SPRING 2006 ISSUE
C.J. Chahine, owner of Darwin's Pub on Sixth Street in Austin stands behind the bar on Thursday, April 13, 2006. Chahine, a smoker of 20 years, said he does not support the city's smoking ban but hopes there can be an "amicable solution" to the issue. 
Photo by Courtnay Loch
After voters decide, the campaign continues
By Richard Luna and Ryan Miller
In September 2005, the city of Austin implemented a no-smoking ordinance, joining other smoke-free U.S. cities. Months later, some bar owners insist the ban needs to be lifted or changed.
Before implemented, the city already had a smoking ban enforced in workplaces and most restaurants. But the new law extended the smoking ban to more than 200 bars and clubs in Austin that already had smoking permits.
In January 2005, Onward Austin formed with the support of American Cancer Society in order to “make public places smoke-free,” according to the group’s Web site.
Trashy tradeoff: more butts for less smoke
By Laura McManus
The passage of last year’s smoking ban has Austin officials talking trash: They’re debating whether Austin may have exchanged clean air for messier sidewalks.
“There has definitely been a huge increase in cigarette butts from what we’ve heard from trash crews and managers of clubs. Some clubs have so many cigarette butts outside that it forces doormen to go try and sweep them up. The crews say it has taken more time to clean because there are so many,” said Brian Block, executive director of Keep Austin Beautiful, a non-profit organization that tries to enhance the community environment of Austin.
Bill Bryce of The Downtown Austin Alliance said that the sidewalks are far more littered as an unintended consequence of the ban, but he insists that downtown is by no means dirty now that the ban has gone into effect. DAA supplements city street-cleaning services by providing a crew to daily clean the downtown area.
Texas Journalist goes online to report smoking ban
Photo by Sangril Han
By Lorraine Branham
Each semester students and professors in the School of Journalism come together to produce The Texas Journalist, a lab newspaper aimed at giving students and faculty in various classes a chance to collaborate on a newspaper devoted to a single topic. Last fall we had planned to examine the smoking ban that started Sept. 1 in Austin – but Hurricane Katrina, followed by Rita, swept through Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, forcing us to shift gears and topics.
Funding smoking education on legislative back burner
By Jerry Allison
Although the air in many Texas cities is now nicotine-free, the state Legislature continues to cut tobacco education by almost 50 percent. In 1996, when Texas won a $15 billion lawsuit against tobacco companies such as Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, the Legislature then appropriated $1.5 billion of the settlement for higher education, health and other programs.
Ban serves up some hearty, filtered help
By Marcella Taylor
If Austin follows the trends found in other cities that have enforced smoking bans in public places, city residents may eventually see a dramatic decrease in heart attacks.
In the first six months after a smoking ban took effect in Helena, Mont., the city experienced a 40 percent decrease in emergency room