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VFW POST IN PALM BAY, FLORIDA CONSIDERS BANNING
SMOKING -- National Commander urging
change at all VFW posts.
Story here...
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/
pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070106/
NEWS01/701060331/1006
Story below:
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VFW post considers snuffing out smoking
National leader urging change
BY R. NORMAN MOODY
FLORIDA TODAY
The camaraderie at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post is to some akin to
sitting in a friend's home for drinks.
"If you want to meet Joe or Charlie, you know they're there at 3 o'clock
having a beer," said Bill Craig, who retired from the Air Force after 23
years and is a VFW member.
It's a social atmosphere members say is unlike that of a bar, except for
the clouds of cigarette smoke inside, keeping some nonsmoking veterans
away.
It's a health concern that's being addressed for members of the Palm Bay
VFW.
The post, preparing to reopen following an electrical fire that
destroyed its rented hall almost a year ago, could become one of the
first in Florida to ban smoking in its building -- if members approve.
"I don't think I've been in one that is smoke-free," said Joe Gault, VFW
assistant state adjutant.
The organization's national commander is urging posts to become
smoke-free. With fewer people smoking than a few years ago, Post 1005 in
Palm Bay may help lead off the move toward nonsmoking canteens.
"Now is a good time since everything is new," said Duane Podhola,
commander of the Palm Bay VFW, whose rebuilding project is almost
complete.
The group has been meeting at Post 4536 in Palm Bay since the February
fire.
Like most other VFWs, smoking has been commonplace at the post, Podhola
said. It simply has been that way for a long time.
Smokers say it's one of the last places they can still smoke indoors,
and they're reluctant to give it up.
"I consider myself a polite smoker," said Jim Tolley, a member of Post
1005, who thinks a ban would keep some veterans from visiting. "But
overall, if I had to vote, I would vote against it."
While there is smoking at a great majority of posts, they are not just
smoke-filled rooms where members go for drinks, said Joe Davis, a
spokesman for VFW national headquarters. Generally there is a conference
room where smoking is not permitted where members work to assist other
veterans, review and award scholarships and plan other community work.
"It's a stereotype of the VFW," Davis said. "It's a negative stereotype
that the national commander is trying to change. He's trying to focus on
a new generation of veterans."
The VFW national headquarters could not provide the number of nonsmoking
posts around the country, but acknowledged that most posts permit
smoking. There are some, such as in Washington, D.C., where there is no
smoking inside a VFW because current ordinance prohibits it, Davis said.
At a VFW post in Palm Coast, smoking is not allowed because the post has
a restaurant license and smoking is prohibited in restaurants in
Florida. Gault said there is only one post in the state, in Lakeland,
where members voted to ban smoking inside its building.
If the change is made at Post 1005, Podhola said smokers would be able
to step out to a covered deck that would be constructed at the back of
the new building for smokers.
Some smokers may not go for that, however.
"If the weather is foul out there I can see them complaining," said
Tolley, a Gulf War veteran. "I can see them complain, 'I can fight for
my country, but I can't smoke inside.' "
Other members of Post 1005, which is at 6165 Babcock St., said they want
the change because it's a health issue for some and because it could
attract nonsmokers to become members.
The issue will be brought up at a membership meeting Jan. 11 and could
be voted on after a 30-day notice. It would require a two-thirds vote to
pass.
Gary Kurpius, VFW national commander-in-chief, said in his acceptance
speech at the national convention in August said that posts must change
if they want to survive. He said he knows members and spouses who will
not attend post meetings or events because of the smoke.
"We are a democratic organization that is letting 20 percent of the
population tell us that the post will fail if people can't smoke
inside," he said. "That's bunk."
Contact Moody at 242-3651 or
nmoody@flatoday.net.
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Larry Scott
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