdinance112607.pdf

For details contact: Dan Carrigan, Smoke-Free Action Network, 843-509-5272

Catching up

A number of interesting stories to read:

- This one from the Great American Smokeout




- This one is about a NEW smoke free ordinance in Oconee County!




- This article is about some new developments in Rock Hill

Cigar Meeting....

A great article in the New York Times about a Cigar Show. Researchers tracked the air quality inside the show. Very insightful.... Check it out

News from across the State

Dianne Wilson's piece in the Myrtle Beach paper

And clips from Dan Carrigan in the opinion section

From the independent mail a good article on Clemson's movement towards clean air.

SMOKE FREE MOUNT PLEASANT!

As of Sept 1 the Town of Mount Pleasant is smoke free! We congratulate the town on moving forward with this all too important legislation. Mount Pleasant now joins the City of Charleston and Sullivan's Island in this growing movement.

Make sure you get out continue to support these smoke free businesses

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's SC Clean Air....

On Sunday, a banner will be pulled up and down Charleston area beaches in what may be the first flight ever of its kind in the United States to promote a new smokefree ordinance. The flight is part of an implementation campaign for Charleston's new smokefree ordinance promoted by smokefree groups statewide. Look for the message "FreshAirEverywhere" while enjoying Charleston's beaches from 2:00pm-4:00pm on Sunday, August 19, 2007. Flight will run from Isle of Palms to Seabrook Island and back.

Please encourage your friends to head out to the beach to see the banner, and don't forget to email us any pictures you get of this historic flight (smokefreeactionnetwork@gmail.com)




Also a special ALERT for those in the Clemson area

The City of Clemson will discuss a smokefree ordinance at its next meeting on Monday, August 20, 2007 at 6:45pm. Supporters are encouraged to attend!
Location: Clemson City Hall, 1250 Tiger Blvd in the Municipal Complex. Come show your support for everyone's right to breathe clean air.

Lander University

Here is an update on Surfside beach

as well as a fascinating article about Lander University. Lander has decided to ban all tobacco products from their campus. This would be the first time a campus in SC had made such a drastic move. We will follow the story as it develops.

New Website Launched

Our long awaited website is now up and running. Please check out www.SCCleanAir.org today! The new website has resources, news articles, soon will have picture, and best of all you can donate online!!
So go check it out www.SCCleanAir.org

Smoke free Success!

News 10 in Columbia has the story on Surfside Beach

Who else had the story?
The Charlotte Observer, The Sun News,, and The State,

Let's go to the beach!

Surfside Beach passes final reading of smokefree ordinance
South Carolina's first smokefree beach

Surfside Beach, SC - Surfside Beach Town Council approved on second reading a smokefree indoor workplace and public place ordinance by a vote of 4-3. The measure creates the first smokefree beach in the state of South Carolina. Surfside Beach is the eleventh local municipality to enact a smokefree ordinance in the state of South Carolina since May of 2006.

The ordinance will become effective on October 1. The law is similar to one recently passed in the Town of Mount Pleasant, with two exceptions: a distance requirement of thirty feet from the entrances of establishments, and the requirement that all beach areas and beach access walkways be smokefree.

Mount Pleasant's ordinance goes into effect on September 1, joining Sullivan's Island, to become the third smokefree municipality in the Charleston region. The City of Charleston implemented their smokefree ordinance on July 23 at 7:00pm.

Surfside Beach leaders who voted for the ordinance: Council Members Judith K. Tuttle, Joseph P. Martin, Douglas Samples, and James S. Truett. Voting against: Mayor Roy Hyman and Council Members Rebecca J. Hiatt and William M. McKown.

Town Hall was filled to greater capacity than the first reading on July 9. Supporters represented multiple health and community organizations, along with a strong contingent of local residents. Former Beaufort County Council Member and smokefree ordinance champion Mark Generales was present at the meeting to address council, "This is a very positive development as momentum is growing across the state." Also present was Rodney Williams of the South Carolina African American Tobacco Control Network who said, "It appears that municipalities are very concerned about having the ability to create a quality of life for their citizens, especially on health issues. Home Rule is the way to go."

Supporters included representatives from B.R.E.A.T.H.E. Coalition of Horry County, the American Cancer Society, SC DHEC, and several small children with signs reading, "Please vote YES." One local attendee, Ned Oxentine, recounted the premature death of his mother, a nonsmoker. "She worked as a beautician for years and died of secondhand smoke. She didn't have a choice. She died from other people's cigarette smoke."

Opponents expressed concerns over possible loss of business. One bar owner stated he was uncertain of the effect the ordinance would have on his business, but speculated that he could have to close within three years. None offered scientific evidence to support their claims.

The City of Conway discussed the topic of a smokefree ordinance one day earlier, but took no action.

Dan Carrigan of the Smoke-Free Action Network said, "Tonight's action by the Town of Surfside Beach showed real leadership, and why local municipalities deserve the right to make their own decisions to protect their citizens' right to breathe clean air."

Charleston News Pt 2

A number of stories today about Charleston's historical implementation of the new smoke-free ordinance.

A few stories from the Post and Courier today - Article 2, Article 3
and a quick video

Others who carried the story
News 10 Columbia
News 4 Charleston
News 2 Charleston

Charleston news

Check out this article from the Charleston City Paper

and a follow up post

CHARLESTON TO GO SMOKE FREE!

Monday is an exciting day for all of us as the City of Charleston gets ready to go smoke free. We will soon release information on a press event to be held on Monday but we also wanted to invite you to our party on Sunday!

Celebrate Smokefree Charleston!

We want you there!
Please send your RSVP ASAP

Sunday, July 22, 2007
6:00-9:00pm
Fish Restaurant
442 King Street
Charleston, S.C.

Come enjoy food and beverage while we celebrate everyone's right to breathe clean air in Charleston. Donations will be accepted and a silent auction will be held to benefit continuing smokefree activities.
Cash Bar
RSVP Requested by July 20.
email jkskinner@hotmail.com
or Call 843-509-4069

This event is made possible through the cooperative efforts of:
American Cancer Society
American Heart Association
American Lung Association
Smoke-Free Action Network
South Carolina African American Tobacco Control Network
South Carolina Cancer Alliance
South Carolina Tobacco Collaborative


More information will be posted as it comes in

SC Prisons go Smoke Free

An interesting AP article this morning about SC State prisons going smoke free. They will be offering smoking cessation programs to inmates as well.

New stories

A few interesting articles:
The first from the Tobacco Collaborative is a review of all the great progress we've made this year.

The second is all about SC's quitline and the amazing success they've had.

We'll be posting more stories in the future - email us if you find any good ones
smokefreeactionnetwork@gmail.com

Mount P follow up

Today the Post and Courier has a follow up story on our great success in Mount Pleasant.

Also please VOTE in the Post and Courier poll on the smoke-free idea. Lets make sure everyone knows how happy we are with Mount Pleasant's decsion.

MOUNT PLEASANT GOES SMOKE FREE

On Sept 1 the Town of Mount Pleasant will join as the 10th municipality in SC to go smoke-free! We want to thank Mayor Hallman for brining this legislation up again and for pursuing such an important matter.
The following news outlets carried the story
News 5 with video
News 4 with video
and the Post and Courier

Congratulations to the people of Mount Pleasant!

Aiken and Mount P update

There is a strange story out of Aiken County today. A local business man who doesn't like change has chosen to vent his anger over the great new smoking ban in a strange way. CBS 12 has the story and video.

Also tonight Mount Pleasant will finally vote on a smoking ordiance! After seeing the Statehouse's inaction on this item council has once again decided to take up the issue. We encourage you to come out to the meeting tonight and show your support for your councilmen as they (hopefully) pass this momentous legislation. We will of course update with news as it comes in.

Implementation

Now that the SC Statehouse has gone into summer recess we will be moving our focus towards enforcement of existing laws and ensuring that when new laws are implemented they go into effect with ease. If you are interested in assisting with Charleston's implementation which will be July 23 please email us at smokefreeactionnetwork@gmail.com

Hilton Head passed out their first fine for a bar who decided to break the law. Fox Carolina has the story.

More on Aiken County

CBS news 12 out of Augusta has a nice clip about Aiken County's new ban. You can read the story and watch the video!

Aiken County, Sticky Fingers... whose next

The Augusta Chronicle has a great article on Aiken County's monumental move to go smoke free. They passed their law a few months back and it finally goes into effect today. CONGRATULATIONS!!
**If you need a password to sign into the Augusta Chronicle feel free to use ours
Username:SmokeFreeActionNetwork
Password:Smokefree

The Post and Courier also ran an article focusing on the Sticky Fingers chain. They reported that sales in Greenville, GA, and other areas that have gone smoke free have not been hurt. We are hoping this great endorsement will help propel Mount Pleasant to go smoke free when they vote on Tuesday!

Mount P moves forward!

Today a great new article from the Island Packet. Unfortunately one member of the house is concerned that even in the last 6 days some members of the statehouse might try to sneak through another bill that would stop local municipalities from decideding their fate.

"Herbkersman said he expects some legislators will try to reintroduce the part that undermines local bans by attaching it to another bill during the next week."

In other news Mount Pleasant has decided after months of stalling that the time for action is now. Mount Pleasant council had waited months for the Statehouse to take action on passing a state-wide law, but given their inactivity Mayor Hallman now wants to move forward. Council will be considering this measure at their next meeting on June 12. Keep checking the blog for more information.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Once again your hard work has paid off and the Tobacco lobby has been defeated. The proposed law was not voted out of committee yesterday in the Statehouse, and assuming there is no furthur action in the next week the 9 local municipalities that have gone smoke free will be allowed to continue being smoke free.

The State along with almost every other outlet picked up the AP article.

Here is the Action Alert from SFAN

#######
Smokefree Action Network
Action for Smokefree Workplaces

For Immediate Release - May 29, 2007
Contact:
Dan Carrigan, Phone: (843) 509-5272 -Email:dancarrigan@msn.com
Dianne Wilson, Phone: (843) 871-9439 - Email: cwilson298@aol.com

house JUDICIARY COMMITTEE removes PREEMPTION measure from School smoking bill
Industry allies intent on blocking home rule of local smokefree laws

Columbia, SC - Health advocates and citizens beat back a second attempt by the South Carolina House Judiciary Committee to pass amendments added to a bill that would have eliminated all nine local smokefree laws passed in the state in the last year.

Rep. G. Murrell Smith, Jr., of Sumter added the preemption amendment to the bill, S.103, in the Criminal Laws Subcommittee on May 23rd. The bill was originally intended to limit smoking on school grounds.

In an earlier attempt on May 9th, the House Judiciary Committee sent another bill, H.3119, back to subcommittee, effectively killing it, after complaints from public health groups. The committee's second attempt today was met with even more resistance.

The American Heart Association, American Lung Association, and American Cancer Society all oppose preemption of local smokefree laws, because these laws tend to leave more workers exposed to secondhand smoke.

"Preemption is nationally known as the cigarette industry's tool to keep the public out of the debate over smokefree laws," said Dan Carrigan of the Smoke-Free Action Network. "Today the industry came to the legislature to take away the hard-fought laws already decided on by local communities, and they failed."

Events played like a sort of legislative theater, with industry allies failing to accept that they had been beaten.

First, Rep. Walt McLeod, who supports home rule decisions, requested to have preemption considered separately, which won with one dissenting vote. Next, the committee voted to remove the preemption language entirely.

Then, Rep. James E. Stewart, who also favors local governments' right to decide, introduced an amendment that specifically clarified that local governments do indeed have the right to create their own smokefree laws. The Stewart amendment then passed by all but two dissenting votes, Rep. G. Murrell Smith, Jr., and Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. James H. Harrison (Richland.)

When Stewart's amendment to protect local control passed, Rep. G. Murrell Smith threatened to filibuster the committee, saying, "I hope you got your bags packed because you're going to be here all night. This is just ridiculous to pass this thing."

At this point, Rep. Garry R. Smith (Greenville) walked out of the room to leave the committee without the required minimum number of attendees for a quorum, at which time Rep. G. Murrell Smith, Jr., called for a quorum, in a procedural move to force the chairman to adjourn the meeting, rather than allow the bill to move forward with language supporting local governments' ability to pass smokefree laws.

Health groups remain vigilant, as the same preemption measure could re-emerge in either the House or Senate prior to the end of the legislative session. "It's a long and continuous battle, but we're hopeful that all communities throughout the state will be able to pass their own smokefree laws to protect all workers," said Dianne Wilson of the South Carolina African American Tobacco Control Network.

The legislature adjourns on June 7th.
###

News from around the State

The Statehouse will be voting on the newly proposed smoking bill today. We will of course keep you updated about that as news comes in. For a re-cap there is a story from the Post and Courier.

SMOKE FREE LAWS UNDER ATTACK

The SC Statehouse will stop for "summer recess" on June 7th. At the suggestion of Tobacco lobbyists a last minute bill has been introduced to overturn all existing local smoke free laws. Now we need your help to make sure that the cities that want to be smoke free stay that way and this government doesn't intrude in local business.

S.C. House Judiciary Committee votes Tuesday at 2:00pm.
Please call TODAY!
Two weeks ago, you made calls that helped save nine local smoke-free air laws in South Carolina.

These laws are under attack again!

Call now and ask these House Members to KILL PREEMPTION. Preemption will take away home rule and block local control of smoke-free laws.

The tobacco industry is at it again! S.103 was a good bill to limit smoking on school campuses, until the cigarette and hospitality industries put in language that will destroy all nine of the local laws passed in the state in the last year and replace them with the weakest statewide law in the nation. Without your voice, Big Tobacco will succeed in keeping workers exposed to secondhand smoke in places like Charleston, Hilton Head Island, Sullivan's Island, Greenville, and Columbia.

Laws creating health policy at the state level should set the minimum standard of protection of citizens, not restrict local governments by setting the maximum standard of protection.

CLICK TO FIND WHO YOUR LEGISLATOR IS



Call TODAY, it's EASY! (If they are out, leave a message)
Sample Script:

Representative ______, my name is __________, I live at 123 Main Street in (my hometown), S.C.

I am calling to ask you to vote to KILL PREEMPTION in S.103, because local governments should have the ability to pass their own laws to protect workers from secondhand smoke. Home rule decision-making gives us the ability to protect citizens in our local communities.

I believe that everyone has the right to breathe clean air in public places and especially at work.

Can I count on your vote to KILL PREEMPTION in S.103 and RESTORE LOCAL CONTROL of smokefree laws?
Thank you for your vote.

------
Please let us know how they respond to you by sending a message to: smokefreeactionnetwork@gmail.com


Thanks in advance for helping, have a Happy Memorial day weekend.

Mount Pleasant makes headway!

Last night Mount Pleasant decided to move forward with their efforts to become smoke free.

News 4 covered the story as did the Post and Courier.

More details are available in our Action Alert. If you do not currently receive action alerts email us at SmokeFreeActionNetwork@gmail.com

Thank you to everyone who showed up at the Council meeting last night, you helped show the council that we need leaders who will act NOW!

Smoke-free training announced

AMERICAN'S FOR NON-SMOKERS RIGHTS
presents
Making Your Town Smokefree!

A special training by leading national experts in smokefree indoor air policy



Help your community join the thousands of South Carolinians and the majority of U.S. citizens who now enjoy healthy, smokefree environments.

Sullivan’s Island, Liberty, Greenville, Charleston, Columbia, Bluffton, and Beaufort County have all passed smokefree indoor air laws.


HELP YOUR COMMUNITY BE THE NEXT TO GO SMOKEFREE!

If you’ve been wondering…
– Why smokefree environments are so important
– How do I get my community to support a smokefree campaign
– How do I get my lawmakers to enact a smokefree policy


Two trainings will be offered for anyone interested in helping to make their communities smokefree. Please take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to learn from the best!


This training is FREE! Lunch is provided.

RSVP is required.


Charleston, SC
Thursday, February 22, 2007
9:00am-4:30pm
Location: TBA
RSVP Contact: Dan Carrigan,
843-509-5272, dancarrigan@msn.com



Greenville, SC
Friday, February 23, 2007
9:00am-4:30pm
Location: TBA
RSVP Contact: Terry Taylor,
864-467-4099, terry@gfpdrugfree.org



Space is limited, please RSVP soon!

Movement across the state

Yesterday was a big day for those in the smoke free movement.

In Aiken county a new smoke free law was passed, but it exempted bars. While we applaud their efforts it is imperative that bars be included in these new smoke free laws. We must protect ALL workers and that includes those who work in bars. You can read the full article from the Aiken Standard.

The most exciting news came from Hilton Head where a true comprehensive smoke free ordinance was passed! We applaud Hilton Head and thank the advocates who have been calling and writing their elected officials to get this new law passed. You can read about the great news in the Island Packet.

We will keep you updated on more news from across the state as it comes in.

Mount Pleasant decides not to protect workers

This morning a Mount Pleasant town council sub-committee decided not to push forward with a new smoking ordinance.

Mayor Hallman led the stall technique by stating that they could bring this up at any time but wanted to wait on a ruling from lawsuit being brought against Sullivan's Island. According to Mayor Hallman he didn't "want to cross the street and kick a sleeping dog". We need a strong show of support for this ordinance. While there will be no voting on this issue at the next council meeting we need to keep pressure on these elected officials.

Please call Mayor Hallman and tell him that you are disappointed they are stalling on this issue and that you want him to take immediate action.
Mayor Hallman - 843-884-8517

We will keep you posted on Aiken county and Hilton Head as we get more news

Aiken, Mount Pleasant, Rock Hill

3 more cities are considering going smoke free!

Aiken


Mount Pleasant


Rock Hill

JOIN THE MOVEMENT

Welcome to Smoke Free Action Network's blog.

South Carolina is making huge progress towards becoming smoke free! Recently Charleston decided to go smoke free and as we expand our efforts we have once again started up the blog in hopes of sharing news from across the state regarding new smoking ordinances. In the following days Aiken county and the town of Mount Pleasant will be considering passing new laws. We will of course keep you posted as soon as we have news on these two municipalities.

To keep up to date and network with other concerned citizens please join our Facebook group "Smoke Free SC"
http://cofc.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2232853518

As always we welcome your comments, concerns, news stories etc.
843-509-5272
SmokeFreeActionNetwork@gmail.com