Tobacco shop controversy heats up in Cloverdale

A tobacco shop that opened late last year in Cloverdale alongside Highway 101 is selling contraband cigarettes and making dubious claims that it is operated by an Indian tribe, according to state authorities.


The state attorney general's office has notified Native Tobacco 101 that most of the brands it sells are untaxed, not approved for sale in California, and do not meet fire safety standards.

“These cigarettes they are selling don't have a tax stamp on them,” Senior Assistant Attorney General Dennis Eckhart said.

While the business claims it is exempt from state taxes because it only sells cigarettes manufactured on Indian land, Eckhart said, “We don't agree.”

In a letter dated March 18, he asked the store to stop selling the cigarette brands and to confirm the “illegal conduct” has ceased.

The manager of the store on Friday said he was not aware of the letter, but requested a copy.

“We are on native land. We are a tribally operated, sovereign nation,” said Tony Speer, manager of Native Tobacco 101.

“One side believes we should pay state taxes, the other that we should not - only federal (taxes). It's been going back and forth,” he said.

There are complicated issues of Indian law and restrictions on state enforcement procedures involving tribes and Indian lands. But legal experts said the U.S. Supreme Court made it clear tribes have an obligation to collect and remit state tax on the sale of cigarettes to non-tribal members.

When the Cloverdale store opened in December, it drew immediate complaints from other tobacco retailers in Cloverdale who said its American Indian owners enjoyed an unfair advantage by not charging sales tax.

It also touched on a controversy that has played out in other states involving American Indian smoke shops and the taxes they sometimes avoid.

In New York, for example, state officials claim bootleg sales of tobacco products on reservations or through the Internet have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in lost state revenues.

When Native Tobacco 101 opened, the then-store manager confirmed he charged no state taxes on his products. But he said the tobacco products were mostly manufactured by Indians on Native American lands and had been subjected to federal taxes.

Eckhart on Friday said the shop is unlawfully avoiding an estimated $1.50 per cigarette pack in state excise and sales taxes, and other levies.

Some of the revenue from the state taxes on cigarettes goes to children health care services, tobacco control and cessation efforts, he said.

Local officials have also expressed consternation that Native Tobacco 101 has put other retailers at a disadvantage.

“They are not paying taxes and I'm not sure that's appropriate,” Cloverdale Mayor Carol Russell said Friday. “I'm a firm believer in one set of rules for everybody.”

Russell said she also was “shocked” to learn the brands sold at Native Tobacco 101 allegedly do not comply with cigarette safety provisions, which are designed to ensure they don't keep burning when not being puffed.

Many tribes in California sell cigarettes that are authorized on a state directory and also pay state taxes.

But the attorney general's office has recently gone after some shops in Southern California that were alleged to have sold illegal tobacco products on reservations, or failed to collect state taxes.

Earlier this month, four of the retail tobacco stores on Indian lands in Riverside County voluntarily closed after the state filed an injunction seeking compliance.

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians agreed that the tobacco products on the reservation were being sold illegally and they were not in partnership with the retailers.

Native Tobacco 101, located on a frontage road next to the freeway, is on a remnant of the former Cloverdale Rancheria, owned by survivors of John Santana, a Pomo elder and postmaster who was allotted the land more than 40 years after the rancheria was dissolved.

When it opened several months ago, the then-manager of the shop said the owners are working with a Native American company licensed to use the land and operate the tobacco business. But he declined to provide more detail.

Speer, the current manager, referred questions about the attorney general's allegations to the owners, who could not be reached for comment.

The restored Cloverdale Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians, who are proposing a casino on adjacent lands, have said they have no connection to the tobacco business, and it is not on land belonging to the tribe.

In his letter, Eckhart said a sign posted in the shop is misleading.

It states that the store is located on Indian land and operated by a federally recognized Indian tribe.

“We believe that the posted sign may falsely represent to your customers a fact about the shop's ownership and/or management,” he said.

University of North Alabama to change campus smoking policy

As someone who has smoked for 14 years, Chris Lazo knows some people consider his habit offensive.

"I'm addicted," he said, standing outside Bibb Graves Hall on the University of North Alabama campus. "I don't smoke to make friends or be social. I smoke because I'm addicted to it."

Where Lazo smokes on campus could change in the coming months as UNA officials revamp the university's smoking policy. It's a process that's already under way, according to David Shields, vice president for student affairs. He said the enhanced policy could take effect as early as this fall.

Smoking is prohibited inside all university buildings, and Shields said the new policy would designate smoking areas that would be a certain distance from building entrances. It also would add resources, such as smoking cessation programs for students who want to break their habit.

"With the revisions, we plan to make it a stronger policy," Shields said.

"Anecdotally, we're seeing some increases in our incidence of smokers, especially among young women."

Studies among college students who use tobacco show that between one-third to one-half of the population nationwide smokes, even if infrequently. Although male smokers outnumber female smokers, according to the findings, the number of women between the ages of 18 and 24 who smoke is rising.

Increased marketing by tobacco companies, as well as peer pressure and a sense of freedom from parental control, are among the reasons Cindy Wood believes the numbers to be rising.

As the director of University Health Services, Wood said Bennett Infirmary often is busiest Monday mornings with students complaining of sinus or asthma issues brought on by smoking cigarettes during the weekends.

"From a medical standpoint, it's a problem if even one person smokes," she said. "Although I don't have the data to support the theory, based on what I see in the clinic, it's more and more among young women. I hear the term 'social smoker,' which is the idea that, if they only smoke on weekends or when they drink (alcohol), they're not really smokers."

Medically, Wood said a casual smoker can become a two-pack-a-day smoker if the genes for addiction are present. Young women who take birth control medication put themselves at an increased risk of stroke and blood clots if they smoke, she said.

April Curry, a senior at UNA, said she spent some of her early college years as a social smoker.

"I went to a nonsmoking school in Georgia for a couple of years," she said. "But I'd go out with friends, and I might smoke."

Curry said cigarettes provided a sort of stress relief for her, but it's a habit she has since given up. Although the new policy won't affect her, it will affect those such as Lazo who light up between classes.

"I might not go through a pack a day, but you're going to find me smoking after each class," he said.

"Now, if it were to go nonsmoking, I wouldn't be in favor of that. I believe that's bias and discrimination against smokers."

Shields said UNA isn't contemplating a smoke-free campus, but part of the problem continues to be cleaning up the cigarette butts that get tossed once the tobacco is smoked, he said.

"We have containers all over campus, and I'll see someone flick it on the ground when the container is an arm's length away," he said. "It's a problem."

Michael Gautney, director of facilities, administration and planning, said it is the job of two groundskeepers each morning to clear the campus of cigarette butts.

"The majority of our problems are around congregational areas, including the residence halls and the Guillot University Center," he said. "It's not a large percentage of our garbage, but it is a lot."

Gautney said cigarette butts that aren't disposed of properly also pose a safety hazard. In the past year, he said there have been two grass fires on campus as a result of cigarettes.

"Even with a new policy, it will create other issues," Gautney said. "If we say they can smoke 30 feet from an entrance, that could put them at a fresh air intake unit that would send all the smoke into the building."

Shields said these and other issues, including how to enforce the new policy, are being hashed out, and violations are bound to happen.

"But what we won't tolerate is smoking in the dorms," he said. "I don't have a lot of patience or tolerance for putting others at risk like that."

It's time to put out those cigarettes [Sentinel and Enterprise, Fitchburg, Mass.]

The first step to snuffing a smoking habit is to make quitting a top priority, according to Marianne Pappas, director of the Take Charge occupational-health program at HealthAlliance Hospital/Leominster.

The hospital is running a series of free smoking-cessation seminars beginning next month at its Burbank/Fitchburg campus, each with a different theme and each recognizing that a nicotine addiction is a hard thing to overcome, Pappas said.

Smokers are well aware of the health risks their behavior poses, especially as new research continues to surface about the effects of smoking, Pappas said.

"I know physicians and nurses who smoke," she said. "You would think the knowledge (about risks) would deter it. But it's an addiction -- and a powerful one -- and you have to treat it as such."

Even President Barack Obama sneaks an occasional cigarette, according to his recent physical records -- his doctors reported Obama as being in good health, but urged the president to cut back on smoking.

You have to be motivated to quit, because temptation will hit you during the activities or moods in which you're accustomed to lighting up, said Pappas.

"The behavioral aspects of smoking are really significant, beyond just the physiological aspects," she said.

Counselors advise smokers to keep busy through their cravings, which usually only last two to three minutes, eat healthy foods -- such as carrot or celery sticks -- to replace the

action of smoking, throw out all their cigarettes, and offer themselves small rewards, according to the state Department of Public Health.

Pappas said the rising cost of cigarettes -- nearly $8 per pack -- is also good motivation to quit.

In the case of someone like Obama, quitting may be difficult because he will likely not be able to put a great deal of time and focus into it -- which is the same challenge facing many busy, overworked and stressed-out smokers, Pappas said.

She also said that Obama is a healthy, educated, athletic person -- bucking the stereotype that smokers are uneducated or in otherwise poor health.

"It's just probably not on his list of things to do," she said. "Obviously, he's got the resources. You have to make that a priority, taking care of yourself. You have to have a plan, and it has to be something that you want to do."

HealthAlliance, like many workplaces, last year banned tobacco use inside and outside, and offered services to help employees quit smoking, Communications Director Mary Lourdes Burke said.

The counseling has proven to be successful, and by not allowing smoking on campus, Burke said the hospital is promoting a healthier image.

"It just goes hand-in-hand with what our goals are," she said. "A lot of businesses are going in this direction."

For many smokers, the cigarette break is a long tradition in the workplace, so if a company is cracking down on tobacco use, or a smoker is trying to quit, it's helpful for them to band together with fellow smokers and come up with a plan to support one another, Pappas said.

"Get a pact going and support each other. Some people just want to get through that eight-hour shift without smoking," she said. "If you think about it, you have to be pretty motivated on some of these New England days to go out and smoke, especially if you can't smoke at your building."

The HealthAlliance smoking-cessation classes run every Thursday night for six weeks, starting April 1, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., at the Burbank campus Cancer Center in the Brian Bergevin conference room. The classes are free and people may attend as many seminars as they choose.

The following is the schedule of class themes: April 1, health effects of smoking/personal evaluation and plan; April 8, benefits of being a non-smoker/decisional balance; April 15, obstacles in quitting/coping techniques; April 22, controlling weight/situational smoking; April 29, dealing with stress/relaxation techniques; and May 6, quitting forever/how to remain a non-smoker and avoid relapse.

Singapore Customs calls a media pitch for anti-contraband cigarettes campaign

SINGAPORE - Singapore Customs is believed to be on the lookout for an advertising agency for its anti-contraband cigarettes campaign.

The contract period is for twelve months starting from April 2010 to March 2011.

The government body will be briefing the agencies on 2 March and the closing date and time for submission of tender documents is 15 March at 4.00pm.

In September 2008, Singapore Customs awarded its US$1.04 million anti-contraband campaign assignment to local shop Up BrandBuzz, following a final round of pitching, believed to involved Saatchi Lab, McCann Erickson and Mandate Advertising.

The appointment followed a ruling by the Singapore Government to stamp cigarettes with a 'Singapore duty-paid cigarette' marking to curb rising contraband sales.

Last year in January, Up BrandBuzz launched an anti-contraband campaign for Singapore Customs. The campaign aimed to convey the severity of buying, selling and possessing illegal cigarettes following the passing of a law.