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CAPITAL REGION
Battle against smoke moves outside
Push is on for smoking bans
BY SARA FOSS Gazette Reporter

   Not too long ago, Sarah Cummings noticed something she’d never seen before.
   A group of adults, children in tow, were smoking at the Niskayuna Town Pool. Cummings, the pool’s manager, scanned the rules. Nowhere did it say that smoking was prohibited.
   So Cummings purchased “No Smoking” signs and hung them up.
   “We have about 100 people here every day,” she said. “Eighty-fi ve percent of those people are younger. Smoking didn’t seem appropriate. By putting up the signs, I put my foot down, and said, ‘In a family environment, at the town pool, there’s no smoking.’ ”
   With indoor smoking bans now commonplace — New York banned smoking in most workplaces, including restaurants and bars, in 2003 — anti-smoking groups are stepping up efforts to bar or restrict smoking in outdoor places such as concert venues, parks, pools, beaches and playgrounds. They say they are motivated by concerns about health, litter and overall quality of life.
   Last year, The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom amusement park in Lake George implemented a new policy making all but a few designated areas smoke-free. There is now a smoking-and-alcohol-free family zone on the lawn at concerts at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. In 2006, the Washington County town of Hudson Falls made municipal parks smoke-free; several years ago, the town of Clifton Park made its pools smoke-free.
   But it’s possible that the New York State Fair in Syracuse made the biggest splash of all when it announced earlier this summer that it would no longer allow vendors to sell tobacco products on site.
   “In an effort to continue to make New York state the healthiest state in the nation, we have determined that the sale of tobacco products is not appropriate on the New York State Fairgrounds, and we want to encourage people to participate in a healthy lifestyle,” fair Executive Director Dan O’Hara said when the ban was first announced.
IS A BAN NEEDED?
   Not everyone believes that such steps are necessary.
   The Schoharie County Sunshine Fair, which begins Tuesday and runs through Sunday, has never considered banning smoking or restricting the sale of cigarettes, said Mike Montario, fair director in charge of concessions and vice president of the Cobleskill Agricultural Society. Although no one will be selling cigarettes at this year’s Sunshine Fair, it’s not because of any new policies; instead, a longtime cigarette vendor decided not to return to the fair and nobody is stepping in to take her place, he said.
   “We feel people come to enjoy the fair,” Montario said. “My personal opinion is that if people want to smoke outdoors, that’s fine. I don’t know how we would enforce [a ban on outdoor smoking].”
   Montario attends meetings of the New York State Association of Agricultural Fairs; he said there’s never been a discussion about prohibiting outdoor smoking or cigarette sales.
   “We don’t really want to limit all the rights people have,” he said. “Just move away from the smoker.”
   Two local groups, the Southern Adirondack Tobacco-Free Coalition and the Capital District Tobacco-Free Coalition, recently completed community surveys showing that a growing number of residents support restricting outdoor smoking. In 2005, 34.3 percent of Schenectady County residents said they supported banning smoking in public parks and outdoor recreation areas; this year, that number had grown to 47.9 percent. In the 2007 survey, more than 55 percent of county residents supported banning smoking at public beaches, 71.6 percent supported banning smoking around entryways, 78.3 percent supported banning smoking at playgrounds and 78.7 percent supported banning smoking at city pools.
   “People more and more understand the dangers of secondhand smoke,” said Judy Rightmyer, program director for the Capital District Tobacco-Free Coalition. “It’s been four years after the [state law banning indoor smoking] was passed, and people are used to an environment where there isn’t smoking. So when they’re exposed to smoking, it’s like, ‘I don’t really like this.’ ”
GROWING SUPPORT
   Rightmyer said the Capital District Tobacco-Free Coalition will soon ramp up its efforts to restrict outdoor smoking; the group plans to hire someone to head up those efforts and hopes to work closely with counties and cities.
   “It looks like it will be an easy sell, because there’s so much public support for it,” Rightmyer said.
   The Southern Adirondack Tobacco-Free Coalition has worked with local fairs on tobacco issues. Last year, the Saratoga County Fair signed a policy saying that it would not accept sponsorship or promotions from the tobacco industry; this year, the Washington County Fair enacted a similar policy, said Margaret LaFrance, program director of the Southern Adirondack Tobacco-Free Coalition.
   “It makes sense from an environmental and health view,” she said. “Tobacco butts contain toxins that seep into the earth and last for a long time.”
   Annie Tegan, senior program manager for the California-based Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights, said a groundbreaking report released by the U.S. Surgeon General in 2006 helped spur some of the recent efforts to ban outdoor smoking. The report said that secondhand smoke dramatically increases the risk of heart disease and lung cancer in non-smokers and can be controlled only by making indoor spaces smoke-free.
   “There’s no safe level of exposure,” Tegan said. “In places where people congregate, they think it’s important to have smoke-free air. People like smoke-free air. They’re enjoying it. ” At the same time, “It’s not about the smoker,” she said. “It’s about the smoke. We’re not trying to demand that anyone stop smoking entirely.”
   More than 500 cities have passed laws banning smoking at public parks, beaches and plazas, while about 600 communities have enacted reasonable distance laws that restrict smoking near the entrances to certain buildings, such as hospitals, where smoking is prohibited, Tegan said. About 300 cities have also banned smoking in outdoor venues such as stadiums and outdoor theaters.
   “It’s happening in all corners of the country,” she said. “After cities passed indoor smoking bans, people began seeing the health improvements and turned their attention to outdoors. We’re just now coming into a time when people are demanding that outdoor areas be smoke-free.”
CLEANER AIR, SIDEWALKS
   These efforts don’t sit well with everyone.
   Audrey Silk, who in 2000 founded the smokers’ rights organization New York City Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment, disputed the findings on secondhand smoke.
   “You’re not harming anyone outside,” Silk said. “There’s no evidence you’re harming anyone outside. ... Smoke dissipates into the air within seconds. It’s harming no one. Is that three seconds every day going to hurt them?”
   But one California city saw plenty of reasons, not all of them health-related, to take the lead in the effort to prohibit smoking in public spaces.
   In 2006, the city of Calabasas, Calif., passed what at the time was considered the most sweeping smoking ban in the country: a ban on smoking in all outdoor places, including sidewalks and streets, except for small outdoor “smoker outposts.” The city council, which voted unanimously in favor of the law, said it wanted to protect children from secondhand smoke, protect the public from smoking and tobacco-related litter and promote the family-friendly atmosphere of the town’s public places.
   Diane O’Connor, a spokeswoman for the Great Escape, said the amusement park’s smoking ban was enacted to “create a cleaner park environment.” Six Flags, the company that owns the Great Escape and a number of other amusement parks throughout the country, banned smoking at all its parks.
   “We’ve heard from a lot of guests who really appreciate it,” she said.
   Smoking is allowed in a few places, including behind the Red Garter Saloon in Ghost Town and next to Thunder Alley.
   Last month, the state Department of Health released a study showing a dramatic drop in secondhand smoke exposure since the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act took effect in 2003. The law has reduced non-smoking adults’ exposure to tobacco smoke by almost half, according to the report.  

  
  
  

Once they get this passed then they can arrest anyone that's seen smoking anywhere. I'm an ex smoker but I still feel it's the right of the individual to choose to smoke or not, it's their life.

I AM a smoker damn it! Yet I will repect the laws and the wishes at people's homes. But to say not to smoke outside because of 'second hand smoke' even makes the brightest person look down right stupid.

Once the Dems/libs get a hold of a cause they don't care whose rights they take away in order to achieve their goals.

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Once the Dems/libs get a hold of a cause they don't care whose rights they take away in order to achieve their goals.

Dems/libs pander to one bleeding heart group only. The unfortunate part of this is that these poor, pathetic, bleeding heart people are actually convinced by the dem/libs that they are poor, deprived, 'underserved', 'unbanked', underinsured and that the government will 'make it all better'! PAALLLEEEZZZZ!

OOOhhhh,,,,no smokers outside,,,,,but, dont forget to wash your fruits and vegetables and buy irradiated meat and hormone filled milk at your local grocer that you purchase and bring INTO your home AND FEED TO YOUR CHILDREN(certainly we cant afford those organic things--even after they are rained on by acid rain)......

I'm just not feelin' it and I dont smoke.......

Like people are going to get sick from people smoking outside????  Gee, when they came through to spray for west nile, they informed everyone ahead of time so they could close their windows and shut their air conditionersoff . And after that 'spray job', it took 2 to 3 years for the fire flies to comeback!! GIVE ME A BREAK!

It's no wonder we had to spray for west nile virus as half of Rotterdam is built on a swamp and there is standing water everywhere that's just perfect for mosquitoes to breed in. They spray and poison all of us and they're worried about some people smoking outside. Remember a post on the thread for Masullo Estates about someone burning trees and brush just how much smoke was put into the air with 3 bonfires burning all day and the police did nothing and it's against the law to burn without a container. Give me a break some people are just plain ridiculous in their thinking.

Quoted from bumblethru

Like people are going to get sick from people smoking outside????  

Ever try to walk out the door of Rotterdam Square where you take a right immediately coming out of K-Mart?  Now, that's a place that you'll get sick with people smoking outside.  People light up as they're walking out the door (because of the protection from the wind), then they're essentially all blowing it right back at the door.  And yes, because of that, I DO sometimes just about get sick, thank you very much.

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Secondhand smoke harmful — even outside

   The [Sept. 28] editorial “Park smoking ban goes too far,” calls into question legislation that would protect public health and well-being by restricting the locations in which individuals subject others to the deadly effects of secondhand smoke. Make no mistake: secondhand tobacco smoke kills. In fact, according to the U.S. Surgeon General, “there is no safe level of exposure” to secondhand smoke.
   Did you know that, because their lungs are so much smaller, children breathe in 50 percent more air than an adult? It is true, and it is why children are more susceptible to the dangers associated with inhaling tobacco smoke — even if outdoors. That is why we support legislation which removes these pollutants from an environment where children and families enjoy recreational activities.
   Tobacco smoke is a known asthma trigger. If enacted into law, this legislation could mean the difference of having an asthma attack — or not — for an individual enjoying the benefits of our public parks. Additionally, secondhand smoke is responsible for 54,000 deaths each year in the United States. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies secondhand smoke as a known carcinogen.
   It is important that we act to avert these preventable problems by moving quickly to adopt smart, progressive laws that keep the dangers of secondhand smoke away from children and adults. Our citizens should not be forced to inhale another person’s toxic cigarette smoke.
If you know someone who does smoke, urge and encourage them to seek treatment and kick the habit. One easy way to start down that path is to pick up the phone and call the New York State Smokers’ Quitline at 1-866-NYQUITS (1-866-697-8487).
MICHAEL SEILBACK
Albany
The writer is senior director of Public Policy and Advocacy for the American Lung Association of New York  

  
  
  

How about:

Power plants
Automobiles
Ozone
Sulfuric acid in aerosol form
Fossil fuel combustion
Mining operations
Asbestos fibers from brake linings
Diesel engine immissions
Arsenic
Asbestos
Chromium
Nickle
Benzene
Electrical power plants
Radon

The list is endless.

True, but it's easier to take the very thing that that the government wants to pay health care with and BAN IT EVERYWHERE! The good old cigarette!!!

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Cobleskill smoking ban
By: Mark Repasky

COBLESKILL, N.Y. -- The Village of Cobleskill may already be a good place to live, but Mayor Michael Sellers wants to make it a little bit better. That is if you are not a smoker.

“We want to be a family friendly community, we want to be friendly to youth and young people and smoking cigarettes is not an activity that I think should be around young people,” said Michael Sellers, Cobleskill Mayor.

So he said it's time to quit smoking in the villages three parks. Although he admits the law will be hard to enforce he said it's more about education and keeping cigarettes out of the hands and eyes of children.

The Village of Cobleskill may already be a good place to live, but Mayor Michael Sellers wants to make it a little bit better.

“Smoking kills people and we've got to be honest about that and the government sector has a role to play in educating people what is healthy and let people know and maybe enforce a law that would keep them from participating in activity that wouldn't be good in front of younger people,” said Sellers.

Residents have mixed reactions. Some said this park already has too many rules and the village is overstepping its bounds.

“I think it's a bunch of nonsense because you're out in the outdoors. I can see if it was enclosed but you're outdoors,” said Alan Surnear, Cobleskill resident.

Gabby Capone, a student at SUNY Cobleskill, said she would support the measure because it may help her cut back on her own bad habit.

“I don't smoke in public places and it would keep me from smoking here,” said Capone.

One thing all sides agree on is the problem these messy cigarette butts create. Though this smoker had a plan of his own.

“They should put out ashtrays so people can put them in there,” said Surnear.

That seems unlikely to happen anytime soon.

    

Oh palleeezzzz!

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Smokers are often inconsiderate, so outdoor ban needed

   I would like to comment on your Sept. 26 editorial, “Park smoking ban goes too far,” regarding the proposed outdoor smoking ban in Cobleskill. Since we recently took our grandchildren to the Cobleskill Fair, and shared the fairgrounds with smokers, I feel qualified to respond to your comments.
   Our experience was the worst we have had using the same outdoor space as smokers. The majority of them were inconsiderate, rude and downright nasty to those in the near vicinity — without regard to the discomfort of others.
   They walked in crowded areas, swinging their arms with lighted cigarettes in their hands, making it difficult to navigate the walkways with small children in danger of being burned.
   They stood in close proximity, in line for children’s rides, blowing smoke over their shoulders, into the faces of our grandchildren and us, flicking ashes wherever it was convenient for them, without consideration that it made a very uncomfortable experience for the rest of us. They threw lit butts on the ground, causing a risk to those wearing sandals. It also seemed an extremely dangerous practice, considering the dry hay, papers and other fire hazards at the fairgrounds.
   In other words, the difficulty was not only from secondhand smoke — but all of the above. The saddest part of this, for me, was that most of these people were parents and grandparents with little children who obviously have this exposure every day. To me, this borders on abuse.
   I know many people who still smoke, and most of them do so with consideration to those around them. Since it is impossible to control the way people deal with their individual smoking behavior, it seems a greater infringement on the rights and safety of others to allow them to continue in this manner than it is to assign designated smoking areas for those who choose to continue the practice. Not everyone will apply common courtesy to their personal habits.
I wonder if it will take a major tragedy for necessary change to occur.
EDWARD GRINTER
Rotterdam  

  
  
  

Just remember folks, when you start taking one right away....many will follow. So be careful what you wish for!! Your rights might be next!

I say go ahead and smoke we still cook on tephlon pans.....

As an ex-smoker I know that smoking is not good for us but as a person who like his freedoms I say it's an individuals choice to smoke or not. Too many rights have been taken away from us already and too many useless laws are also crammed down our throats under the guise of protecting us from ourselves.

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Public health and safety require tobacco-free parks

   Having come to expect thoughtful and considered editorial opinions from the Gazette, the Sept. 28 editorial, “Park smoking ban goes too far,” was both a surprise and a disappointment.
   Park smoking bans are no more an infringement on individual rights than open container laws, public nudity or any other number of restrictions placed on personal behavior in certain contexts for the public good.
   The 2006 Surgeon General’s Report says “there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.” What the Gazette editorial reduces to a “snoot full of secondhand smoke” can, for some people, be enough to trigger a heart attack, asthma attack or other respiratory failure. Results from a Stanford University study indicate that “a person near an outdoor smoker might inhale a breath with 50 times more toxic material than in the surrounding unpolluted air.” That toxic material includes human carcinogens that can penetrate deep inside the lungs.
Tobacco-free public parks are a matter of public health and safety. The concerns are magnified by the fact that parks are where our children play — on playgrounds and the sports fields; in the pools and the sprinklers. As a community, we should not only be protecting them from the toxic effects of secondhand smoke, but also from the normalization of tobacco use.
Every year, nearly 25,000 New York youths begin to smoke. If they keep smoking, half of them will die. They deserve better. And so do we.
THERESA ZUBRETSKY
Troy
The writer is project coordinator for the Capital District Tobacco-Free Coalition.

If this is really the case of smoke triggering a heart attack then we had better ban all wood burning stoves and furnaces immediately because they certainly put out more smoke than a cigarette does.

The 'cancer causing element' list could go on forever and ever. It yet amazes me how the government is banning smoking EVERYWHERE and taxing it to where people won't be able to afford to smoke. Now as good of an idea as it may be, this tax is suppose to be going to the 'child health care government program'. So I certainly hope that they have a 'tax back-up' when they achieve the goal of a smoke free country. Dimwits!

Another lotto for all......free unmarked government money as usual

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Higher cigarette taxes are the best deterrent

   The Oct. 1 AP article, “Smoking poor tapped to pay for health plan,” has it backward. It’s not the cigarette tax that’s regressive; it is the harm from smoking that is regressive. Higher rates of smoking among lower-income groups mean they suffer disproportionately from smoking-caused disease and disability as well as the financial costs of buying cigarettes.
   Raising the cost of cigarettes is a powerful incentive for lower-income smokers to quit or cut back and to keep adolescents from ever starting to smoke. Smokers with family incomes at or below the national median are four times as likely to quit when cigarette prices increase as those with higher incomes.
   A dollar increase in the cigarette tax would prevent 142,000 of New York children, alive today, from becoming smokers in the future and motivate up to 81,300 New York smokers to quit smoking — in the first year alone.
   Reinvesting revenue raised from cigarette tax increases into health care, education, tobacco cessation and prevention programs can be a further benefit of tax increases to low-income families and communities.
   According to the National Academy of Sciences, higher cigarette taxes are the single most direct and reliable way to reduce smoking by both encouraging cessation and reducing youth initiation. Better health, fewer deaths, and financial savings from fewer smokingrelated expenditures. That’s a win for everyone.
JUDY RIGHTMYER
Troy
The writer is director of the Capital District Tobacco-Free Coalition.  

  
  
  

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Keep smokers far from impressionable kids

   I just finished reading your Sept. 28 editorial regarding a proposed smoking ban in outdoor public areas such as parks. I think banning smoking in any public area, outdoors or indoors, is a great idea.
   I have a 4-year-old, who has informed me on several occasions that she is going to smoke when she’s older because “Mommy does it.” I do not smoke, and although her mom and I are no longer together, I have done my part to educate her (as much as you can educate a 4-year-old about smoking) that it’s unhealthy and a bad habit. I still have a fear that she could take up the habit because she constantly makes comments about people in public smoking.
   I cannot imagine how people can’t understand that children are influenced by their surroundings, both at home and in public. She makes comments every single time she sees someone lighting up a cigarette — even people she doesn’t know.
   I believe smoking outdoors is akin to banning public drinking of alcoholic beverages. While it’s perfectly legal to drink alcohol if you are of age, society has decided that public consumption of alcohol should not be allowed for various reasons, including sheltering children from its effects. Bans were placed on alcohol advertising and consumption, and I feel that smoking should be no different. Smoking is probably more harmful than alcohol, and is far more invasive to the health of others.
   I, for one, am glad to surrender such a pointless freedom for the future of my child’s health. Seems like a small price to pay.
DARYLE FLAGG
Troy  


  
  
  

Those are excellent points-
I went to dinner last week with a young lady who smokes ( I dont ) .  We sat in a smoking section. I am  extreamly  tolerant of smokers as many in my family smoke and I shined shoes in my grandfathers smokey barbershop.

When I mentioned something about I like the smell of cigar smoke- well she went on and on - she HATES the smell of cigars- go figure.

Hey, sombody, I'd like to be there when you tell her this...

"OK, so you don't like cigars, but you smoke (and obviously like) cigarettes.  Do you know where the word cigarette comes from?  It means little (ette) CIGAR.  You ARE smoking cigars, just not the big fat stogies."

I guess it's just better when it takes 10 of something to do as much damage as 1 of something else.

Smoke doesn't bothers me. There are other things AND people that I find much more offensive that stress me out, which is probably more harmful to my health.

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Don’t rely on tobacco industry’s help to stop teens from smoking
MEG DOHERTY Gansevoort

   I’m discouraged to see the recent appearance of Phillip Morris U.S.A. Quit Assist materials throughout Fulton and Montgomery counties.
   Tobacco industry-sponsored youth prevention programs show no evidence that they prevent kids from smoking or help smokers quit! In fact, among 10thand 12th-graders, higher exposure to the parent-targeted ads was associated with lower perceived harm of smoking, stronger approval of smoking, stronger intentions to smoke in the future, and a greater likelihood of having smoked in the past 30 days (Wakefield, M., American Journal of Public Health, December 2006). The net effect is the continuation of the tobacco industry’s pattern of attracting millions of new smokers each year to their deadly products.
   I ask that agencies instead consider the New York State Smokers’ Quitline materials to be distributed throughout your organization. Please call 1-866-NY-QUITS or 1-866-697-8487 for free patches, gum, or lozenges (if you qualify, and most smokers do) serving as a reliable source of information on smoking prevention and cessation. Your local tobacco-free coalition, Project Action-Tobacco Free Coalition, is available to supply you with a variety of materials the Quitline has to offer.
   Please contact Sue Arminio at 841-7288 or arminiosu@smha.org, and please visit http://www.nysmokefree.com for further information.  

  
  
  

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Don’t rely on tobacco industry’s help to stop teens from smoking

And don't rely on McDonalds/Burger King from helping to stop teens from eating their junk. However, we CAN rely on the government from stopping teens from getting pregnant. There are schools that hand out birth control pills to 11 year olds like they were candy. And we can also rely on the government to allow our little girls to obtain abortions without their parents consent.

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Tougher tobacco rules welcome in schools

   I am proud to announce that several schools in Fulton and Montgomery counties participating in the Tobacco-Free Schools Policy Program have recently passed an updated districtwide tobaccofree schools policies. Congratulations go out to Gloversville, Mayfield and Broadalbin-Perth for reviewing, revising and now implementing their new tobacco-free school policy.
   The Tobacco-Free School Policy Program works to increase the number of schools that implement effective tobacco-free schools policies in compliance with state and federal law, and to establish a minimum standard where a variety of comprehensive standards are implemented.
   These schools passed policies that are meant as a starting point for behavioral and attitudinal change related to tobacco use on school campuses among students, their families, staff and members of the community. This policy will play a key role in supporting non-use of any and all tobacco products on all school grounds at all times as a way to prevent initial use of tobacco, or to interrupt habituated use among youth. The policy gives youth and adults an opportunity to live a more healthy life while complying with the law.
   The enforcement of this policy is applicable to everyone on the school campus at any time, and includes (but is not limited to) visitors, staff, students, faculty, bus drivers, maintenance and construction personnel.
   This proactive approach to health will make a difference to schools, students, staff and visitors.
   DENISE BENTON
   Johnstown
The writer is a Tobacco-Free Healthy Schools policy coordinator for Catholic Charities of Fulton and Montgomery counties.  

  
  
  

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Mohawk reservation still a soft spot for cigarette smuggling
BY MICHAEL HILL The Associated Press

AKWESASNE, Ontario — Mohawk police spotted a red van with swiped license plates riding through the reservation on a recent night looking like it was loaded down with something heavy.
   It was.
   After a brief pursuit, the offi cer pulled over a vehicle that smelled like a humidor. Garbage bags packed with more than a ton of golden cut tobacco filled the back from floor to ceiling.
   Another night, another illegal load of tobacco headed to Canada from the United States through this Mohawk reservation. Akwesasne, which stretches south into New York state, is by far the busiest spot for cigarette smuggling along the northern border. While the U.S.-Canada border runs some 4,000 miles through mountains, plains and some of the largest freshwater lakes on the planet, the security challenges posed by Akwesasne are unique.
   A bit smaller than the Bronx, the reservation straddles New York state, Quebec and Ontario and is sliced by the St. Lawrence River. Border crossers here pass through land controlled by four distinct governments: New York state, U.S.-side Mohawks, Canadian-side Mohawks and Ontario. This geopolitical complexity has helped make Akwesasne a go-to gateway for smugglers at least since Prohibition.
   Right now, cigarette smuggling is big.
   “They take advantage of the geography and the jurisdictional nightmare,” said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Michael Harvey.
   Tobacco smuggling caught on after Canadian officials boosted cigarette taxes in 2001 to combat smoking. Criminals can sneak in their own cigarettes and retail them for as little as $10 a carton, compared to $80 or more for legal cartons. Mounties are seizing almost 17 times more tobacco than in 2001. Last year, they seized 472,000 cartons across Canada — 90 percent originating from this Mohawk reservation.
   Harvey said the tobacco is trucked north to the territory, where factories on the American side of the reservation, known as St. Regis, can pump out millions of cigarettes a year. Others simply smuggle bulk tobacco through the reservation, presumably to be made into cigarettes up north.
   Sneaking the goods into Canada is a cat-and-mouse game. Smugglers zip across the river at night in low-profile duck boats with no lights to the Ontario portion of the reservation, which is an island. Then they can take a bridge to Cornwall, Ontario. Or they can boat a dozen miles down-river to any number of coves or marinas on the Canadian shore. In winter, they can drive trucks or snowmobiles over the ice.
   Once in mainland Canada, it’s an easy drive to Montreal, Ottawa or Toronto. The contraband cigarettes, often sold at “smoke shacks” on Indian land in Canada, look like any other, except without labels or boxes. They are packed parallel in clear plastic resealable bags.
   Harvey said the Canadian-based organized crime groups behind tobacco smuggling will sometimes bring ecstasy or hockey bags full of marijuana back down to the United States. Still, it does not appear U.S. officials view Akwesasne as a comparable floodgate for illegal immigrants, drugs or money — which are their primary U.S. northern border concerns.
   U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Mark Henry said Akwesasne is a geographic challenge, but it is among several that agents focus on in their Northeast patrols. The Border Patrol does not keep seizure figures for Akwesasne. But the agency’s Swanton sector — which stretches 295 miles from northern New York to New Hampshire — last year made 1,119 arrests for alien smuggling, a bit less than one in five of all such arrests along the northern border.
   Chief Andrew Thomas of the St. Regis Tribal Police said smugglers exploit opportunities wherever they find them and the reservation’s reputation as a “gateway” is unwarranted.
   “That happens here, that happens points east, that happens points west,” he said. “We seem to get all the attention.”
   Thomas has 16 officers to patrol the American side of the reservation, a flatland of woods, fields, modest houses and a bunch of gas stations that can sell tax-free fuel and cigarettes. Thomas said tobacco is “not a high priority with my agency.” In his view, cigarette smuggling would disappear overnight if Canada would simply lower tobacco taxes.
   “We have smuggling issues that my office focuses on, and that’s the drug trade, weapons and illegal immigrants and illegal aliens,” Thomas said. “Those are the real criminal issues that we deal with.”
   Law enforcement officials say Mohawk authorities on both sides of the border routinely cooperate in crackdown efforts, which are aggressive. Mounties have seized dozens of smugglers’ pickup trucks and minivans (many with back seats removed to make room for more product ) this year alone. This summer, they teamed up with the U.S. Coast Guard to patrol the river under a pilot project called Shiprider.
   On the U.S. side, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it has seized 16 tractor loads of tobacco headed to Akwesasne in the past 18 months.
   But police actions involving Akwesasne can still be complicated by jurisdictional issues. Many Mohawks remain deeply connected to their land and sovereign heritage, a point of view summed up by a prominent banner hanging along the main highway here reading: “This is Mohawk Land Not NYS Land.”
   Consider that the St. Regis Tribal Council, the American-side government, lists six factories registered with the tribe to manufacture cigarettes, but there appears to only be one with federal approval.

  
  
  

The day the government placed such high taxes on cigarettes along with unrealistic laws and restrictions...they had to know that this was going to happen. I know people who are buying their cigarettes from overseas. So now it costs the taxpayers even more money to pay for the xtra personel needed to track the black market on cigarettes. The government sets the law in place and we the tax payer has to pay to patrol it! Rediculous!!!

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Ask your grocer to reduce promotion of tobacco products

   Nov. 15 was the 31st Great American Smokeout. On this day, I witnessed Capital Region grocery store customers sign 3,000 postcards and petitions asking stores to make tobacco advertising and tobacco products less visible to young people. This is a way to decrease the attractiveness of smoking and to protect them from the often fatal effects of lifetime tobacco use.
   As a customer, you can voice your concern to stores that have tobacco advertising by asking them to please remove or rearrange their tobacco ads. These ads lure individuals, most often children, to begin smoking in the fi rst place.
   Together we can address the issue of smoking where it starts — with advertising. Please be a voice to retailers to protect our children and make tobacco advertising and tobacco product placement less visible in stores. Adult customers who smoke will still be able to obtain tobacco products.
   Change can simply start with just relocating tobacco products and sales to the customer service desk.
   SUE ARMINIO
   Amsterdam
The writer is program coordinator for Project ACTION of Hamilton, Fulton & Montgomery Counties.