RALEIGH -- A bill to ban public smoking in the largest tobacco-growing state passed a state legislative committee yesterday with bipartisan agreement that cigarette smoke harms health, though some Republicans chafed at what they saw as government meddling.
The committee approved the bill on a voice vote. It heads next to a House legal-issues committee.
The bill has lenient punishments and requires local health directors to find violators and write citations. Narrower legislation was defeated in the House in 2005 and 2007. A companion bill in the Senate has remained in a committee without action since it was introduced nearly two weeks ago.
More than 20 states and the District of Columbia have approved laws banning smoking in nearly all work sites and public places. A limited ban on smoking in bars and restaurants in Virginia passed last month.
North Carolina continues to rank first in U.S. tobacco production with 2007 market value of $550 million.
Boone gets $600,000 grant to restore its water intake
BOONE --The town of Boone has been awarded a $600,000 federal grant to begin a restoration project at the town's water intake on Winkler's Creek, town officials said yesterday.
The site is the secondary intake source for Boone's water supply. The intake is behind a dam that is 17 feet deep, and the pond has been partially filled with sediment from years of flooding and runoff.
A 30-month project will remove sediment there and improve the stream quality in the area. The National Committee on the New River, Agricultural Extension and N.C. State University are consulting on how to remove the sediment and lessen future flow problems.
The money for the project is from a Community Development Block Grant.
Wilkes to be reimbursed for money spent on visitor center
WILKESBORO -- The N.C. Dept. of Transportation will reimburse
WilÂkes County for $70,000 that it spent as part of its share for a visitor center that is under construction beside U.S. 421.
The DOT is building the center, and the county was expected to provide the land. After the county provided the site, DOT engineers decided that more land was needed.
The county agreed to buy additionÂal land, and it had a verbal agreement with DOT officials that the county would be reimbursed. Wilkes commissioners yesterday voted 5-0 to approve an amended contract that will allow the county to receive the reimbursement.
The visitor center is on the north side of U.S. 421, just west of the highway's intersection with N.C. 115. It is expected to open this summer.
Body-parts supplier accused of falsifying details of cadavers
RALEIGH -- Prosecutors say that a North Carolina body-parts supplier falsified medical histories, identities and blood samples of cadavers that he was harvesting to ensure that the risky tissue could be sold for human transplant.
Court documents filed against Philip Guyett Jr. accuse him of forging the age and cause of death of bodies that he gathered from North Carolina funeral homes.
Tissues can be rejected for a number of reasons to protect the health of transplant recipients, and prosecutors contend that he provided fake information to hide instances of disease or drug use.
The "criminal information" paperwork filed in the case is not a formal indictment, but it typically signals a plea deal. Guyett is scheduled to face arraignment March 9. His attorney declined to comment yesterday.
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