The Capistrano Insider

Lung Association Says OC Lagging in Anti-Smoking Effort; Pushes for Higher Tax

STATE OF TOBACCO CONTROL REPORT SHOWS ORANGE COUNTY FALLING BEHIND IN KEY TOBACCO CONTROL PRIORITY AREAS

Report card clearly illustrates importance of passing upcoming
California Cancer Research Act ballot measure

(Tustin, CA, January 19, 2012) – The American Lung Association released the State of Tobacco Control 2012, an annual report that provides grades to the federal government and all 50 states and the District of Columbia on four key tobacco control areas. In conjunction with this national report, the American Lung Association in California released the State of Tobacco Control 2012 – California Local Grades, which issues grades to all cities and counties in California on local tobacco control policies including those for smokefree outdoor environments, smokefree housing, and reducing sales of tobacco products. To view the complete report, visit www.lung.org/california.

In 2011, Costa Mesa made advances in protecting their residents from secondhand smoke by restricting smoking in recreation areas.  Laguna Hills and Laguna Woods each received an overall C grade, which is the highest grade in the county. The cities of Santa Ana and Seal Beach both earned an overall D grade. However, more still needs to be done at the local level to protect residents from the harmful effects of tobacco. The American Lung Association is working to increase public knowledge about local policies that protect residents, recognize leadership where steps have been taken, and continue to encourage leadership and political will where improvement is needed.

Once a national leader in tobacco control policies, California’s efforts are now lagging. The state received an F for failing to adequately fund tobacco prevention and control programs and a D for its low cigarette tax. California currently ranks 33^rd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia for its $0.87 per pack tax, far below the national average of $1.46. While California earned an A for smokefree air policies, the state received another F for poor coverage of smoking cessation and treatment services.

Both the state and local grades demonstrate the need for California to pass the California Cancer Research Act on the June 2012 ballot. “Now is the time for California to raise the grade,” said Jane Warner, President and CEO, American Lung Association in California. “The California Cancer Research Act is an historic opportunity for California voters to provide more than $855 million annually to fund research for cancer and other tobacco-related diseases as well as proven tobacco prevention, education, and law enforcement efforts which will prevent 228,700 kids in California from becoming addicted smokers.” The California Cancer Research Act is strongly supported by the American Lung Association in California, the American Cancer Society, and the American Heart Association. More information can be found at www.californiansforacure.org.

The California Cancer Research Act ballot measure would increase the state’s tobacco tax by $1.00 per pack and dedicate revenues to the treatment, prevention and, ultimately, cures for lung disease, heart disease and stroke, cancer and other tobacco-related illnesses. The measure also would triple state funding for tobacco prevention and cessation efforts.

In 2011, a total of 45 cities and counties adopted new tobacco control policies to protect their citizens from the harmful effects of tobacco. While many jurisdictions took action to adopt strong policies and improve their grades, a total of 355 cities and counties – 66 percent of all jurisdictions in the state – received an F for their overall tobacco grade.

“In 2011, cities in Los Angeles County, and especially Baldwin Park, Compton and Pasadena, continued to make tremendous strides in protecting residents from secondhand smoke exposure and keeping tobacco products out of the hands of kids,” said Sue Padernacht, member of the Leadership Board of the American Lung Association in California – Los Angeles. “But in 2012, elected officials and all California voters can do even more to raise the grades and save lives by passing the California Cancer Research Act.”

About the American Lung Association

Now in its second century, the American Lung Association is the leading organization working to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease. With your generous support, the American Lung Association is “Fighting for Air” through research, education and advocacy. For more information about the American Lung Association or to support the work it does, call 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872) or visit www.lung.org/california.

Capistrano Councilman Reeve at it Again: Questions Integrity of 'Middle Eastern' Students

San Juan Capistrano City Councilman Derek Reeve, who just weeks ago ignited a firestorm of controversy by announcing from the dais that he'd named his dog "Muhammad," has now questioned the integrity of 'Middle Eastern' students on his Facebook page.

Reeve was also in the news when it was discovered he'd plagarized dozens of passages for a political column he wrote for the Patch news site. He dismissed those allegations, contending while he'd used other's work without attribution, the same standards didn't apply to blogs as other forms of writing.

An attorney and college teacher, Reeve, who portrays himself as an arch-conservative, lost his job teaching political science at Concordia University after those revelations. Saddleback College kept him on board, however.

It's apparently students there that spurred his latest Facebook post. The page is open to friends only, but the post was sent to several media outlets.

On his Facebook page, Reeve questioned "Are my international Middle Eastern students less honest or just really bad at cheating?"

We'll contact Reeve, Saddleback and others tomorrow for comment. See earlier reports of the other episodes at www.thecapistranodispatch.com ... Also, a college watchdog has a post at http://dissenttheblog.blogspot.com/

About that Capistrano Mayor Vote...

While moving from Mayor Pro Tem to Mayor in San Juan Capistrano is certainly no guaranteed step, it happens pretty regularly.

So it wasn't unusual that Mayor Pro Tem Larry Kramer became Mayor earlier this month ... except for what happened a year earlier.

As we've reported, when Kramer and John Taylor were elected a year ago, it created a new council majority with Sam Allevato. Those three voted against then Mayor Pro Tem Laura Freese becoming Mayor because she'd supported a one-time political ally, Lon Uso.

Uso didn't get along with Allevato.

But when the three-man majority supported Allevato for Mayor over Freese, the two new councilmen, alluded that Freese would have her day in the Mayor's chair. Serving as Mayor in Capistrano is largely ceremonial and rotates among elected council members.

Here's what was said a year ago, according to Track 1019 in SJC archives:

At 1:55 (Kramer) "I expect that in some near future you [Freese] are going to be Mayor."

At 3:14 (Taylor) "I want to echo my colleagues in that Council Member Freese would have made a fine Mayor too and I also see that in her future if I can have anything to do with it."

Kramer and Taylor both voted against Freese as Mayor this year, in what's her last year in this term on council.

See the full story at The Capistrano Dispatch

Congratulations Capistrano, You've Made Time

 

Time Magazine, that is.

But, predictably these days, not in a good way.

The national news magazine picked up on the Bible-study fines, and wrote a piece about it. Here's the beginning:

The city of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., has resorted to fining a family for holding Bible studies in their home as a violation of zoning codes.

Sure, Chuck and Stephanie Fromm technically don't follow the city's proper permit channels by not gaining a conditional use permit to host a home Bible study. But neither does hardly anyone in the city, since the city code requires a permit for any nonprofit or fraternal group expecting three or more people gathering in a residential situation. That happens just about every weekend all across the city, from friends getting together for barbecues to weekend football-viewing parties to, well, the Fromms' Bible study. But the Fromms now have a pair of $300 fines to show for their effort.

Note to City: The media gets it: The issuing isn't whether you "prohibit" Bible studies, as your statement says, it's about the permits and process, etc.

Here's the rest of the post.

Stephanie Fromm, who was cited with her husband Chuck, even commented on the post:

"to fill in some of the info you all are possibly not aware of...

We are being fined for holding ANY "meetings/gatherings" of ANY size larger than 3 people on a "regular" basis. I have 5-6 ladies over on wednesday afternoons, 10-15 people(not cars) on thursday evenings. This does not bother any of my other 6 neighbors on my street (with houses on one side of the street).
The real issue is: when do I have to declare what we do in our home when we have friends & family over! A "conditional use permit" can cost thousands of dollars. We pay our property taxes, isn't that enough?"

More Bad Press for Reeve=More Bad Press for Capistrano

More and more media outlets are picking up the allegations that San Juan Capistrano City Councilman Derek Reeve is a potential plagiarist, as reported by Capistrano Patch Editor Jenna Chander.

Frank Mickadeit at the Register -- who was in Capistrano last Tuesday to cover the debate over the name of Reeve's dog -- weighs in that it certain looks like Reeve took the work of others and republished it under his own name. That column is here and points out the fact that Reeve has essentially not answered anybody's questions since the issue began. He's even silent on his Facebook page, where he'd posted plenty on the dog debate.

Others weighing in include OC Weekly and the Liberal OC.

Both are very carful to attribute their sources.

On the academic front, Dissent the Blog at Saddleback posts a lengthy examination of the school's policies on plagiarism. That's here.

It makes for an interesting Capistrano City Council meeting on October 4. One of the items expected to appear on that agenda (which isn't posted yet) is Reeve's proposal for a anti-illegal immigration policy. That proposed policy and the news release about it was among the writings Patch cited as containing work very (very very) similar to the (copywrited) work of others.