Smoking

When discussing smoking with sixth-graders at Newport Elementary School on March 21, Kim Aceves brought a visual aid to depict the effect of tobacco on lungs: a pair of sponges in plastic bags, bound together and connected to a cigarette holder. Aceves put a lighted cigarette in the device, and the sponges showed visible traces of tar. Then, for good measure, Aceves showed the students a pair of real human lungs. "This person did not die of smoking," Aceves said, carrying a dried human lung around Nicolle Kameron's classroom.

ROBERT GARDNER I notice that there is something called the Newport Beach Film Festival taking place. Something like 300 films are being shown over the course of 10 days which, by my basic math, averages out to 30 films a day for enthusiasts. Since the average film is at least an hour, it would seem impossible to make one's daily quota, but perhaps cartoons are included in the total, which might make it achievable. Cartoons were once a vital part of the movie-going experience.

PETER BUFFA You can do a lot of things at the beach. You can swim. You can surf. You can look for things. You can watch the waves, get a tan, walk the dog, or my personal favorite, lay there like a beached whale. But if the beach is a beach in Newport Beach, you may not, repeat, not, at any time, for any reason, smoke. Along with San Clemente, Huntington Beach and Santa Monica, Newport Beach is one of the growing list of California cities that have said that until further notice, there will be no butts on the beach.

"You'll get a lot of short-term memory loss, and it'll affect your body." Gizzela Prado, 10 Costa Mesa "It could affect your lungs, and you won't be able to breathe very well." Javier Medina, 9 Costa Mesa "I don't like the smell. It affects your lungs. I've been paranoid over it my whole life." Chase Murphy, 10 Costa Mesa "Because you can die from it, and because it causes mouth cancer, throat cancer and lung cancer."

Alicia Robinson Smokers may have to bring their tape measures when they visit state beaches if legislators approve a bill that requires them to be within 20 feet of a trash can when puffing or face a $100 fine. District Assemblyman Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) said he will introduce the bill in the Senate natural resources committee today. The assemblyman is not trying to stamp out smoking, he said, just the litter it causes. "We spend an extraordinary amount of resources to clean up our beaches," Yee said.

Was it Thomas Jefferson who said that my liberty extends to the end of your nose? And how does one apply that to smoking? That’s what Newport Beach city officials are grappling with. Soon to be on the table will be an ordinance — the details are sketchy — that would ban public smoking in some public places in the city. “This issue of infringing of personal liberties needs to stop short of where is the exposure to involuntary health hazards,” said Councilman Mike Henn.

Sharp political satire and wicked humor fill the plot developments of "Thank You for Smoking." Aaron Eckhart is perfectly cast as Nick Naylor, the slick spin doctor working as the public spokesman for big tobacco. He brings life and credibility to a very strange job. It requires him to convince Americans that being a merchant of death is an honorable and patriotic activity. Robert Duvall is the practical tobacco kingpin who hires him to be the front man for the industry. Naylor's understanding of the PR game is evident in the biting wit of his conversations with reporters, TV show hosts and Hollywood agents.

Polluting the human body -- even killing it -- with cigarettes is one thing. But there is no need to kill a beach and the life on and around it with those little burned-out butts that belong in an ashtray -- not buried in the sand waiting for some coastal clean-up or a sea creature's digestive tract. That's why, for those who care what washes back into the ocean and what pollutes our shores, the Newport Beach beach-smoking ban -- passed by the City Council in September that took effect last week -- is something to be cheered.

The only positive thing that resulted from my wonderful mother’s addiction to cigarettes was that I grew up hating them. To me, smoking was and is dirty, smelly, expensive, stupid and disgusting. A smoker’s mouth, hair, clothes, car, and house usually smell of stale smoke, and the idea that smoking makes young people look older and more mature is deeply laughable. But even with that being the case, I am embarrassed to say that each of my three adult children smokes “occasionally,” as does our current president.

-- Compiled by Jennifer Kho WHAT HAPPENED: The Planning Commission on Monday decided to continue its scheduled review of the Q-Club Cafe until its next meeting Dec. 11. WHAT IT MEANS: The commission had planned to review the club's compliance with modified permits approved in August for the restaurant, which is at 1525 Mesa Verde Drive East. The cafe is allowed to have a small smoking area in back of the restaurant but is not allowed to serve food or alcohol there.

As a resident of Huntington Street, I live with the smoke and soot caused by the incessant daily beach fires. It's horrible; the air quality is being adversely affected. My window sills are black with the soot from the fires. My screens are black, my house is black, and I have to hose the house down weekly. I live in Huntington Beach, so I can get some nice ocean air. The people who come here burn anything they can get their hands on — railroad ties, plastic, contaminated wood products, anything that is free and can burn.

A battle is raging here in Southern California over wood burning in beach fire rings. Newport Beach decided to remove its 60 fire rings for health reasons, but Huntington Beach was caught napping. Do H.B. officials think that now that a regional agency is proposing to ban all beach burning that they can show up late, with a cute slogan, and win the day? I'm in favor of removing the fire rings, and I recently spoke at the South Coast Air Quality Management District public hearing, where I got to hear H.B.'s arguments.

DIAMOND BAR - An ongoing fight over beach bonfires pitted the interests of two neighboring cities against each other Thursday morning, as Huntington Beach residents asked South Coast Air Quality Management District staff members to put the kibosh on a proposed rule change that would ban open burning on all beaches in the district's jurisdiction - or at least explore other alternatives. The Newport Beach City Council supports removing the fire rings in Corona del Mar and near the Balboa Pier.

For 17 years of my life, my family sheltered me from the issue of smoking, since no members in my family were smokers. It wasn't until I built a relationship with a smoker that I developed a deep concern for the issue since my boyfriend, along with the majority of his friends, were already addicted to cigarettes before even reaching the legal age of 18. At the time, of course, I would have never said anything harsh or judgmental regarding smoking....

Newport Beach police said Tuesday night they were unaware of photos of celebrity Justin Bieber allegedly smoking what appears to be a marijuana cigarette in a local hotel. Sgt. Mike James didn't say whether the department was planning to investigate, saying that prior to a phone call from Daily Pilot staff that he hadn't heard anything about it. Bieber was photographed Jan. 2 at a hotel-room party holding what appears to be a marijuana cigarette while sitting with fellow partyers and a couple of empty beer bottles.

A smoking ban the Newport Beach City Council approved last month goes into effect Thursday, according to a city news release. The ordinance prohibits smoking in city parks and extends a previous smoking ban to 100 feet inland of beaches. Smoking will continue to be prohibited on the boardwalk, but the ban will not apply to an individual smoking in an alleyway or inside a vehicle being driven on a public street, alley or parking lot, according to the release. — Jamie Rowe Twitter: @jamierowe3

Seeking to control West Coast Highway's landscaping, the Newport Beach City Council voted Tuesday to keep trying to acquire the road from the state. It may take special legislation, city leaders said, to get enough state funds to compensate for the city's additional maintenance costs and liability. West Cost Highway's lush multimillion-dollar landscape plans could have to be scaled back if the city ends up working within the state's guidelines. A panel of citizens recently spent months drawing up the plans, and spent about $30,000 in consulting fees.

The Newport Beach City Council at its Tuesday meeting plans to vote on banning smoking in parks. The ban would expand current restrictions, which prohibit puffing on beaches and boardwalks. In July, the council nearly approved a ban, but Councilman Mike Henn suggested that the law include the street ends leading up to the Balboa Peninsula boardwalk. The new changes would prohibit smoking in or within 100 feet of park or beach while on public property. The council may also bar private instruction — activities such as batting practice, yoga and personal training — in parks and on beaches.

COSTA MESA — The City Council gave preliminary approval this week to an ordinance that would ban smoking at all city parks. Going along with a Parks and Recreation Commission recommendation, the council in a 4-1 vote Tuesday night approved the first reading of an ordinance that prohibits smoking within 50 feet of Costa Mesa's parks, the city's three athletic fields, two community gardens and Balearic Community Center's children's area....

COSTA MESA — The City Council on Tuesday night will consider banning smoking in almost every city park. Based on a proposal from the Parks and Recreation Commission, the council will discuss prohibiting smoking at 25 parks that have children's playground equipment and three city athletic field sites: the Jack Hammett Sports Complex, TeWinkle Park Athletic Complex and Luke Davis Field at Lions Park. The four city parks without playground equipment would not be subject to the ban. According to the proposed ordinance, smoking would be prohibited within 50 feet of designated sites, including the children's area of the Balearic Community Center.