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Southeast Wyo Dems differ on smoking ban

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By JARED MILLER
Star-Tribune capital bureau

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 6:50 AM MDT

CHEYENNE -- The two Democratic candidates for House District 3 in southeast Wyoming differ sharply on the need for a statewide smoking ban.

Laurell Marker, 67, of Wheatland, said she would support a statewide ban on smoking in public buildings, while Terry R. Jones, 59, also of Wheatland, said he would not.

"I think that smoking is a personal choice that everyone has to deal with on a personal basis," Jones said.

The winner of the Aug. 19 Democratic primary will face the winner of a three-way Republican primary: either Frank Peasley of Douglas, or Randy Stevenson or Kirby Wilson both of Wheatland. The incumbent, Rep. Deborah Alden, R-Wheatland, is not seeking re-election.

House District 3 encompasses southern and western Platte County, as well as a section of southern Converse County including a portion of Douglas.

Marker said she supports stricter penalties for drunken drivers, including fines and mandatory help for those convicted of driving under the influence. Jones said he supports stricter penalties for drunken driving, especially for multiple offenses.

Jones said working Wyoming people are suffering from rising property taxes, and targeted tax relief is needed to ease the burden.

Marker said state lawmakers should "listen to the voters" and consider the high number of elderly residents when it comes to the question of property tax relief.

Marker said state highways are in need of repair, and big rigs that use the highways should be required to pay their fair share of the expense.

Jones said the state may need to tap the general fund to pay for highways, which are being damaged by big trucks and the energy boom. He added that big trucks are "wearing out" Interstate 80, "so why shouldn't trucks pay to keep it in good repair?"

Jones would improve health care in Wyoming by working to create incentives to bring health professionals to the state.

Marker said she's not sure what the answer is to today's health care problems, but she does think that medical professionals need more training in geriatric care because of the number of seniors in the state.

She said the state's community college system should continue under the same operating and funding systems.

Jones supports more local control for the state's community colleges, even though the majority of college funding comes from the state.

Jones would like to see the Legislature spend the anticipated budget surplus on highway infrastructure, funding for county and local governments and higher starting salaries for state employees.

Marker said the money should be spent on veterans, seniors, state lands, protection of game and fish, trade-school scholarships for youth and roads and infrastructure related to energy.

On the topic of economic diversification, Jones said the Wyoming Business Council has always been successful in promoting news businesses, and he would support the program if it's needed.

The key to diversify the state economy, Marker said, is to "figure out how to capitalize on the energy and make this the energy capital of the U.S.

"We do have the potential if properly managed," Marker added.

Reach Reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at jared.miller@trib.com.


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Comments to this story.

no smoking no drinking in platte county wrote on Aug 13, 2008 9:40 AM:

" VOTE FOR KIRBY WILSON, HE'S THE ONE FROM WHEATLAND WHO WANTS TO SHUT DOWN ALL THE BARS AND HAVE IT BE A DRY COUNTY! KEEP THE SMOKING AND STOP THE BOOZE! AND STEVENSON IS THE ONE WHO GOT PLATTE TO VOTE FOR DUNCAN HUNTER, NOW THERE IS ANOTHER WINNER. WYOMING IS WAY IN FOR IT THIS TIME AROUND. "

smokers wrote on Aug 13, 2008 10:18 AM:

" can kill themselves but leave me alone and they should have to pre pay for their deathcare with a medicare/caid policy for their addictions. in order to get any medical treatment for their addiction they should forced to stop smoking or eating buckets of fat laden food. why does the tax payer have to pay for the smokers poor health, oxygen tank and the list is endless. Isnt terry a smoker?
I will vote for no smoking and for laurell!!! "

MamaLiberty wrote on Aug 13, 2008 11:23 AM:

" You've got it just backwards, "smokers." Nobody should pay for someone else's health care (or anything else) except voluntarily.

There is NO totally "safe" substance, food or activity on the planet. Life includes all sorts of risks, and only the individual can decide for themselves which risks to take.

They also must be completely responsible for the consequences of those choices, however.

Do you like a beer now and then? Fast food? Ride a motorcycle? Watch TV? What's your favorite thing to do on a Saturday evening? Everything has potential consequences, often unintended.

It is hypocritical, to say the least, to decide to "ban" something YOU don't personally like, while you give no thought at all to the consequences of your own actions.

We all might make better choices if we alone were responsible for the outcome and nobody was robbed to pay for them. "

Non-Smoker wrote on Aug 13, 2008 12:43 PM:

" Oh how those democraps love their bans forcing others to behave as they wish them to. They'd all fit in well in Stalin's Russia. "

Ryder wrote on Aug 13, 2008 12:45 PM:

" Watch out, your hobbie, interest or habit will be the next thing that the social control police (liberals) will be wanting to ban. "

charles wrote on Aug 13, 2008 2:18 PM:

" there is no good that comes from smoking. people do it because it's addictive. like cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine, tobacco should be illegal. a drug should be outlawed based on how addictive it is and how harmful it is. enough with the double standards already. "

Robin wrote on Aug 13, 2008 4:18 PM:

" charles have you studied your US history? Do you remember reading about the great success of prohibition and the streets running with blood from gangester like they do now in some US and Mexican cities from drug gangs? Bans do not work. "

Gary K wrote on Aug 14, 2008 10:41 AM:

" No one has ever said that anti-smokers were very smart.
Smoking bans cause more non-smokers to die!
Since 1965 there has been a 50% decrease in the adult smoking rate.
Since 1990 there have been literally thousands of smoking bans of one sort or another enacted.
Since 1965 the exposure rate to SHS has decreased by 75%.
The stated reason for smoking bans is that SHS exposure 'KILLS' non-smokers and smoking bans are needed to change that!!
In the early 1990's anti smoking groups claimed that 53,000 non-smokers died from exposure to SHS.
In the early 1990's there were about 140,625,000 non-smokers,53,000 deaths means that there was 1 death per 2,653 non-smokers.
In the current era, pro ban groups claim that SHS exposure causes about 65,00 non-smokers to die per year.
There are about 165,000,000 non-smokers these days, 65,000 deaths is 1 death per 2,538 non-smokers.
Sooo,the antis are saying that after a 75% decrease in SHS exposure and literally thousands of smoking bans of one sort or another, "THE DEATH RATE HAS INCREASED AND THUS, SMOKING BANS CAUSE MORE NON-SMOKERS TO DIE"!!!
At the very least, smoking bans and a 75% decrease in SHS exposure have not caused a decrease in the number of deaths.
Why do antis lie so outrageously?
No one has ever said they were very smart!! "

Michael J. McF. wrote on Aug 14, 2008 11:02 AM:

" "Smokers" doesn't realize that the actual cost research on smoking has pretty clearly shown that it is smokers who pay for the health care of nonsmokers rather than vice versa. Between the extortionate taxes (Name a few other products where two to four HUNDRED percent of the cost is tax money for the government!) and the argument that smoking takes years off of the most medically expensive period of life, and smokers subsidize nonsmokers with every pack they buy.

To see the kind of lies that drive smoking bans enter

mcfadden defiance stiletto

into google and read the free "Stiletto" booklet listed as "encyclopedia 257" there. You'll be surprised at just how much the truth has been twisted in the name of "political correctness."

Michael J. McFadden
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains" "

JIMMYBOY wrote on Aug 15, 2008 12:14 PM:

" Well I think everyone should check out the Crown7 alternative to smoking. That way everyone can smoke in the bars and restaurants and not have to worry about the bans and can do whatever they would like. "

Lifelong non-smoker wrote on Aug 16, 2008 10:39 AM:

" It's all about local control. State legislators should not be worrying about banning smoking all over the state. Each town should be able to decide for itself. Cheyenne did. Laramie did. Casper decided to allow individual business owners choose to allow smoking or not. Legislators need to vote they way their constituents want them to vote. They should not vote for their own personal preferences. Put smoking bans on local city ballots and let the citizens vote it up or down. It's the only fair way to do it. "

Vann wrote on Aug 18, 2008 11:33 AM:

" Bans. They never really work and they infringe on the freedom of all parties involved. All are free now not to attend places that allow smoking. If it is smoking today, what will the banners go after tomorrow. I don't smoke and I don't go to places where people do smoke. It is my choice and the choice of the person that owns the store or other venue. How many freedoms do we give up or ban before we change the country's name to North Korea or Cuba? "

Elle wrote on Aug 18, 2008 1:01 PM:

" Why is it that the democrats all feel that they have the god given right to try and tell everyone else how to live?

I don't know which is worse, the bible thumpers on the far right or the communists on the far left?

They are both peas in one pod though. Both want to control how others live according to their own demented doctrines.

I wish that both would just go away or at the least that the press and elected officials would ignore them and treat them for what they really are: nuts!

No, I don't smoke either. Never have. "

Liberty wrote on Aug 19, 2008 4:47 PM:

" Oh the Ban-o-crats, when will these freedom grabbers just go away? "

wynive wrote on Aug 20, 2008 10:32 AM:

" Get out of peoples personal business!!!!! If a business chooses to have smoking and you don't, Don't go!! it's your choice, don't force your choice on someone else. You don't want to go to a smokey bar, well then don't, but don't make the government tell someone how to run THEIR business, key word!! their business NOT YOURS NOT MINE, NOT the GOVERNMENTS!!! THEIRS. NON smokers should have a chance to go some where without smoke, well get it right, smokers have rights also, they have the right to go any where and enjoy a cig. If you don't smoke, don't go to a smoking allowed establishment. 99% of the non smokers will choose no smoking section but when they are told "it will be a few minutes" they will choose the smoking section. I was a smoker, I quit. I still feel this way!! I am also democrat. JUST LIKE every thing there is good and bad in everything. It is MY choice if I want to go to a establishment that allows smoking. Plain and simple mind YOUR OWN business and LET others live theirs. Who cares if they smoke. It is NOT my business! Excuse me lets tell the government to stop production of all vehicles; motorcycles; refineries; and planes, they create carbon monoxide as well. To those that want to ban smoking from public places, I want you to quit drinking water, quit drinking coffee, quit drinking milk, I want you to quit driving for one weak, I want you to quit running your furnace for one month, oh yes quit breathing for one day. All of the above are known to cause cancer. Well here is a concept. We all have cancer cells in our body; it all depends on our PERSONAL gene if it turns into cancer or NOT! You can become a hermit and still die of cancer. WHO cares, let people live their life the way they choose!!! "

Come Home wrote on Aug 20, 2008 6:07 PM:

" wynive, you say you are a Democrat, but you think like a Republican. Democrats want to take all of our rights away. Perhaps you should rethink your party affiliation. Republicans would welcome your independent, get-government-out-of-our-lives nature! "

Liberty wrote on Feb 5, 2009 11:38 AM:

" You do not have the liberty to kill the innocent with second hand smoke. You're not Republicans or Democrats....You are all social morons. "

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