High school tougher on tobacco than sex

Two Clinton High School students who engaged in oral sex in school were suspended until Friday, while a student caught with tobacco for a third time was expelled for a year.
The differing punishments raised eyebrows and sparked discussion among Anderson County school board members during their latest meeting.
"There's certain behavior that there's no question, it's wrong," member Dail Cantrell said of the oral sex incident. "You have to send a message."
"I understand we do not have a policy on oral sex and we do have one on tobacco," board chairman Dr. John Burrell said Tuesday.
Still, he said, the punishment meted out to the 16-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy for the sexual episode "should have been a lot stronger than a two-week suspension," Burrell said.
A video surveillance camera spotted the two students entering a restroom, and they later admitted to having the sexual encounter there, officials said.
The case illustrates the challenges school officials face in imposing suitable punishments, Director Larry Foster said.
In the tobacco case, there's a state law against underage possession, he said.
Foster said the case in question was a third-offense tobacco violation and that the school system's code of student conduct recommends expulsion.
Guidelines about in-school sexual activities are only broadly mentioned as "immoral, disreputable or disruptive conduct" in the conduct code.
Disciplinary measures for those cases span the gamut from verbal reprimands to expulsion, according to the code.
And punishments have varied widely, said Lisa Fair, the school system's deputy director of student services.
In October, she said, a 13-year-old girl performed oral sex on a 16-year-old boy while they were on a school bus and other students were present.
Those students were expelled, and they are now in the system's alternative school for children with disciplinary issues called the Learn Center, Fair said.
Even if students are expelled, "you have to continue providing services," former director V.L. Stonecipher said Tuesday.
School board members each month receive a report that lists disciplinary cases - with students only identified by age and school - on various offenses and the punishments meted out.
Offenses for November included possession of knives and box cutters, fighting, drug possession and use, and repeatedly cutting classes.
Burrell, during the latest board meeting, expressed dismay at some of the penalties that were handed out.
"It does not seem like very much of a punishment to me for some of these things," he said.
"Somebody's got to put their foot down," Cantrell said.
He said there are more disciplinary problems at Clinton High than at Anderson County High, the system's other high school.
Foster said principals impose punishments on a case-by-case basis, but students and their parents can appeal those penalties to the school system's Disciplinary Hearing Authority. That group of eight administrators conducts appeal hearings and has the power to modify punishments, he said. Any further appeal proceeding goes to him, Foster said.
While board members questioned the severity of various punishments, no action was taken during their Dec. 10 session.
"I think we need to get more strict somewhere down the road," Burrell said Tuesday.

Cigarettes stolen during burglary

About $600 worth of cigarettes were stolen during a Thanksgiving burglary at Valero, 848 N. Broadway.
Eight cartons of Marlboro and 40 packs of other cigarettes were stolen, along with cash, between 4:40 and 5:45 a.m. Thursday, according to a Salina Police Department report.
The loss, combined with damage to a glass door, amounted to about $900.

"Cigarettes kill," but don't tell smokers

Study shows that warnings related to self-esteem were more effective than those indicating "cigarettes kill" in reducing smoking, according to media reports quoting the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology Monday.
Psychologists from the U.S., Switzerland and Germany conducted a small study and drew the conclusion that warnings such as "smoking makes you unattractive" or "smoking brings you and the people around you severe damage" do a better job in talking people out of their habit.
This worked especially well when people smoked to boost their self-esteem, such as young people who learned to smoke to become popular or fit in with their peers, the psychologists figured out.
"To succeed with anti-smoking messages on cigarette packs one has to take into account that considering their death may make people smoke," the study said.
A total of 39 psychology students, smokers aged between 17 and 41, participated in the study.
"On the one hand, death-related warnings were not effective and even ironically caused more positive smoking attitudes among smokers who based their self-esteem on smoking," the study said.
"On the other hand, warning messages that were unrelated to death effectively reduced smoking attitudes" among those who smoke for self-esteem.

Virginia, the US state built on tobacco, goes smoke-free

The US state of Virginia is poised to ban smoking in most restaurants and bars as of midnight on Tuesday, turning the page on 400 years of history that is tightly tied to tobacco.
"December 1st is an historic day in that we are enacting a smoking ban across the Commonwealth, which is a tobacco state," Gary Hagy, director of the Virginia Department of Health's division of food and environmental services, told AFP.
Outgoing Governor Tim Kaine has called on state residents to dine out on Tuesday, "when the daily special will be smoke-free air," said Hagy.
"A lot of people are very excited. They've been wanting to go non-smoking but kind of needed a little reason to go non-smoking and this has provided that for them," said Hagy.
But Jimmy Cirrito, who runs a bar in Herndon, Virginia, near Washington, was less than happy with the new law.
"It's not really a ban because the Virginia government said if there's a separate room with ventilation and a door, people can smoke there. So there are bars all around me where people can still go and smoke. But I can't do anything to my bar -- it's in a 100-year-old building," Cirrito told AFP.
"And it's not as if I'm letting people smoke marijuana or do things that are illegal. I'm allowing them to smoke a cigarette that they bought in a machine in my bar or in the 7-Eleven across the street," Cirrito, a life-long non-smoker, said.
Virginia joins 27 other states and the US capital, Washington DC, in enacting legislation prohibiting smoking in restaurants.
But for Virginia, banning smoking carries great significance because the history of the state -- or commonwealth as it is called -- is inextricably linked to tobacco.
English settler John Rolfe -- who went on to marry Pocahontas, the native American princess -- planted tobacco in the settlement of Jamestown in 1612.
Two years later, the first shipment of Virginia tobacco was sold in London, and by 1639, tobacco had become the American colonies' chief export.

Philip Morris Sues - Counterfeit Marlboros

Philip Morris USA will sue over counterfeit cigarettes. The nation's largest tobacco company accuses 10 New York and New Jersey retailers of selling counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes in the federal lawsuit that was filed late last week. They have now filed lawsuits against a total of 27 stores this year in the two states in an effort to defend their brand.ABC News reports, "Philip Morris is asking the court to ban the retailers — small grocery stores and delis — from purchasing, distributing or selling counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes. It also is asking for companies to turn over their profits from the illegal cigarettes, along with punitive damages and attorney's fees."
In a move certain to raise the ire and interest of cash starved governments, Philip Morris "alleges that in addition to selling products with bogus branding, the state and federal taxes were not properly paid on the cigarettes," a report from NJ Biz adds.
The company added that both New York and New Jersey are areas rife for counterfeit tobacco products due to the high taxes levied against each product. An Associated Press story notes, "in New York City, a pack of Marlboro cigarettes can cost more than $10."

Third of minors buying cigarettes from shops and pubs

The Office of Tobacco Control has said there is a long way to go to ensure cigarettes are not getting into the hands of minors.
It's latest research shows around a third of minors are still buying cigarettes in shops and from vending machines in pubs.
A third of pubs and almost a third of shopkeepers are allowing cigarettes to be sold to minors, according to the latest survey from the Office of Tobacco Control.
It also shows the ban on point-of-sale advertising, introduced in July, is working well.
The survey also showed that in almost all cases where ID was asked for cigarettes were not sold.

Smuggled cigarettes bound for NI

A man is being questioned after millions of smuggled cigarettes were seized in the Irish Republic.
Irish customs officials seized between five and six million cigarettes on the M1 near Dundalk, County Louth. It is believed they were destined for NI.
They were hidden in a container which arrived in Dublin Port from Barcelona. The seizure was made on Monday morning.
The Irish authorities said 1.6m euros would have been lost through the sale of the untaxed cigarettes.