Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 5 · column 3 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
try that has contributed mightily to the local economy from Virginia’s earliest days and, in the process, the sacking of individual freedom about using a legal product as well.”
Tobacco lobbyists were still trying to defeat the restrictive bills and to enact measures to limit the severity of anti-smoking measures that can be enacted by local governments.
One tobacco lobbyist said privately that while the industry could probably live with a requirement limiting smoking areas in public places — and that it would not stop anyone from smoking who wants to smoke — “We know that won’t be the end of it.”
He thinks anti-smoking groups, should they muster the votes to beat them, will soon be back with an even more unacceptable suggestion, namely that the state increase its taxes on tobacco.
Compared to tobacco taxes in many other states, Virginia’s are relatively low. That fact has been lost on neither those who lobby for the tobacco industry or those who crusade against smoking.
Said the lobbyist, “I’m sure they’d like to put a heavy enough load on taxes on us to discourage anyone from smoking.. .they wouldn’t be doing it for the revenue it would generate, but because they’ll never be satisfied until they never seen anyone puffing on a cigarette.”
Even if the right to smoke in
95.4%