Bowling alleys are target of ban bill

Boise Bowling alleys would be added to Idaho’s growing list of no-smoking zones under a bill introduced in a House committee Thursday.

The smoking ban crafted by Rep. Bob Ring, R-Caldwell, a retired doctor, would require bowling alleys to either prohibit smoking altogether or create special smoking rooms for patrons who want to light up.

The bill seeks to limit the exposure of non-smokers to secondhand smoke. More than 3,000 Americans die yearly from lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke, according to the American Cancer Society.

Ring told the House Health and Welfare Committee that he originally planned to seek a ban on smoking in bowling alleys, but that business owners feared that would send smokers outside in their rented bowling shoes. The resulting grit could potentially ruin the shoes and scuff the varnished lanes, he said.

A 2004 Idaho law already prohibits smoking in restaurants. The author of that bill – Sen. Brent Hill, R-Rexburg – left out bowling alleys, figuring it would be easier to fend off opposition if his bill was crafted more narrowly.

Pledge drop defended

Moscow, Idaho Mayor Nancy Chaney’s decision to stop routinely reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before City Council meetings has upset some veterans, but she says the move is not a political statement and does not reflect a lack of patriotism.

“I grew up in a patriotic household; my father was a Marine, and I still have flags hanging up in my house,” she said.

But after concluding that council members and others may have been “going through the motions” in reciting the pledge, she decided to open the Jan. 17 council meeting with a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birth was marked with a holiday Jan. 16.

Chaney said she does not plan to eliminate the pledge, but to have periodic alternatives such as poetry readings – “we are finding other ways to express our patriotism,” she said.

“I think it’s bunk,” said World War II vet Don Swanson of the decision to drop the pledge. “I think they should do it. It’s a disgrace to us guys who were in (the war) and got shot at.”

Snowmobile club leader arrested

Burley, Idaho The president of a snowmobile club has been arrested for investigation of misappropriating $4,300 in Cassia County snowmobile registration fees that were to be used for trail grooming.

According to a police report, Darren Funk, 31, of Burley, acknowledged in an interview with investigators that he had used a gasoline charge card issued to the club for his personal vehicle repeatedly over several months. The report said he also used a county check to pay workers on his farm.

Funk is president of the Mount Harrison Snowmobile Club, which gets money from county snowmobile registration fees to groom snowmobile trails. County officials discovered discrepancies during an annual audit.

Funk was released on bond. He’s scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Magistrate Court.