The best known tobacconist in the city is retiring after 50 years in the business - but is not holding out for a long-service medal from the Queen after once running out stock of her late sister's favourite brand of cheap cigarettes. John Elvin, 64, has been the manager at Churchills in St Andrew's Street since it opened in 1988, and started his career at Lambert's tobacconist in Gentleman's Walk in 1958. But the popular shop on the corner of Bridewell Alley will continue without him, although current owner Keith Garrard said he would be a hard act to follow. The grandfather-of-seven, who occasionally smokes a Cuban cigar or a pipe, is retiring on May 31, which conveniently is the day before his 65th birthday on June 1. It will be a landmark occasion for Mr Elvin, but not one he expects to end in any special recognition from the Queen. He said: "I forfeited that possibility several years ago when Princess Margaret was at a function at nearby St Andrew's Hall and sent out to Churchills for a pack of her special cigarettes. But, for the first time in months, we were out of stock."

but, of course, we survived that and made it to O'hare. meanwhile, and this has nothing to do with O'hare, but meanwhile back at Madison, Ben died of a freak aneurysm in his sleep right next to Joan, and at the same time, Wook's apartment was catching on fire. no doubt it was somebodies marlboro online, but luckily that was never determined. so the whole building burned to the ground without hurting anybody. but Ben died, while we were doing spins on the freeway. the thought of those three things happening simultaneously in a blizzard have always struck me as being too much to be coincidental. i have no idea what the meaning of it all was, besides the awful loss of a friend, but it must have meant something beyond a series of events. anyways, when we got to the airport and settled down in the middle of the crowded terminal during the most travelled day of the year, i was rubbing my throbbing head and realized that my hangover wasn't going to let up. i figured smoking a lil' ganja might alleviate my headache and i had already devised a diabolical plan to do it. i had never been caught before and i was very cocky back then. it was also well before 9/11 turned airports into the circus shows they are now.

FUMING shopkeepers have warned that banning the display of cigarettes could put stores out of business. The proposal is part of the Department of Health's consultation, to be launched later this spring, which looks at ways to stop children smoking. The relevant legislation could be introduced in the autumn. But shopkeepers in the borough say the move could kill off small businesses. Newsagent Douglas Hepburn, who has been running Mayfair News, in King Street, South Shields, for the last five years warned the new plans could put new and small firms out of business. He said: "It's going to kill small papershops. "cigarettes are our biggest turn over but give the smallest profit. They are taxed up to the hilt and the only one making any money out of them is the Government.

Washington has been through a ballot round on land use as recently as 2006, in the form of Initiative 933. That initiative, unlike Measure 37, was voted down. But land-use spats pop up all over, from development of property in rural King County to arguments over urban density and preservation of industrial land in Seattle. It would be a shock if the issue didn't figure in next year's gubernatorial rematch between Gov. Chris Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi. The other Oregon ballot issue, Measure 50, would boost cigarette taxes 84.5 cents a pack for health care programs. That increase, the official description notes, would make Oregon's buy marlboro tax equal to Washington's. Cigarette taxes have long been a favored target for revenue-seeking governments; the smokers lobby, such as it is, doesn't get much voter sympathy, and Oregon's measure has an "it's for the children" feature designed to attract voters.

"You know, they proposed tax increases in the farm bill, the energy bill, the small business bill and of course," the children's health bill, he said of Democrats. "They haven't seen a bill they could not solve without shoving a tax hike into it. In other words, they believe in raising taxes, and we don't. The vetoed bill would have brought the number of insured children to 10 million. The bill covered kids from families who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford private health insurance. The estimated $35 billion cost of the measure would be covered by higher taxes on tobacco products, including 61 cents per pack of marlboro. Several officials said that in the meeting with Bush, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas asked a question about the president's intentions with the health insurance measure. They said the president responded that he wants his budget director, Jim Nussle, to identify spending cuts to offset the cost of any measure. They also said Bush appeared to extend his no-tax-increase pledge to other measures. They quoted him as saying that if he signed the tobacco tax increase, it would be difficult to draw the line later on other bills.

The law is more like the lawmakers, a joke with a crappy punch line. And while I plan to inhale and worse reek of cigarettes for the simple joy of eating out once in a while, there are still some who believe in the Уfight for your rightsФ. IsraelТs first-ever class action suit was against the Jerusalem restaurant Foccachetta for breaking the no smoking law- and they actually won. The settlement was for NIS 2.5 million-plus-expenses with a NIS 600 meal voucher to be awarded to those a part of the suit.Foccachetta is now a guaranteed smoke free environment and probably quiet atmosphere since no one will be eating there sans smoke marlboro; especially after the forced advertisement to be published throughout the country explaining their commitment to the law.