Ohio Division of the American Cancer Society

-----Original Message-----
From: Norm Kjono [mailto:
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 4:58 PM
To: ''; ''
Cc: ''; ''; ''; ''
Subject: FW: Correction of Article by Mr. Nash Concerning False Statements About threats to ACS Staff by Smoking Ban Opponents

Ohio Division of the American Cancer Society,

Please see below my previous E-Mail to Mr. Curtin of the Columbus Dispatch. Please note that I include an excerpt from the February 28, 2007 Columbus Dispatch article that attributes a statement concerning fears for personal safety on the part of Ohio ACS staff.

Please also note that Mr. Nash’s article includes a statements attributed to “Wendy Simpkins, spokeswoman for the society” that are now proven to be false in a written statement by the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Would Ms. Simpkins like to correct her statement by retracting allegations that are now proven to be false?

Does the Ohio division of the American Cancer Society have an comment concerning this unseemly and most unfortunate circumstance?

I am on deadline for 5:30 Sunday March 4, 2007.

Thank you,

Norman E. Kjono

______

----Original Message-----
From: Norm Kjono [mailto:
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 6:02 PM
To: ''
Cc: ''; ''; ''; ''; ''; ''; ''
Subject: Request for Comment: Your Public Statements Concerning Threats and Your Personal Safety

Ms. Simpkins,

I write in follow-up to my previous E-Mail communications with regional directors for the Ohio division of the American Cancer Society (see attached E-Mail). I address two subject below, for which I request your comment and extend an opportunity for clarification prior to publication. My request refers to events during the February 27, 2007 hearing before the Ohio Department of Health concerning the statewide smoking ban (see Ohio DOH Feb. 27 2007 Notice of Hearing.PDF attached.)

Please see “FW: Correction of Article by Mr. Nash” attached for my previous communications with regional directors of the American Cancer Society.

Please see “RE: Correction of Srticle by Mr. Nash” attached for my previous correspondence with the Columbus Dispatch.

As a Forces.org columnist I am on deadline for 5:30 PM Monday, March 5, 2007. I also mention that I am scheduled to appear on radio talk show Tuesday afternoon March 6, 2007. The subjects addressed in this communication will be the focus of my talk show appearance. I write at this time to provide ample opportunity for your comment during Monday working hours and before publication or broadcast.

1.0 Your Public Statements Concerning Threats To Safety of ACS Representatives.

1.1 From the Columbus Dispatch, February 28, 2007, “Tempers Flare at Hearing on Ohio’s Smoking Ban,” by James Nash:

“A last-ditch fight against the state’s antismoking law became so heated yesterday that two proponents of the law left a hearing early for their own safety. The State Highway Patrol advised the two American Cancer Society representatives to leave the Ohio Department of Health hearing because of threats from some in the crowd, said Wendy Simpkins, spokeswoman for the society. With just weeks remaining before businesses face penalties for violating Ohio’s new statewide smoking ban, dozens of smokers and business owners fought yesterday to throw out all or part of the law. (Underline added.)

1.2 From the Ohio State Highway Patrol, March 2, 2007, in response inquiry by a person who attended the public hearing:

> Brett Gockstetter 3/2/2007 9:04 AM >

Dear Deborah Kistner,

Thank you for your e-mail. James Nash, a reporter from the Columbus Dispatch, inaccurately reported that troopers asked the two people to leave. Our troopers did not ask anyone to leave, and in fact, reported that the hearing was uneventful. Our department contacted James Nash, who stated he was advised that information from a spokesperson from the American Cancer Society. Again, no threats were made, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol did not ask, urge, or suggest that anyone leave the hearing. We were strictly there to provide security, and no action whatsoever was taken during the hearing. Thank you.

Respectfully,

Sgt. B.W. Gockstetter

OSHP Public Affairs

1.3 Your statement via E-Mail to James Nash, reported for the Columbus Dispatch, as provided to me by him on March 2, 2007:

From: James Nash [mailto:
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 5:23 PM
To: Norm Kjono
Subject: RE: Correction of Article by Mr. Nash Concerning False Statements About threats to ACS Staff by Smoking Ban Opponents

Here’s the message from Wendy Simpkins received a few minutes ago:

Please check your voice mail. If you need any additional information, please call my cell or Tracy Sabetta's cell. We absolutely stand by our account. Our members left singly so as not to draw attention to their departure. Melinda or Melissa Osgood with the attorney general' s department and a state highway patrol trooper approached Susan and Tracy, said she had overheard threats being made, had informed the :Highway Patrol, and recommended they leave for their safety.

1.4 As is clearly apparent from the above quotes, your public statements for attribution in the Columbus Dispatch on February 28, 2007, as reported by Mr. Nash, are flatly and directly contradicted by Sgt. Gockstetter with the Public Affairs department of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Moreover, your and Mr. Nash’s characterization of the meeting as hostile is strongly disputed by both the statement from the Ohio State Highway Patrol and firsthand witnesses who attended the public hearing referenced. Finally, Major booker confirmed to me both the substance and context of attendee statements and the OHP Public Affairs statement during a telephone conversation which occurred at or about 10:00 AM on Friday, March 2, 2007.

1.5 I would very much appreciate your statement concerning events at the Ohio Department of Health public hearing on February 27, 2007. I also extend the opportunity for you to revise, retract or clarify your E-Mail statement to Mr. Nash of the Columbus Dispatch.

a.) Please identify the name and rank of the Ohio State Highway Patrol officer who allegedly approached “Susan and Tracy” with Ms. Osgood (by reference to Melinda or Melissa Osgood I presume you mean Ohio Assistant Attorney General Melinda Snyder Osgood).

b.) Please state or summarize the nature the threats that Ms. Osgood allegedly overheard, according to your statement to Mr. Nash.

c.) Please clarify who made the recommendation that Susan and Tracy leave (Ms. Osgood or OHP officer). According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol no officer made any such recommendation. In addition, meeting attendees dispute that such threats were made and the tenor of the meeting as described by the highway patrol does not reasonably support the fact that it is likely such threats were made.

d.) Please provide a statement by Assistant Attorney General Osgood that corroborates your version of events as stated to Mr. Nash. Should it prove to be the case that an Ohio Assistant Attorney General made false statements or reports to or concerning actions by the Ohio State Highway Patrol—a fact I do not allege as of this writing—that is a very serious matter for Ohio citizens to consider.

2.0 Statements Concerning the Health Risks and Hazards of Environmental Tobacco Smoke:

2.1 The following statement appears in the March 10, 2005 document “American Cancer Society Launches Campaign to Pass a Statewide Clean Indoor Air Law” http://www.smokefreeohio.org/oh/news/050310LaunchCampaign.aspx published by SmokeFreeOhio.org. That document includes your name with the American Cancer Society and Shelly Kiser with Tobacco Free Ohio as contact persons. The statement is:

“Secondhand smoke contains more than 40 carcinogens, causing 3,000 deadly cases of lung cancer in nonsmokers each year. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says there is no safe level of exposure. Secondhand smoke is a leading cause of preventable death, killing 53,000 nonsmoking Americans each year through heart disease, lung cancer, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.” (Underline added.)

2.2 Such statements are the subject of rigorous, valid dispute. Objections to such statements are strongly supported by the content of the December 1992 EPA report on secondhand smoke, federal judicial decisions related to that report and numerous other sources including the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

a.) Do you maintain or assert that the above statement is true, factual and accurate today?

b.) Were such representation made by you or other American Cancer Society representatives at the public hearing in February 27, 2007?

c.) Do you or Ms. Kiser believe there is any conflict-of-interest imposed by the fact that one of the largest tobacco grant sources to the American Cancer Society (the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) is also listed by Yahoo Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=JNJ as being among the top five institutional shareholders (a $3.7 billion common stock position as of December 31, 2006) of NicoDerm CQ patch manufacturer Johnson & Johnson?

d.) Do you or Ms. Kiser believe there is any conflict-of-interest imposed by the fact that the distributor of Nicorette gum, British GlaxoSmithKline has also made numerous annual grants to the American Cancer Society?

e.) Do you or Ms. Kiser believe that physicians must, or can responsibly, recommend Nicotine Replacement therapy (NRT) smoking cessation products such as Nicorette and NicoDerm CQ to patients, when extensive studies now show those products to average 7 percent effectiveness—93 percent ineffective—success rates?

Thank you very much for your response to the above inquiry and my request for comment.

Norman E. Kjono

Columnist, Forces.org

(425) 497-8187

-----Original Message-----
From: Norm Kjono [mailto:
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 3:35 PM
To: ''
Cc: ''; ''; ''
Subject: Correction of Article by Mr. Nash Concerning False Statements About threats to ACS Staff by Smoking Ban Opponents

Mr. Curtin,

From the Columbus Dispatch, February 28, 2007, “Tempers Flare at Hearing on Ohio’s Smoking Ban,” by James Nash:

The above report by Mr. Nash, including the sensationalized headline, has been strongly objected to by hospitality small business owners who attended the Ohio Department of Health public hearing about which Mr. Nash reported.

Moreover, the statement attributed to Ms. Simpkins, has now been proven to be demonstrably false as of this morning. See for example, the following statement from Sgt. Gockstetter with the Ohio State Highway Patrol:

> Brett Gockstetter 3/2/2007 9:04 AM >

Dear Deborah Kistner,

Respectfully,

Sgt. B.W. Gockstetter

OSHP Public Affairs

Finally, Major Booker with the Ohio State Highway Patrol independently confirmed to me in a telephone conversation this morning that no threats were made to American Cancer Society staff during that hearing and that media was contacted by the highway patrol to clarify that matter. I confirmed his comments in a subsequent E-Mail.

Both the headline and tenor of Mr. Nash’s article, as embellished by the reported statements of Wendy Simpkins, create a false and demeaning stereotype of small business owners who publicly state legitimate grievances and concerns about the Ohio smoking ban as angry and potentially dangerous malcontents. In addition, considering the context of surroundings at the hearing and what Ms. Simpkin’s presumably knew about the circumstances of small business owner objections to the ban, it is my layman’s view that both The Dispatch’s article and Ms. Simpkin’s false statements could rise to a “prima facie tort” (see Nees v. Hocks, Or. 1975). The point being that this unfortunate circumstance is not mere idle statement or conjecture but rather a calculated statement by an American Cancer Society spokesperson to cause a certain and/or reasonably predictable immediate consequence. The consequence being to defame, negatively label, unfavorably stereotype, and thereby diminish the influence of small business owners who oppose public policy advanced by the American Cancer Society.

Accordingly, correcting this unseemly circumstance rises far above a mere clarification on the Corrections page of The Dispatch. In my view, these matter should rise to examination of the Dispatch’s editorial policy and cultural environment concerning tobacco issues as well as its supervision of reporters to assure that accurate news reports are published.

I wrote about Mr. Nash’s above referenced article in my commentary Opposition to Smoking Bans Heats Up VI published by Forces.org today. My final commentary in this series, “Opposition to Smoking Bans Heats Up VII,” will be published for the Monday morning edition of Forces.org.

I request from you, or other appropriate managerial person(s) at The Dispatch, for attribution in my Monday column:

1. A statement of corrections to be made by The Dispatch about the false statements of Ms. Simpkin’s with the American Cancer Society.

2. A statement of what editorial opinion and/or news reports will be published by the Dispatch to remove the taint and stigma of the negative labels and unfavorable stereotypes placed on smoking ban opponents by The Dispatch and Ms. Simpkins through Mr. Nash’s article.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this request. I am on deadline for 5:30 PM Seattle time on Sunday.

Respectfully,

Norman E. Kjono

______

-----Original Message-----
From: Norm Kjono [mailto:
Sent: Friday, March 02, 2007 5:14 PM
To: 'James Nash'
Cc: ''; ''; ''
Subject: RE: Correction of Article by Mr. Nash Concerning False Statements About threats to ACS Staff by Smoking Ban Opponents