One White House adviser on counter-terrorism said Sunday there was no “smoking gun” that would have alerted authorities to the plot to blow up a U.S. international flight on Christmas Day, but admitted “human error” and “system lapses,” rather than deliberate concealing of information, enabled a terror suspect with explosives strapped to his body to board the aircraft.

“There is no smoking gun,” said John Brennan, the assistant to the President for homeland security and counter-terrorism, in a CNN program, adding: “There was no single piece of intelligence that said, ‘this guy is going to get on a plane.’”

He said that the security breakdown in the failed bombing of the Northwest Airlines flight last month was different from the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States.

“It’s not like 9/11,” Brennan said, adding that the “system didn’t work as it should have”. There were some “human errors.” There were some “lapses” that should be corrected. “But day in and day out, the successes are there,” he said.

The Obama administration is under fire after a 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab–who U.S. authorities say was linked to al Qaeda–was able to board the Delta/Northwest flight from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to Detroit, with explosives tucked in his underwear.

Brennan, who is currently heading a government investigation into the case, also clarified that the United States was not opening a new front against al-Qaeda in Yemen–where the al-Qaeda branch in the Arabian Peninsula that claims to have trained and equipped the Nigerian bomber is based–and had no plans to send troops there either.

“I wouldn’t say we’re opening a second front. This is a continuation of an effort that we had underway, as I said, since the beginning of the (Obama) administration,” he reportedly told another TV program on Fox News.

He said the U.S. was not going to let al-Qaeda continue to gain in Yemen, but would take necessary steps to protect Americans there as well as elsewhere abroad.

Brennan also said that U.S.-born Yemeni cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, was trying to incite terrorism and that he was linked to both the shoot-out at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas November 5, and the December 25 plot.

“Awlaki is a problem. He’s clearly a part of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. He’s not just a cleric. He is, in fact, trying to instigate terrorism,” he said.

The U.S. official said there were indications that Awlaki had direct contact with Abdulmutallab and that he was also in touch with U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the accused gunman in the November 5 mass-shooting at the Fort Hood base.

YORK, Maine — Parks and Recreation Director Michael Sullivan recommended three plans to the Board of Selectmen on Monday to manage smoking, surfing and seaweed on York’s beaches.

Sullivan proposed banning smoking on the sand; doing away with the current surfing zone in favor of two mixed-use areas along Long Sands; and buying a tractor to clean seaweed, to avoid another incident as what occurred on Short Sands earlier this year, when seaweed accumulated for three weeks.

The majority of the board voiced approval for Sullivan’s first suggestion to ban smoking on the sand. No motion was made or vote taken. The board is expected at a future meeting to make a resolution on the smoking ban, but not to institute an ordinance, which would require an enforcement arm.

The state of Maine already bans smoking in state parks. The town’s ban would include the sand, both for reasons of health and to cut the number of cigarette butts dropped there, said Sullivan.

Selectmen discussed potentially putting containers on the sidewalk for smokers to dispose of cigarettes.

Only Selectwoman Kinley Gregg voiced disapproval, saying if the board decides to ban smoking on the beach, it needs to be in the form of an ordinance, to be enforceable.

“I think a year trial will tell us that,” said Sullivan. He said a resolution on the part of selectmen could take care of 80 to 85 percent of the problem.

The reason for changing the current surf zone, said Sullivan, is because of an expansion in the number of people enjoying the sport, who are currently allowed only into a 120-yard area off of Beacon Street between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Sullivan suggested extending the area to 300 yards, from Beacon Street to the Sun and Surf Restaurant, and — on the other end of the beach near the Cutty Sark Motel — creating another 800-foot section. These areas would be mixed use, for both swimmers and surfers, said Sullivan, with a 2,000-foot middle zone set aside for swimming only.

Selectwoman Mary Andrews voiced concerns over restricting the swimming area. Families want the beach for only two months during the year, she said, while surfers go out all year long.

Gregg and Selectwoman Tracy Jackson-McCarty said they liked the proposal. Chairman Mike Estes said he agreed that surfing has become more popular in York and a larger area is needed. Selectmen took no vote. A draft ordinance is expected to go before the board at a future date.

To control seaweed, Sullivan recommended buying a tractor with a front rake and grapple and other equipment, at a total first-year cost of $26,548. Neither the town nor the Ellis Park board of trustees, which maintains Short Sands Beach, has the right equipment to clean seaweed above the high water mark, according to Sullivan.

Last summer, seaweed left on Short Sands Beach above the high water mark for three weeks produced a bad odor, said Sullivan. Seaweed left that long, he said, “(encourages) maggots, flies. … The town got 100 phone calls.”

Estes made no immediate decision on the equipment.

By Susan Morse
December 08, 2009

An occasional update on local stories that were in the news just a year ago.

Nov. 16: The smoking lamp will be turned back on at Atlantic City’s 11 casinos.

Gamblers will be allowed to light up again on the casino floor following the end of a controversial, month-long smoking ban that was blamed by gaming executives for scaring away customers.

Over the objections of smoking opponents, City Council agreed to lift the ban for at least a year to give the gaming industry more time to recover from the nation’s economic crisis.

Council planned to vote on the measure earlier this month, but never did. But councilmembers have indicated that the financial outlook for the state, and specifically the area casinos, makes the ban less attractive. Gaming halls in nearby Pennsylvania that allow smoking also have not helped in getting the full ban approved.

Callaway sentenced

Nov. 21, 2008: Former Atlantic City Council President Craig Callaway pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit invasion of privacy for his involvement in a plot to blackmail Atlantic City Councilman Eugene Robinson with a tape of him having sex with a prostitute.

Callaway admitted renting two rooms at an Absecon motel where Robinson was filmed having oral sex with a prostitute in November 2006.

Callaway was sentenced to three years in prison, to run concurrent to a 40-month federal term he already was serving. He is currently at the Federal Correctional Institution Gilmer in Glenville, W.Va., but almost had a chance to travel back to Atlantic County for a while last month, when three of his co-conspirators were on trial.

Defendant Floyd Tally testified he believed the Robinson set up was part of a federal investigation. Callaway told him as much, he insisted. And, on the stand, he would admit it. The move couldn’t be made in time, however. Tally, along with Callaway’s brothers, David and Ronald, were convicted in the scheme. They are scheduled to be sentenced. Dec. 10.

Kessler Campus

Nov. 20, 2008: William B. Kessler Memorial Hospital has begun a full-court press to stay in business by getting $5 million in loans from community members by mid-January. That would complete the funding of a $16.5 million revitalization plan for the once-bankrupt hospital.

“Am I convinced that the citizens are ready to loan the hospital $5 million? No. But I think there’s a shot,” new CEO Jim Rossi said.

There wasn’t. By March, Kessler closed its doors, and AtlantiCare took over running the hospital as a satellite to its two other campuses.

Less than two weeks into the new management, doctors were already lauding the change.

“It’s night and day,” said Dr. Bill Zwiebel, who worked at Kessler Memorial Hospital for 25 years before it closed March 12. He now works at Kessler Campus as a member of AtlantiCare’s emergency department staff.

While AtlantiCare took over the emergency room, it still remains unclear what will happen to the rest of the hospital.

Holocaust memorial

Nov. 18, 2008: About 70 people bundled up under the pavilion at the Boardwalk and Kentucky Avenue, where a Holocaust memorial three years in the planning will be erected.

Atlantic City may well be the most ethnically diverse city in America, said Rabbi Gordon Geller, chairman of the committee to build the memorial. The project has been endorsed by clergy of every creed, and will serve as the city’s dedication to the ideal of tolerance and harmony.

The director of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem assured him that with 10 million pedestrians walking by every year, the memorial “can and will be recognized as one of the most important vehicles in the world for disseminating the legacy message of ‘Never again,’” Geller said.

Almost exactly a year later, the committee had another public announcement: The jury that will pick the winning memorial design has been chosen.

Designers may send their plans through the Web site www.acbhm.org.

Six finalists will be chosen by next summer. They each will receive $2,500 to turn their designs into models. The judges will then make their choice in August.

By Lynda Cohen, November 23, 2009

The New York City Council has banned the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including little cigars.These little cigars look just like cigarettes, but, due to a tax loophole, cost considerably less. They also come in flavors such as raspberry, grape, cosmopolitan and ample-tini and are usually wrapped in vivid, multi-colored packaging designed to appeal to youth.

“We’ve seen the detrimental side effects of what smoking can do to a person, and dressing it up with fun flavors doesn’t make a habit like smoking any less dangerous,” declared Council Member Joel Rivera, chairman of the council’s Health Committee and the chief sponsor of the new legislation. “It is no secret that for years tobacco companies have been targeting our young people with this kind of product. This legislation is a major step forward in protecting kids and deterring them from starting a lethal habit.”

The bill passed 46 to one with no abstentions. The one dissenting vote was cast by Council Member Lewis Fidler who said that even though he was voting no, “I appreciate the motivations of those who support this bill.” He believes that rather than a ban on flavored tobacco products, the most effective way to stop youth from smoking is by raising taxes even further on all tobacco products.

Studies have shown that smoking remains the leading cause of preventable deaths in New York City. The tobacco industry also knows that almost 90 percent of smokers start before the age of 18. That is why big tobacco is using young women, hip-hop imagery and specialty products — such as flavored tobacco products — to portray smoking as cool in order to entice youth into a lifetime of tobacco addiction.

Council Member Letitia James pointed out that in Central Brooklyn and other communities like it, these brightly packaged flavored cigars are often marketed near the candy, right where they can best capture the attention of the youth. Most councilmembersof her colleagues in the council agreed. The prohibited flavors include chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb and spice flavors. (Menthol, mint and wintergreen flavors are excluded from the ban.)

“A significant number of constituents that I have spoken with also believe that smoking cigars is less toxic and less addictive than cigarettes,” James added. “They are wrong. One cigar has as much tobacco as five cigarettes and contains more nicotine. That is why we, as adults, have to stand up and ban these products.”

The law will be enforced by the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and violators will be subject to fines of up to $2,000. Multiple violations will result in suspension of one’s tobacco license.

According to a 2009 Zogby poll, 77 percent of New Yorkers surveyed said they support a ban on candy, fruit and liquor flavored tobacco products. The legislation is also supported by the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association of New York, and Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, which all believe that big tobacco is looking for a new generation of smokers among teens to keep its business going.

By Donna Lamb
November 4, 2009

NEW YORK — The New York City Council voted earlier this week to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products within the city, going farther than recent federal legislation that bans the sale of flavored cigarettes and their component parts, Examiner.com reported.

The New York ban restricts all flavored tobacco products such as little cigars, chewing tobacco and cigarillos, to close off loopholes through adding flavoring agents to products, city officials said in the report. Menthol-flavored tobacco products are not banned, according to the report.

A spokesperson for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg told Examiner.com the mayor supports the legislation, which now goes to his desk. If it is signed into law, any New York City tobacco retailer, including convenience stores, found selling flavored tobacco will be subject to a $2,000 fine for the first offense, and subsequent offenses could result in a loss of its business license.

“No matter how you mask it, smoking tobacco, flavored or not, has irrevocable health effects. Companies are profiting by gambling on the lives of children and young adults, and it’s simply unconscionable,” Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn said in the report. “Our legislation will protect New Yorkers from harmful products disguised with attractive wrapping or sweet flavors and prevent the beginning of an addictive and useless habit.”

She added: “Anyone who tells you that these bubblegum, cookie dough, chocolate chip, little cigarillos shaped like a pink lip gloss — don’t tell me that’s not targeted at a young girl. These are not being bought by 50-year-old women, the data shows that.”

October 15, 2009 Csnews

On a day when a Mumbai restaurant manager was done to death after he tried to stop drunk customers from smoking inside his establishment, the government said it would rope in bus conductors, railway ticket checkers and health officials to bolster a faltering anti-smoking drive.

Violate the ban on smoking in public places and you will pay Rs 200, according to a health ministry notification. The amount remains the same as the existing fine, just that more people have been empowered not just to stop smokers, but also to fine them.

Simply put, education inspectors, government counsels in courts, panchayati raj officials in villages, policemen above the rank of sub inspector and even bus conductors can fine you.

Since the ban on smoking in public places was imposed on October 2 last year, only 22,275 smokers have been fined: India has an estimated 194 million smokers.

The Indian Council for Medical Research data shows tobacco kills over 10 lakh (one million) people in India each year — 3,000 every day.

“The ban is not about fining smokers but promoting non-smokers’ rights. The fact that non-smokers have a right to clean air is not highlighted enough. Bans work only when the general public starts asking smokers to stub their butts,” said Monika Arora, head, tobacco control, Public Health Foundation of India.

Most people don’t even know where to complain. And though it is poorly advertised, the Union health ministry’s toll-free
tobacco-control helpline gets almost 500 calls a month.

“We logged 5,865 calls during the past year, some asking for information and others registering complaints,” said Viney Singh, tobacco-control officer, ministry of health, who picked up the phone of the second ring.

“Along with raising taxes, smoking bans implemented have been shown to be effective in bringing down smoking,” said Arora. “Introducing a similar ban on smoking in public places and raising tobacco taxes in New York in 2002 lowered overall smoking rates by 21 per cent, with the drop being a high 50 per cent among teenagers.”

Sanchita Sharma , Hindustan Times

A major tobacco company has rejected claims it is undermining the law by not following regulations on the use of graphic warnings on cigarette packets.

Researchers at Otago University said a new study of bought and discarded cigarette packs showed the regulations were not being met.

Graphic warnings became mandatory in August 2008 and tobacco companies are required to evenly distribute various images over all cigarette packs.

Otago marketing professor Janet Hoek said the most offensive graphics were printed less frequently than other “less disturbing” images.

British American Tobacco today rejected the findings.

“British American Tobacco’s graphic health warnings meet all legal requirements,” a spokeswoman said.

“The Ministry of Health has not raised any concerns with us in this regard.”

Dr Hoek said use of “less offensive” graphics, including images of a diseased mouth or eye, undercut the law and public health policy.

“Tobacco companies have made it clear they dislike the new regulations on graphic health warnings, and these findings suggest they may be trying to minimise the impact of the new law.”

Dr Hoek said tobacco companies should be required to submit the warnings’ print run information.

About 5000 New Zealanders die of smoking related illnesses each year.

Copyright © 28 Sep 2009 Odt

SMOKERS may soon be banned from their last refuges of pub beer gardens and doorways.
Experts have found that bar staff are in just as much danger from passive smoking on patios as indoors.

Scientists measured air quality in areas outside bars and found extremely high concentrations of cancer-causing chemicals.

They say only a complete ban will adequately protect workers from second-hand smoke.

The team from Toronto University in Canada carried out a sample of 25 bars with outdoor patios in the city and found that levels of cancer-causing particles in outside smoking areas were potentially enough to cause heart problems.

The researchers said their findings proved bar workers passing through outdoor smoking areas were subjected to high levels of second-hand smoke.

The study published in the US journal Preventive Medicine said: “Bar workers are not adequately protected from second-hand smoke exposure where smoking is permitted on outdoor patios.

“Bans in outdoor areas are needed to provide full protection for hospitality workers.”

Copyright © September 9,2009 Express

BROOKLINE, N.H. – With a clunky rumble, the 4-foot-tall wooden contraption worked its magic, turning loose tobacco and rolling papers into tightly packed smokes. One after another, they slid down a metal chute into a waiting carton.

Customers from near and far line up daily at the Route 13 smoke shop with the roll-your-own cigarette machines that can spit out 200 cigarettes in 10 minutes. They buy by the carton, for less than half the price of many name brands.

But state officials say the machines are making an end run around the landmark 1998 settlement with major tobacco companies, which were required to pay yearly contributions to the states. In a lawsuit filed last week, New Hampshire’s attorney general contends Tobacco Haven’s cigarette machines violate terms of the agreement and could jeopardize the $50 million in settlement money New Hampshire receives each year.

“At $50 million a year, we have a rather inescapable incentive here,’’ said David Rienzo, an assistant attorney general.

Rienzo, along with smoking industry specialists and antismoking groups, say that higher cigarette taxes have spurred a burgeoning roll-your-own market. But until now, it has been largely confined to individuals who buy small, hand-operated rolling machines for personal use. The machines at Tobacco Haven, by contrast, are more akin to high-powered vending machines that spit out cartons of cigarettes in a matter of minutes. Such machines have cropped up across the country, and in New Hampshire prosecutors worried that they could emerge as powerful competitors to commercial cigarettes.

New Hampshire’s suit, believed to be the first of its kind, argues that Tobacco Haven is essentially manufacturing cigarettes and therefore should be making contributions to the state. Tobacco Haven counters that they are strictly a retail outfit and that customers are paying to use the machines for personal use.

State officials say that by allowing a shop to make cigarettes without contributing some proceeds, they risk lawsuits from competing manufacturers angry over unequal treatment.

“At face value, this tobacco shop is in the business of making cigarettes,’’ Rienzo said. “It’s roughly a pack a minute, so it’s not an insignificant number of cigarettes, and it really could cause us some heartburn.’’

Under state law, Tobacco Haven would have to contribute about 2 cents for each cigarette sold to a set-aside fund, he said.

This week, the state ordered the shop to shut down the machines, but the two machines rolled on as usual on a recent morning, with a lengthy line of smokers from New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

A lawyer for the store, which installed the machines earlier this year, staunchly defended the practice. “These machines are nothing in comparison to the volume of a commercial machine,’’ said Jeffrey Burd, a Cincinnati attorney who also represents an Ohio company that sells rolling machines.

Tobacco Haven customers, some of whom save several hundred dollars a month by using the service, were disgruntled by the state’s action. Many wondered why the state had to butt in, especially when jobs are scarce.

“It’s such a great deal,’’ said Dave Surprenant, 43, a pack-a-day smoker from Brookline. “Times are tough, and people are just trying to get by, anyway they can.’’

Still Surprenant, and other smokers, admitted that the low cost would only hurt their halting attempts to kick their habits.

Joy Whitcomb, 46, from Pepperell, Mass., bought two cartons of roll-your-owns, one for her and one for her husband. She was not in love with the taste, she said, but the price sure was right. Compared to convenience stores in Massachusetts, where taxes are more than 70 cents a pack higher, she was saving around $200 a month.

“The word is really going around that it’s such a great deal,’’ she said. “I figured it wouldn’t last too long. The government doesn’t really want us to smoke.’’

But others had another take. Just as smokers are hooked on cigarettes, they said, governments are hooked on cigarette taxes. Tobacco Haven had found a loophole, they said, and the state didn’t like it.

“Bottom line, right there,’’ Mike George,29, from Lunenberg, Mass., said outside the shop. “They aren’t getting their cut.’’

State officials learned of the machines from a competing convenience store, Rienzo said.

“They said, ‘If this isn’t illegal, I want in on it,’ ’’ he said.

Edward L. Sweda, senior attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University in Boston, agreed that the shop had crossed the line between retailer and manufacturer.

“If they make cigarettes, that means they are making cigarettes, even if it’s a fraction of Philip Morris and the like,’’ he said. “If you can make a carton in 10 minutes, that’s something of an operation.’’

Sweda had never heard of a similar lawsuit, but Burd said there are plenty of other shops that have machines like Tobacco Haven’s.

Doug Kennedy, editor of Roll Your Own Magazine, which caters to custom-made cigarette smokers, said the publication has “aggressively recommended shops to walk away from making cigarettes for their customers.’’

“You make a cigarette for someone, then sell it to them, you are a tobacco manufacturer,’’ he said.

Kevin O’Flaherty, director of advocacy in the Northeast for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said many states are fueling the growth of roll-your-own cigarettes by taxing loose tobacco at a lower rate than store-bought cigarettes.

“There’s often a large disparity, and that’s what drives this market,’’ he said.

Indeed, Bob Beshaw, 46, from Shrewsbury, Mass., drove a long way for the discounted smokes. After snagging a carton, he lit up at a picnic table a few steps from the shop. It had the taste of freedom, he said. In Massachusetts, the $25 carton would have run him $75.

“I think we tax people enough already, on everything, don’t you?’’ Beshaw asked.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.