Indiana smokers staged a protest against the proposed cigarette tax incentive on wednesday 3/14/07. About 100 showed up. Wish I had known, I would have been there. The news coverage was skimpy on local tv if covered at all.

I was also unaware of the protest and saw no reporting of same. How did you find out about it?

I would be interested in any local group who against this extortion.

quote:

How did you find out about it?222

On the local weather channel, Skytrac, channel 27 (Comcast), about 6pm, there was a short blurb on the news strip that runs under the regular programing. Later, 11 pm, there was a short (5 second) segment on WISH TV, channel 7, showing the demonstrators, dressed in light green, walking into a capitol bldg. I saw nothing about it on local fox news. Didn't get to watch any others.
This morning WISH TV showed the same 5 sec. segment followed by an interview with an anti.
I've already expressed my views, in writing, to my house & senate reps. Wish every smoker in Indiana would do same.

Love those Hoosiers - some of them at least still have gumption (I was born and raised in Indiana). Perhaps, now that the word is out and if there's time, they could stage a second protest; bet they'd have a bigger crowd.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Freedom:
Love those Hoosiers - some of them at least still have gumption (I was born and raised in Indiana). Perhaps, now that the word is out and if there's time, they could stage a second protest; bet they'd have a bigger crowd.[/QUOTE

Does anybody know who theyare? I would sure like to be there and could bring a dozen more with me. Not to mention, I have access to some promient web sites that could let even more people know.

This is all I have seen about it.


Smokers fight tax-hike plan
25-cent increase per pack too much, they say at Statehouse

By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener
lstedman@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

INDIANAPOLIS -- Southern Indiana opponents of a proposed cigarette-tax increase went to the Statehouse yesterday with hand-lettered signs searching for lawmakers.

Mike Sullivan of Jeffersonville was one of about 100 people who boarded buses to Indianapolis to try to counter a strong lobby in favor of Gov. Mitch Daniels' plan to boost the tax by at least 25 cents a pack and use the revenue for health programs.



"There's a small part of society that has a heavy burden paying taxes," said Sullivan, who was armed with literature to rebut arguments for a higher tax. "It's unfair."

Yesterday's protest contrasted with a larger rally that proponents of a cigarette-tax increase held on Monday.

It also came as the national Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids is to launch a statewide campaign of radio spots today to back the governor's program.

At Monday's event, organized in part by the state's health, social service and anti-smoking agencies, Daniels told hundreds of cheering supporters that he remained "utterly confident" that the tax plan will pass, even though it already has failed in the House and isn't in any pending legislation.

Yesterday, the protesters organized by Sheree Banet -- who owns Smokey's Tobacco Outlet stores in Corydon, Jeffersonville and New Salisbury -- emerged from buses with cigarettes in hand. They lit up on the sidewalks outside the Statehouse and waved signs at passing cars.

Melody Beckman of Corydon lifted a sign that told passers-by a higher tax will mean more smokers driving to Kentucky to buy cigarettes. Indiana's tax -- at 55.5 cents a pack -- is already one-fourth higher than Kentucky's.

"Cigarettes cost enough as it is," Beckman said. "It's already an obscene tax."

The protesters then went to the governor's office, where a receptionist politely refused their request for an impromptu meeting with Daniels but accepted their petitions signed by thousands opposing a tax hike.

Banet had collected many of the signatures at her stores, where customers are irked about the idea of an increase. That's why she paid to charter two buses to bring their concerns to the Statehouse.

Banet said she lost almost half her business the last time Indiana raised its cigarette tax in 2002, when Kentucky's tax was just 3 cents a pack. In 2005, Kentucky raised its tax tenfold, and Hoosier retailers regained some of the business.

But Vicki Meredith of Lanesville said that won't last long if Indiana's tax rises again.

Meredith doesn't smoke and backed a smoking ban on the Indiana University Southeast campus, where she teaches. But she's frustrated by the governor's proposal because she said it will hurt the Southern Indiana economy as retailers lose business to their Kentucky counterparts.

Yesterday, Meredith explained those ideas to a group of students who were at the Statehouse to debate the cigarette-tax proposal as part of a mock legislative program.

"It's hurts small business," she told the students, who were preparing to argue against the plan.

After leaving Daniels' office, the protesters had little luck finding lawmakers. Wednesdays are generally reserved for committee meetings, not floor sessions, and legislators were in out-of-the-way committee rooms.

But Banet spotted House Minority Whip Dennie Oxley, D-English, and introduced herself, letting him know her thoughts about the tax.

"You've written me letters about this," he said.

Oxley voted against the bill earlier this month that would have boosted the cigarette tax by 25 cents a pack. But he told Banet and other supporters that lawmakers want to expand health-care programs and will have to find a source of revenue to pay for them.

Later, Oxley said he was pleased to see a Southern Indiana group in Indianapolis.

"I'm all for people coming to the Statehouse to share their views -- wherever they stand on the issues," he said.

Outside a suite of committee rooms, the group distributed literature to everyone who passed -- staff, lobbyists and a few lawmakers.

Meredith stopped Rep. Cleo Duncan, R-Greensburg, to talk about the border effect of cigarette taxes.

Duncan had voted for the cigarette-tax bill in the House because she supported the health programs it would fund. She said later that she hoped that if a bill passes, it will direct some funding to help tobacco farmers transition to other crops.

But with the session scheduled to end April 29, passing a cigarette-tax bill remains uncertain. Despite Daniels' confidence, no lawmaker has publicly committed to reviving the plan. And key leaders say the governor has much convincing to do before any legislation has a chance.

Reporter Lesley Stedman Weidenbener can be reached at (317) 444-2780.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007703150542

quote:

Originally posted by Bruce:
This is all I have seen about it.

Thanx