Several restaurants and bars offer separate smoking and non-smoking areas. But all businesses might have to force smokers outside in North Carolina.

Virginia’s governor just signed a bill which pretty much bans smoking in most restaurants.  They can offer smokers a spot in a separate room with a separate ventilation system, an expense most cannot afford.  Meantime, a few miles south in Raleigh, the North Carolina legislature is looking at banning smoking in all public buildings and businesses in the Tarheel State. You might find it ironic that the latest states to consider such a measure were virtually built on the back of tobacco farmers.  In fact, a few miles from the State Capitol in Richmond where the smoking ban was written and approved, Phillip Morris operates the largest cigarette factory in the world.  And about 75 miles west of the state capitol in Raleigh, is the North Carolina headquarters of RJ Reynolds, another fixture in the tobacco business.

So why are two states with deep roots in the tobacco business banishing smokers to the patio?  Simple, says North Carolina Representative Hugh Holliman, health and safety.  The two-time lung cancer survivor is sponsoring the bill saying the non-smokers deserve a right to breathe in clean healthy air no matter where they go.  Holliman points to polls conducted recently that show 65% of North Carolina residents support such a smoking ban.  “I think people are more health conscious,” Holliman says.  “They are aware of the fact that cigarette smoking and second-hand smoke are hazardous to your health.”

We talked to two business owners in Raleigh to see what they think about the proposed smoking ban.  Greg Hatem, who owns The Raleigh Times Bar, says

The Raleigh Times Bar owner Greg Hatem doesn't believe a smoking ban will drive patrons away from his restaurant and bar as long as it applies to everyone.

he supports a ban as long as it includes all businesses.  “People enjoy a smoke-free environment.  I think even some of the smokers like to go outside and smoke,”  Hatem says.  “And as long as there is a level playing field, I think

it’s good for all the restaurants and bars.”  Naill Hanley, who owns upscale restaurnt Solas, isn’t necessarily opposed to the ban.  He agrees with Hatem that it should be for all businesses in North Carolina so as not to drive smokers from one business to another.  But Hanley worries about government intrusion on private property rights.  “I think it kind of belittles them in the sense that local government is telling them what they can or cannot do.  What happens next?  You are only allowed five drinks because it’s bad for your liver?”  He thinks state-mandated smoking bans could open a door for more restrictions and laws.

Kathy Hartkpof agrees.  She represents Freedom Works, a political activist group that fights government regulation.  She says this proposed law is about property rights not smokers rights.  “It’s about freedom and it’s about choice,” she says.  “I am a non-smoker and I don’t care for cigarette smoke.  I can choose to go into a restaurant, if I find it too smoky, I can choose to leave.”  Hartkopf worries that Holliman’s proposal reaches beyond bars and restaurants and would even impact home-based businesses that have a few employees and no real customer traffic.  She warns that truck drivers might even be prevented from smoking in their own trucks if the bill passes.

But Holliman is standing his ground and thinks this bill is best for North Carolina.
A business-owner himself, he doesn’t buy the argument that his bill would infringe on private property rights.  He says local governments pass

Ironically, smoking bans are passing in states built largely on tobacco dollars. Smokers in Virginia and North Carolina could be pushed outside to light up.

health and safety regulations all the time, like mandating clearly marked and accessible fire exits.  He believes his non-smoking bill will pass and protect the rights of all North Carolina residents, especially non-smokers who are exposed to cigarette smoke.  “My mom used to have a saying when I was growing up that your rights end where another person’s rights start and I think this is what this bill is about.”

In case you didn’t hear, the Southeastern United States has been in a drought for the last several years.  The City of Atlanta was in danger of losing their water supply and many small towns in Tennessee simply ran out.  To keep the Southeast from going completely dry, local officials sounded the alarm to drastically cutback.  That meant bans on watering lawns, filling swimming pools and conserving every drop.  We stopped washing our cars, took fast showers and became very aware of a precious resource that was running dangerously low.  Fast forward two years and the drought has thankfully eased.  Although we are not out of the woods yet, thanks to much needed rain, our reservoirs are stabilizing.  The weather has been slow to cooperate, but the residents of the Southeast were steadfast in their attempts to save water.

Estimates say that major cities in the Southeast cut water usage by an average of 20 percent.  They asked us to conserve and we responded!  So congratulations to the citizens of the Southeast.  For all your hard work, your local water company will now charge you MORE for the water you DON’T use.  If you are confused, back up and read that sentence again.  Even though water usage has dramatically dropped all over the region, local water utilities are hiking rates and adding surcharges to water bills.  Why?  Since you responded to the call to conserve water, companies and local governments are financially strapped because of a drastic drop in revenue.  Your efforts to conserve water means less for their bottom line and they are looking at your wallet to make it up.  When we asked officials and water districts about this, they told us someone still has to pay to maintain water plants, upgrade and repair pipes and pay all those employees who keep your water running.

Some customers have seen jaw-dropping water bills.  Those who have experienced pretty hefty rate hikes are now being asked to pay a drought surcharge as well.  Basically local governments are packing away a “rainy day fund” (for lack of a better term) should the South find itself in this situation again.

The only silver lining in this story is something called Conservation Pricing.  That basically means you’ll pay more, but the increase you see won’t be so high if you continue to conserve.  It’s a three-tiered pricing system and your rate is set by how much you use.  So water hogs lookout… if you take 30 minute showers, leave the hose running for long times or water your lawn when it rains, then you’ll be seeing the largest rate hikes.

Clickbelow for a look at our story on water rates:

done

After 14 years of working with all sorts of people in this crazy business, I have to admit that I rarely come across someone like Shelley Stewart. At first sight, he’s an average businessman dressed in a suit and fedora. But it was during a confusing flurry of mass introductions in a sea of handshakes among our group, that I realized what a warm, caring and inspiring person he really is. Remembering how important first impressions really are, I tried to recover from my mis-planted handshake by making a joke. It was that moment that Shelley Stewart reached out and gave me a hug.

As a child, he watched in horror as his father killed his mother.  It was 1939 in Alabama . The justice system didn’t value the life of a black woman and his abusive father walked free, never brought to justice for her death. Shelley was also the target of his father’s rage and abuse. He was forced to leave home.  At 7 years old, he was homeless.

What’s so great about his story is that Shelley Stewart shouldn’t be where he is today. If you talk to any sociologist, products of broken homes, abusive relationships and poverty usually don’t make it in life. But something in Shelley Stewart wouldn’t let him fail. He is a successful businessman in Birmingham, Alabama . He owns a group of radio stations and runs his own advertising, marketing and public relations firm. We met up with Shelley on a cold rainy morning at Columbia High School in Decatur , Georgia . His “Choice Bus” was in the parking lot. Complete with Flashing Red Lights, it looks like a school bus from the front. But the back of the bus is actually painted stone-cold prison white, the windows are barred. The inside of The Choice Bus is a similar concept. Preserved school bus in the front, but the back of the bus has been converted into a prison cell. It was complete with bars, locking door that slams with that jarring sound, prison issued bed and a combination sink/toilet. The idea, show kids what it’s really like to be inside a prison cell. Before entering the cell, students watch a short four minute video. It’s produced by Shelley and feature real inmates. They tell their life-story. How they dropped out of school and chose the wrong path. Some of them committing unthinkable crimes and landing a life-sentence in prison.  Shelley Stewart points out that most of these prisoners are high-school dropouts. Most of them are functionally illiterate. The prisoners encourage the kids to stay in school or likely find a future behind bars. “It’s opening their minds, it’s putting their minds at work right there. It’s something they can really see and feel.

It’s an experience,” Shelley says. “That’s why they come in wondering where am I going? Am I going in this thing? What am I going to see…it makes them think.” While standing and chatting outside the bus as our crew shot inside, I learned a few things about Shelley Stewart. First, he’s passionate about education and feels it is the one thing that can turn our country around. In a time when we speak so much about defending our “homeland” and are scrambling to balance budgets, Shelley believes we are neglecting the one thing that can really assure our country’s future. Education. “Homeland Security. One of the greatest ways to secure our homeland is to have a quality workforce, great education,” Shelley says. “We call it a good investment in Homeland Security.”

Demand has been high for The Choice Bus. School Districts from coast to coast are requesting Shelley’s life lesson for their own students. The tour is mostly concentrated in the Southeastern part of the country for now, but hopes to have nine more busses by 2010 and take his message about education nationwide. He may not reach every student that watches the four-minute prisoner testimonial about staying in school and out of jail, but he thinks his bus is making a strong impact. “Ten thousand kids have visited that bus, by the way. Many have come off and say ‘I’ve made my choice now. I will not drop out of school. I will graduate.”

Today I met a great man.  Simply by defeating horrible odds, Shelley Stewart got an education and proved everyone wrong.  He has faith that anyone, armed with an education, can do the same.  If you would like more information about The Choice Bus and Shelley Stewart’s battle for education, contact The Mattie C. Stewart Foundation at www.mattiecstewart.org.

Click the link below to watch the story I produced with Correspondent Marianne Silber, Photographer Jeff Burton and Photographer Tom Jachman:

We’ve heard so much about daily troubles on Wall Street, the real estate mess and the crushing economic recession.  Newspaper headlines and television news reports announcing the latest list of companies filing for bankruptcy, laying off workers, closing their doors or running to Washington for a federal bailout doesn’t really shock us anymore.  But how’s this for an eye-catching headline?  ”HOW LOSING MONEY CAN HELP YOUR COMPANY AND YOUR COMMUNITY IN 2009″  Wait?  Losing money?  Yellow Cab in Birmingham, Alabama isn’t in trouble.  In fact CEO Ellis Houston will tell you they are doing great, thank you very much.  But in 2009 they are planning on giving free cab rides, the very service that makes profit for a cab company.  Houston says they are even budgeting for those losses this year.  So in a time when most companies are struggling to simply stop the free-fall into financial ruin, why is this company giving away it’s “bread and butter” for nothing?

Like most cab companies and public transportation systems across the country, Yellow Cab in Birmingham offered free rides home last month for anyone who drank too much at Christmas parties and on New Years Eve.   It’s a holiday tradition to help keep revelers from drinking and driving.  But this year Yellow Cab in Birmingham is extending their program, hoping to keep drunk drivers off the streets 24 hours a day, seven days a week…all 365 days of this year.  I repeatedly asked Ellis how he could afford to do this, especially with record-high gas prices fresh in our memories and a tanking economy that’s effecting every business from coast to coast.  How can Yellow Cab give free rides all year long?  ”Our goal is to save lives and keep people from being injured,” he says.  ”If we even save one life with this program then it’s money-well spent.”

CLICK HERE TO WATCH OUR STORY

Houston says there’s no catch and no cost to customers or the bars and restaurants signed up for the program.  All you have to do is tell a manager or bartender that you’ll be needing a ride home.  You have to put your keys in an envelope which will includes your name, address, description of your car and where you left it.  Once the cab driver drops you off at home, you get the envelope back.  It’s up to you to get yourself back to the bar to pick your car up the next morning.  There are a few restrictions in the program, you could call them guidelines.  A customer must be at a bar or restaurant that has registered with Yellow Cab.  As of today, only a handful of Birmingham watering holes have signed up, but Ellis expects that number to increase.  You also must be going home.  Don’t expect a cab to give you a free lift to the bar or serve as your shuttle as you hop from bar to bar.

This isn’t the first program of it’s kind.  It’s actually the second.  Ellis Houston also owns and operates Yellow Cab in Little Rock, Arkansas.  That location is a year-old veteran for this generous program that could keep celebrating patrons from putting themselves and others in danger.  Houston says the program in Little Rock is a hit and hopes Birmingham will find the same success.  Restaurants and bars like The J. Clyde and Innisfree in Birmingham say the safe-ride program is so popular with patrons that they can’t keep those needed envelopes in stock.

You have to appreciate a businessman who is brave enough to start another year of uncertain economic conditions with a program that will bring no profit to his company.  Sure he’s getting some media attention, but with that attention, Houston is bracing for the program to grow and to pay for a lot of free rides in Birmingham and Little Rock this year.  But he’s unfazed at the loss he will absorb and, despite the cost, is committed to making the streets a little safer.  ”We are going to continue to do this program, at least for the next 12 months, no matter what the cost,”  he says.  Maybe one day every Company CEO will value their customers and community more and consider giving back as much as they take, just like Ellis Houston does.

If you would like to learn more click on this link to the Birmingham Yellow Cab Safe Ride Program.

The $23 Million "Go Fish Georgia Center" will be built in Perry, Georgia.

Is it an investment to help a slumping state economy or a pet project pushed by a governor who has an admitted fondness for fishing and the outdoors? Like most other states, Georgia is facing a budget crunch and looking to make up a $1.6 billion shortfall, so Governor Sonny Perdue told state agencies to cut spending by 6 percent.  Those financial sacrifices are slicing into state programs that provide healthcare, education and some veteran’s services.  But just two months after the governor asked for the drastic cuts across the board, he signed paperwork to begin construction on $23 million fishing welcome center under his “Go Fish Georgia” program.  The welcome center, which just happens to be located near the Governor’s home in Houston County, will include an educational facility, fish and wildlife exhibits, state-of-the-art theaters, a nature trail, a fishing pond and a new fish hatchery.  The “Go Fish Georgia Center” is the centerpiece of the $19 million dollar state investment proposed by the Governor and approved by the legislature in 2007.  Select lakes and rivers are getting new boat ramps to attract world-class fishing tournaments to the state.  The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which oversees the project and will likely benefit from it, says fishing has a $1.9 billion economic impact on Georgia and could help stimulate rural economies.

Fishing as a Business

Professional Angler Jason Williamson and FOX News Producer Brooks Blanton on Clarks Hill Lake in Georgia

Charlie Beale is the Recreational Manager for Columbia County near Augusta, Georgia.  He says investments in new boat ramps at nearby ClarksHill Lake has helped attract major fishing tournaments which bring worldwide media coverage.  He says local businesses like hotels, restaurants, convenience stores and gas stations benefit greatly from recreational fishing and major tournaments.  “Well I think a lot of the businesses in our area are impacted greatly with it.  There may be some businesses that are going out of business if we weren’t bringing the tourism dollars from the fishing in the area,”  Beale says.

Bukeye Lures is an obvious benefactor of attracting major league fishing tournaments to Georgia.  The company manufactures and sells fishing tackle which are marketed and sold across the country.  President and CEO Jeremy Altman says hosting a major fishing tournament in Georgia can have immediate and long-term impacts on their sales.  “Not only in the direct sales that you have that week, but you have residual sales through the year,” Altman says.  “The money is probably going to be made back within 5 to 10 years minimum and that will be a huge asset for even my children.”

Critics say Money Better Spent

But not everyone sees $19 million in tax dollars going to fishing as a wise investment, especially during hard economic times.  Many democratic lawmakers, who approved the expenditures in 2007, now say the state has taken a drastic downturn and the project should be put on hold.  Some say it’s hard to explain building a Fishing Welcome Center to constituents who are making serious sacrifices themselves.

Mindy Binderman is the Director at Voices for Georgia’s Children, a group that advocates for laws and policy that affect Georgia’s children.  She says state-funded health and education programs that serve children are being severely cut at the request of the governor and is concerned that Georgia still ranks near the bottom when it comes to children’s causes.  “About 12 percent of our children in this state are uninsured.  In 2005 that meant we ranked 41 in terms of kids health outcomes.  We believe that every child should have insurance and that every child should be covered,” says Binderman.  She says she understands that the state needs to invest in economic and recreation projects to spur economic activity. But she also thinks Georgia Lawmakers, including the governor, should be investing in schools, hospitals and building better roads to create jobs instead.  “I want parks for my kids, I want beautiful places for them to go enjoy the natural resources that we have in Georgia,” Binderman says.  “At the same time, I want them to have access to schools and have access to the best healthcare possible.”

If you build it… will they come?

Gov. Sonny Perdue, (R) Georgia

Despite criticism, the governor stands behind his “Go Fish” program as an investment that he predicts will give the state a return on its money many times over.  He also points out that the funding was approved nearly two years ago and has already been spent, making it impossible to help the current budget problems.  Binderman hopes the Governor’s prediction is true and maybe that investment in fishing and the money it returns can help improve programs she says are so vital to protecting Georgia’s youngest citizens.  “That we invest in prevention programs for kids and we invest in capital funding programs again that are targeted to real needs in this state.”