Tobacco Documents Online

%W Ailaboart~ for Chicago's -costliest puff y Dork7hi !b1- Schwartz C(hen `iathartiel Jahttson cnme out of smoker's =rt ?Stirsday, hs taiked like a man who waa more than a iittle shaicen. "1 coutdn't grasp the whole thing." he said of :t(s arrest for smotfng on a CTa train. "( was aooalled because thia is the first tima this happened to me." That "'as his reaction ta the arrest. Bui he also 'rad been slapped witis a f:5 tine. '( be- lieve that is "sther high." he said. "I don't thfn's one should be subjected to that kind of humi;iatlon just because of sma+ng.:' Johnson. = a claims eiamiixr for the Railraad Retiuement Board. appears to be a thoughtt.a, emotionaily balanced man, oot easily tltutered. But the new smoker's court had :a impact a, ren an him. :hey arefft kid- ding over there at 321 N. La Salle, where smoker's court (terhnically, Public Safety Court) holds .orth among the multitude o( tra(ric.:ottrt cases. ' Since ihe crnirc opened last July. It has han- dled an ?stirnated 1.:00 cases of smoking oa ; CTA veflicles, and the judges aren't 1is- miseing the charges and suspendtng che fines. Accordirtg to two judges who have ~at in ,he ; cou¢t, an assistant corporaaon counsel and I polSce, =tvtctions are biga and defendants ~ typically pay SZS. They usually are allowed ` to pay with a a3 cash bottd they poet for their j court appearance, and hall itu muiimtun E3U- (a suspended for !(rst aiteoden. Lots of je`enCants are having trouole be- tieving all t,ris after yean of vi«ually no en- forcement rnt CTA =ns of the non-smoking ordinance. "Many don't believe we're tockinu 'em uo for smokr.;." said Ofticer Raymond P. iCal- tas ot the police mass trartsit unit. "I remem- ber guys saying, 'You're going to lock tne up (Or & cigaretl" It ^ould make you choke on your !iiter tio. But it's trsa. i;noker's courr (which uoped the tine hoot a maxur.um of S.i to a minimum o( 3,A) :utd tae asaociated potice iaest mech- anism are movtng ahead with the relentless quality of a conveyor belt, making the c:garet an outlaw on Cl'A trains. Everyt-xry is very well-mannered abcut '.t, i adttmssing the defendants as "sir" and e+stn3 ltttpeecable legal language. But make ao mis- S ttite. The ciaaret Is corzn.uer.tly issumed to : be a.;er!ons vtllala that must he dr.ven otf F the treltu - soft pac7c, hard pack snd ectra s Wing. You get the :ea from litternng to smoker'r, ^=rt ;adge waiter B. aies0ke. "f'he pG:LlsopSy ot the law is that it's a health tazard aitd a safety hazard even .1 you're just `_olding it - 3 menace under crowded cottditions to preperty, c:othieg, packages ar.d people's eyes on i lurching, swaying CTA train. "Rei^emoer. there's a lot of standiog an tne trai^s and wiggling past xrsons at uops. 1U of thia mild be wttlciencto orooel a iight- 2d cigar°t Into !he eyes of a child Deing car• ried or !he eyes of an eWerly person resdin, a paper." It's a;zim picture when you look at it that way. But some of :h^ smoker's-court defend- ants didn't share that view. Roland Lee Reed. 22. after being [ound guil- ty and peying a 450 (ine, declared: ":he ma- jortty ol tbe world is smokir.g, and they s h a u t d have some accommodation br smokers." Reed's deienge vas that it was a seatmate. not be, wbo was smorctng. 3ut Ctft- cer :ialfai impassively stuck to hie identl- f3cation o( Reed, and Judge Bteschke was sat- isfied. Augustua Howard, 20, got off with a S?3 firte after pleadin; guilty, 3nd he• !oo, emerged wlta reservatlons about the neces.gity-o7 ban- ishing t.he cigarec completely. Howard. wto said Se aas a potitlc,al-science student, deliv- etad zn Impromptu tecture on discretionar,' powers of the ;olice a(ter leavin; the coun- room. He concluded that at midnight, w~ien he said he a2i arrested, there are 'ew per- soes la a tr~n, ;he c!garet sn't ;u,~h a men- ece and rolice can aRord to i;;nore che smoiry wide~ce. "Sarne smoke because it's a hao,t." he de- clare4, "3nd to depnve thern of tnat a an• jUSL „ Desatte such rear-;:,arri Jefen>e. ;na new enfercement apparatus is rolltng nver the smokers, and tt ;s a touah apparat,.s :odeed. ;tiothinv `1Ye a stmpie ?arking nc;;et, for e><- smple. (( you park In the wrong place, you get a ttcket, 'uhictt :,rnt can pey in advar,ce of a court date, at 57 tor an u:errime v,olation. 310 for v,oiauon a ;lgtts or S_'0 for illegal Loop parking. 1 l But !f you're arrested for smokir.g, you ~ m'.ut post a= cash bond or stay In ;stl cnnl your court appearance, and you tsce a!ine- :cltedule of = to (nuthing higher than 7Unf to Page ff. a. . I LC.1t-AC) (S t

I C Cantlaued kom Pag.4l i70 has been impnaed). 1be city ordinance providing for t!!e new, higher ftnes was enacted July 1, 1973 (the 2;,me month stnokeri court opened), , and It replaced a'-Qyear4ld law with a maximum SS fine. The new law makes it illegal merely to carry a Ilghted cigaret, cigar or pipe on a CTA :.^aln or bus. You don't have to he imoking. Many det'endants plead not guilty, asserting that they had lighted up just prlor to getting off he train and weren't actuallv smoking, only to be cotd that :hev have juwt convicted themselves. - If ail this appalls some smokers, many nonsmoxera appar- ent!y are 3tNing !t a good review. "My partner and 1 have had people on the trains clapping, sa}ing, 'Hey, It's about time.' " reported Otficer KaJtas. "Tczy say, ':?ey, thac's good offIcer. We nonsmokers have our rights, roo.' One woman said. 'You should have been doing dus a long .".me aga' " IYs all part ai the rising demand for protection by nonsmok- M, which Francis Barta, a judge in smokeYs court, ieea as part of an even broader issue. "Iflta court might be a step toward the recogaitlon of the needs of an urban society," he aatd. "Where we must live so ctoeely togetber, sve must become more consctoua of the rights of others. A permn's right to smoke eoda where atrother ;er- son's need to breathe starts." Judge Barth does aa smoke. Nenher does Capt James B. Delaney. commander of the police special !uocsiona sectloa, whkd inclnd.p the smoices- chastng masa-ttansit ;mit Delaney is delighted with the :ew, eniorcement. cai1L-tg It "tremendously succesaiuJ." A CTA rider'or three decades, he says there are far fewer smokers aboard than there Rera lax July. "We had television going on the trains for a story at>ttut this," he cecalled. "But we had a he4hcva time. CJe couldn't tind any smokers. We rode 'em all over the place Ioo'sing tnr a lousy smoker and couldn't find rnx." id C

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