The Jones County Board of Education was recognized by the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life at the beginning of last week’s meeting for the 100 percent participation of the schools in the event. Leslie Poythress, who is the chairman of Jones County Relay For Life, presented the award to School Superintendent William Mathews at the Oct. 11 meeting. Poythress said the school system raised $46,973 for the Relay in 2011 and $211,866 over the past five years.

“This shows how much the school system supports this effort,” she said.

Mathews said Relay For Life is a unifying event that the school system has been a part of from day one.

“We are glad to be a part of it,” he added.

During his superintendent’s report, Mathews said the fall break that took place the previous week came at a good time for students and teachers. He said Wells Elementary is the school system’s largest elementary school, and the recent expansion was needed.

More than a half million Costa Ricans or a quarter of the population are addicted to tobacco, many of them will die from their addiction. A half century ago, while the Cold War was at its peak and Americans and Soviets competed for conquering space, television was the technological boom. Until then nobody smoked. Or at least we thought. But, that all changed when we saw the Beatles and Ricky Ricardo smoke on the tube, and including physicians promoting smoking in our living rooms

Fifty years later the world has changed and so has Costa Rica.

Today in many major American cities smoking is banned in public places, including restaurants and even in parks. In some states you cannot smoke in your vehicle.

In Costa Rica there is a lot of talk about the ills of smoking and a feeble effort to reduce smoking. Legislators are currently sitting idle on a law that would greatly limit where one can smoke, but that seems to be going up in smoke as there is little will power to move forward with it.

According to the Instituto sobre Alcoholismo y Farmacodependencia (IAFA), some 580.000 people over the age of 12 are addicted to the cigarette and 75% of them are men, consuming some 2.000.000 cigarettes each year.

Construction of broadband infrastructure and investment in industry, education and tourism were among the projects for which nearly $49 million in funding was approved by the Virginia Tobacco Commission on Thursday. In education, the biggest non-scholarship program approved for Southwest Virginia was $600,000 to help Emory & Henry College start a doctor of physical therapy program in Marion. This was short of the $1.1 million requested.

Speaking to the commission, College President Rosalind Reichard said, “We find that it will be probably difficult for us to start that program up next fall without additional funding.”

After the meeting, however, she said she believes the college can raise the funds – and will go ahead with its plan to open next fall.

“We’ve got to do it,” she said. “We’ll find a way.”

Among the other highlights in education, Virginia Intermont College was awarded close to $150,000 to help with expansion plans and Virginia Highlands Community College was awarded $110,000 for a cadaver lab.

David Matlock, vice president of institutional advancement for the community college, said the lab will enable Southwest Virginia students in the health care field to compete on par with those from Northern Virginia.

The commission approved a significant amount for the development of fiber-optic infrastructure: $1.8 million for Bristol Virginia Utilities, $2.5 million for the Virginia Coalfield Coalition and $1 million for the Scott County Telephone Cooperative.

It approved a $2.2 million research and development grant for a company called CavitroniX, which is working through the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center and Clean Energy R&D Center to develop new products in Southwest Virginia.

Edwin Rogers, director of the energy center, said the company plans to locate a facility in either Bristol, Washington County or Smyth County to make a product that improves the efficiency of oil furnaces, ultimately creating 48 jobs by 2015.

The commission also approved money for industrial development projects in Russell, Scott and Smyth counties, and $300,000 for People Incorporated to make small business loans in Southwest Virginia.

In Washington County, the commission approved $147,500 for a road project at the county fairground and $43,350 for restoration work at White’s Mill, a historic grist mill outside Abingdon.

In Wise, the commission approved $1.25 million for the restoration of the Wise Inn, an old downtown hotel that has been promoted as a way to help draw industrial prospects to the coalfield region.

There was some controversy in the area of tourism, as the tobacco commission approved some projects and tabled others to consider how it sorts through requests. Parks and clinics were among those delayed until a later meeting.

Speaking for the commission’s Southwest Economic Development Committee, Sen. Phillip Puckett said they will be discussed later this year in terms of whether they fit into the commission’s strategic plan.

During the public comment period of the meeting, J.B. Swiger of Scott County made a case for why they should be considered.

“If you’re going to invite the tourists in and they go to the Carter Fold [or another area attraction] and there’s nothing else for them to do, they leave and go … back home,” he said. “This is a very vital project.”

Chairman Terry Kilgore said after the meeting that many communities have parks and the commission can’t afford to help fund one in every town. In order to draw tobacco commission funding, he said, “It needs to be able to bring tourism to the area.”

Two projects that did receive funding are the construction of a water park at the Breaks Interstate Park, which was approved for $500,000, and the Spearhead Trails initiative, which received $200,000 toward the creation of a multi-use trail system.

A 10-district survey in Tamil Nadu has revealed several violations in packaging, display and pricing of smokeless tobacco products, a health NGO has said. The study was initiated to ascertain whether the Supreme Court order banning the use of plastic packaging on such products had come into effect from the stipulated date of March 1, this year.

Late last year, the Court had decreed that plastic sachets should not be used to package gutka and pan masala products. This was followed up by a Ministry of Environment and Forests notification to the same effect in February 2011.

The survey was conducted in Kancheepuram, Tiruchi, Pudukottai, Perambalur, Salem, Dharmapuri, Namakkal, Sivaganga, Tirunelveli and Virudhunagar, according to Saulina Arnold, executive director, Tamil Nadu Voluntary Health Association, the organisation that conducted the study.

Across these districts, the surveyors found that sachets manufactured after March 1, 2011 still were made of plastic. Among the samples, there were several brands being sold with new plastic packaging, but without carrying the manufacturing date and batch number. “We also found that the products were being sold at 50 to 100 times the maximum retail price. In some instances, the vendors told us that they were forced to do so, as they are charged a higher rate by retailers,” she said.

Awareness lacking

Again, out of 100 vendors interviewed for the study, not even one was aware of the new rule for selling gutka/pan masala in plastic packages. “Neither vendors nor consumers were aware that it is a punishable offence. At some level, it is the responsibility of the government to disseminate information on new rules to the relevant community and among the general public,” Dr. Saulina said.

Cause of concern

“We are really worried about the way the lobby is working to attract the youth, presenting these tobacco products as mouth fresheners. There are anywhere between 75,000 and 80,000 users as far as available statistics go. These forms of tobacco can be extremely dangerous for users, and more recently, younger and younger people are presenting with head and neck cancer caused by smokeless tobacco use,” she added.

British American tobacco Plc’s (BTI: News ,BATS.L: News ) six-month pre-tax profit grew to 2.79 billion pounds from 2.28 billion pounds last year. Profit attributable to owners of the parent amounted to 1.87 billion pounds versus 1.525 billion pounds a year ago. Earnings per share for the half year were 94.0 pence, higher than 76.5 pence in the year earlier period. Adjusted earnings per share for the six-month period improved to 96.1 pence from 87.1 pence in the prior year.

The Group’s reported revenue increased 2 percent to 7.44 billion pounds from 7.30 billion pounds in the comparable period. However, organic revenue at constant rates of exchange grew by 7 percent to 7.42 billion pounds, as a result of continued good pricing momentum.

The board declared an interim dividend of 38.1 pence per ordinary share of 25 pence for the six months ended 30 June 2011, payable on 28 September 2011 to shareholders registered on either the UK main register or the South African branch register on 19 August 2011.

Californians would let local officials put new taxes on cigarettes, sugary drinks, liquor and oil pumped from the ground if voters in their communities said it was OK, a new poll shows. Local governments cannot tax such products in California now. But a proposal being vigorously debated in the Capitol would allow cities, counties and more than 1,000 school boards to add their own levies and give local voters final say. Nearly 60% of those polled supported such a change.

The sentiment spanned all age groups and every region of the state, according to the bipartisan survey by The Times and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

“Leave it up to the locals,” said Paul Greenberg, a 54-year old Democrat in San Diego who said he was semi-retired. “Let the people vote on it. I don’t see anything wrong on that.”

Cities and counties do have some tax authority. Both can bump up sales taxes with voter approval, for example. Cities can enact hotel or utility taxes. And school districts can ask for voters’ blessing to introduce or raise parcel property taxes.

But some lawmakers, citing the retrenchment made necessary by years of budget cutbacks in Sacramento, say it’s time to grant local authorities more power to raise revenue.

“We have a responsibility to give counties and school districts the tools they need to fund public services,” said state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).

He and others argue that municipalities need more money to preserve schools, healthcare and police. Business groups have lined up against the idea, saying higher taxes would hurt the economy and stifle prospects for job growth.

After voters in the survey were presented with both sides’ arguments, support for new local tax powers dipped only slightly, from 58% to 55%. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats, 64%, approved; 42% of Republicans did.

Joanne Holt agreed with Steinberg. The retired teaching assistant from North Highlands, outside of Sacramento, said she doesn’t want to see public safety or schools hurt further by the state’s persistent financial troubles. If more tax authority for city councils and school boards is the answer, so be it, said the 69-year-old Democrat.

“It’s more important that the children get an education,” she said. “They’re our future.”

Another in favor was Republican Jamie Blossom, 47, a state disability insurance representative in Diamond Bar. She liked the idea that local tax money would stay in her community, where “I have a much bigger voice,” she said.

Hidy Chui, a 20-year-old Democrat who attends UC Riverside, said he approved of a local cigarette tax. “I don’t even smoke, so if it’s an increase in that, it doesn’t harm me,” he said.

That is a typical attitude, said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC and a former GOP strategist. “People support tax increases on others.”

Poll co-director Linda DiVall of American Viewpoint, the Republican half of the survey team, cautioned that a new rash of taxes is unlikely even if local governments gain the flexibility to request them.

“It’s much easier to support higher taxes in theory than when it comes up for a vote,” she said.

A local oil-extraction levy is also part of the debate in Sacramento. Some legislators want to allow municipalities, such as oil-rich Kern County, to tax every barrel pumped from the ground.

That didn’t appeal to Mary Lou Curry, a 65-year old retiree. “Oil? Jeez, that would just be passed on to all of us,” said the Yucca Valley Democrat, “as if we don’t already pay enough at the gas pump.”

Steinberg has introduced legislation that would go even further and allow local officials to also tax medical marijuana and residents’ incomes and cars. His measure sparked a fierce outcry from taxpayer and business groups, which threatened to fight it at the ballot.

Steinberg said in an interview last week that he is tabling the measure until next year.

The Times/USC Dornsife poll surveyed 1,507 registered voters in California from July 6 to 17. It was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democratic firm, and American Viewpoint, the Republican company. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.52 percentage points.

The government has introduced an 11 per cent excise tax on common cigarettes on the local market contrary to the general perception that the 2011- 2012 National Budget had no tax increases. Local tobacco companies and smokers will now feel the pinch as the new taxes will push cigarette prices up. The latest increment, contained in government’s proposed Excise Tariff (Amendment) Bill, dated June 28, will increase the tax burden on cigarettes to nearly 60 per cent, according to local tobacco companies.

With the new tax, the cost of low segment cigarettes will likely increase from Shs75 to Shs100 per stick while premium brand will rise from Shs200 to Shs250 per stick according to tobacco industry players.

But even before Parliament discusses the proposed Bill, the Uganda Revenue Authority has already been mandated to start tax collection starting July 1. Mr Lawrence Kiiza, a director in the Ministry of Finance, admitted government had increased the taxes but argued that the cigarette rate had not been revised for more than five years. “We also want to be in line with other states within the East African Community. We have to remain at par with them to be able to balance up and to avoid smuggling. But the excise duty was adjusted by Shs2,000,” he said.

Asked why they never waited for parliamentary approval, Mr Kiiza said the provisional collection order is guaranteed at the beginning of the financial year. Local players yesterday warned that with a tax burden averaging at 43 per cent, cigarette products are already one of the highly taxed products in Uganda, but which carries the lowest excise duty rates in East Africa.

Firms not amused
The five key tobacco companies to be affected are BAT Uganda, Continental Tobacco Uganda, Leaf Tobacco and Commodities, Uganda Tobacco Services and Premier Tobacco. In the June 8 Budget speech, Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka proposed excise changes in respect of sugar and kerosene. It is still unclear why there has been a sudden change of heart to “sneak” cigarettes into the Excise Tariff Bill 2011. Some sources, however, told Daily Monitor that after budget reading, anti-tobacco NGOs and the World Health Organisation pressured the government to raise taxes on cigarettes up to 70 per cent as a way of discouraging the practice.

Reacting to the development, the leading local tobacco company, BAT Uganda, said it was neither contacted nor consulted on the matter. “We support over 30,000 farmers and spend over Shs20b a year on farmer support in West Nile, Bunyoro-Mubende, North Kigezi and Middle North,” said BAT Uganda’s Finance Director, Mr Paul Sine. “It is very disappointing that a company that provides 80 per cent of tobacco taxes worth over Shs50b has not been consulted by the ministry on such a huge increment.” The tobacco industry argues that making cigarettes unaffordable to a majority of smokers only creates an opportunity for illicit trade to thrive.

Lost revenue
Statistics show that out of the two billion sticks of cigarettes consumed in Uganda, at least 400 million are illicit sticks imported from mainly Kenya, Southern Sudan and DR Congo. Because of cigarette smuggling, the government loses revenue worth Shs22 billion annually.

Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoed a proposed renewal of part of the state cigarette tax late Monday, setting up a rare showdown with the Legislature as the Senate and House attempt an override. Jindal’s decision to veto House Bill 591 came as no surprise, as the governor and his staff had signaled it would come early in the week. “I have made a commitment to the taxpayers of Louisiana to oppose all attempts to raise taxes,” Jindal wrote in his veto message.

The bill by Rep. Harold Ritchie, D-Franklinton, would permanently extend a temporary, 4-cent per pack levy on cigarettes that raises about $12 million a year and is due to expire on July 1, 2012.
Supporters of the bill disagree with Jindal’s characterization of the bill as a tax increase, since it would keep the tax at the current level of 36 cents a pack, which is third-lowest in the country.
A veto override takes a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate, which has not happened since 1993 and has occurred only twice in modern times.
Although the bill has already passed both chambers by a two-thirds margin, the governor and his supporters have been working to peel off votes and have already convinced at least one House member, Rep. Steve Carter, R-Baton Rouge, to switch sides.
On the other side is the American Cancer Society and other advocacy groups that have been working to keep their supporters on board and have scheduled a rally in front of the Governor’s Mansion on Tuesday morning at 11:30.
“With the stroke of a pen, the governor has lowered the price of cigarettes in Louisiana at a time when our health-care costs are skyrocketing,” said Andrew Muhl, the cancer society’s Louisiana lobbyist.
House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Algiers, said last week that he expects the override votes to take place shortly after Jindal issues his veto, meaning the chambers are likely to act on Tuesday.
Tucker said he wants the Senate to vote first, and that the House would follow suit if the override wins at least 26 votes in the upper chamber.

A jury in St. Louis found tobacco companies to not be liable for the cost of treating patients with smoking-related illnesses who were unable to pay for their medical bills. 37 hospitals sued the Lorillard Tobacco Company, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Philip Morris, and other cigarette manufacturers in 1998, alleging that the nicotine content of cigarettes was manipulated and the health impact of smoking misrepresented. In excess of $455 million of damages was sought.

The hospitals claimed the actions of the industry led to increased spending on health care that was not reimbursed. The tobacco companies disavowed responsibility. The jury sided with the companies by a margin of 9-3 on Friday after six days of deliberation.

Murray Garnick, associate general counsel for Altria, parent of Philip Morris, said the jury had agreed that “that ordinary cigarettes are not negligently designed or defective.” The hospitals have yet to decide whether to appeal. The case was the third of its kind to reach trial. The tobacco industry triumphed in the first, in Ohio in 1999. The second, in New York, initially produced a $17.8 million award to a health insurer but this was reversed on appeal in 2004.