SMOKERS, TOBACCO DEALERS THINK WHITE HOUSE BAN UNFAIR

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 3, 1993                   TAG: 9302030104
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE SIMPSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
SMOKERS, TOBACCO DEALERS THINK WHITE HOUSE BAN UNFAIR
Morgan Beaver thinks President Clinton and his wife are "taking this no-smoking thing a little too far" by banning smoking at the White House.
Beaver, 33, knows about smoking bans firsthand; he works at Catawba Hospital in Roanoke County and must go outside when he wants to enjoy a cigarette.
"It causes a lot of lost time and makes for kind of a bad atmosphere," he said Tuesday as he shopped for cigarettes at Milan Bros. tobacco, magazine and pipe shop in downtown Roanoke.
"It causes people to miss a lot more work. There should be an area for it."
Hillary Clinton has told the New York Times that smoking will be banned from the White House, as it was at the Governor's Mansion in Little Rock, Ark. Neither of the Clintons smoke, but the president has been known to chomp on an unlighted cigar once in a while.
"The big issue about health is so paramount to me that I don't think we should permit smoking," Hillary Clinton said. President Clinton recently appointed his wife to head a task force to develop a health-care reform package.
Smokers and tobacco sellers say the policy is a mistake.
"I don't think the government realizes how important the tobacco industry is to the economy," said Joseph Milan, 71, one of three brothers who run Milan Bros., which has been in business since 1912. But "we are the first ones they tax."
Milan recognizes that tobacco-related products may be detrimental to health. But "I think the fireplaces and the exhaust from a car are worse than cigarette smoke," he said. "Anything in moderation is fine."
The ban on smoking in the White House "is bound to have an adverse effect," said Milan's brother, Ellis.
Some people werw worried that precedent would lead to other policies to eliminate smoking.
Ronnie Cox, 18, smokes about a pack of Marlboros every day. "I don't think it's right," he said. "Every place should have a place designated to smoke."
Beaver said the policy threatens freedom. "Smoking is kind of a privilege in itself," he said. "It's kind of like the choice to drink or not to drink."
Joseph Milan said he and other smokers wonder "why people try to dominate their lives."
"He can do whatever he damn pleases," Milan said about President Clinton. "But he better not tell me what to do or come over to my house."
Some non-smokers were pleased with the Clinton's administration's policy.
"It's a good thing," said a downtown bank employee who asked not to be identified. He worked at a bank in Washington, D.C., that fired anyone who was caught smoking in an office. "Eventually there isn't going to be any in a public place."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB