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HEALTH & FITNESS

wellness

sports

Smoking Ban
Up In Smoke

Bowler's 300 Game
Part Of 22-Bagger

S

econdhand smoke
Protection Agency (EPA)
is a serious health
estimates the cost
risk that affects
savings of eliminating
anyone who
secondhand smoke in
breathes it in. It contains
the workplace to be
more than 40 cancer-caus-
between $35 and $66
ing agents and many other
billion a year.
toxins, including formal-
While 34 states have
dehyde, cyanide, carbon
adopted some type
monoxide and arsenic.
of workplace smoking
The effects of secondhand
ban, Michigan has not.
Sharon
smoke should not be under-
Smoking-ban
advocates
Milberger,
estimated. Did you know:
have
been
trying
to get a
Ph.D.
• Secondhand smoke is
measure
passed
into
law
Columnist
the third-leading prevent-
in Michigan for about a
able cause of death.
decade.
• Nonsmokers who are exposed
In 2007, the House passed a
workplace smoking ban that includ-
to secondhand smoke increase their
risk for heart disease and lung can-
ed exemptions for casinos, smoke
cer by 20-30 percent.
shops and a few other businesses.
In 2008, the Senate passed a com-
• Breathing secondhand smoke
has immediate harmful effects on
plete workplace smoking ban with
no exemptions, leaving some critics
the cardiovascular system that can
increase the risk of
speculating that this
heart attack.
support of a pure
• Secondhand
ban was disingenu-
smoke causes sud-
ous and was done
den infant death
knowing that this
syndrome (SIDS),
version would never
acute respira-
become law.
tory infections, ear
Current state
problems and more
law won't change
frequent and severe
unless both cham-
asthma attacks in
bers agree on the
children.
same version of
• There is no safe
legislation. Unable
level of secondhand
to reach a final
smoke exposure —
compromise for
even brief exposure
smoke-free air in
can be dangerous.
Michigan, the state
The 2006 U.S. Surgeon General's
Legislature wrapped up its lame-
report stated the only governmental
duck session last month and the
regulatory approach to protect con-
proposed legislation died.
sumers and employees from deadly
Smoking ban proponents will con-
exposure to secondhand smoke is
tinue to fight for smoke-free air in
through comprehensive, smoke-free
2009. Advocates of the ban will need
workplace policies. Research shows
to start over and pursue a return to
that eliminating secondhand smoke
the Legislature. It is also possible
in the workplace reduces premature
supporters will try to put a smoking
deaths and tobacco-related illness-
ban proposal on the 2010 ballot if the
es. It also shows that smoke-free air
Legislature doesn't act first.
ordinances have no negative effect
A new Legislature convenes this
on restaurant or bar sales.
month. Hopefully, its members will
By creating a smoke-free work
finally make Michigan's health a pri-
ority. i I
environment, business owners elimi-
nate a variety of associated costs,
including higher health, life, and fire
Sharon Milberger, Ph.D., is interim director
insurance premiums, higher worker
of Henry Ford Health System's Center for
absenteeism, lower work productiv-
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
ity and higher worker compensa-
in Detroit. Her e-mail address:
tion payments. The Environmental
smilberl@hfhs.org.

Eliminating
secondhand
smoke in the
workplace reduces
premature deaths
and tobacco-
related illnesses.

A28

January 29 • 2009

Steve Stein

Special to the Jewish News

R

oiling a 300 game is a memo-
rable occasion for any bowler.
Ryan Lash's two perfect
games have been particularly
memorable.
The 29-year-old Commerce
Township resident's
latest 300 was rolled
Jan. 8 in the B'nai
B'rith Pisgah League
at Country Lanes
in Farmington Hills.
His wife, Samantha,
was in the house, as
Ryan Lash
always. Exactly one
week later — Jan. 15 — she gave birth
to the couple's first child, Jaden, at
Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.
Lash's first 300 was achieved Dec.
26, 2007, while he was substituting
for a bowler on his father Jerry Lash's
team in a league at 700 Bowl in South
Lyon. That was the last time Jerry
Lash bowled. He died Oct. 10, 2008,
from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's
Disease.
Ryan Lash, who averages 225 in the
Pisgah League, had a quite a night
on the lanes Jan. 8. The 12 consecu-
tive strikes he rolled for his 300 in the
second game were part of an amazing
stretch of 22 straight strikes. He also
threw four in a row to finish the first
game and six in a row to start the third
game.
"All 22 were all pocket hits," he said.
"I really wasn't nervous when I came
close to getting the 300 game. I just
wanted to do it. Did it help that I'd done
it previously? Well, maybe."
Ryan Lash has been bowling in the
Pisgah League for about 10 years. The
1998 West Bloomfield High School
graduate is an account executive for
Verizon Wireless.

both times by winning the Midwest
Sectional championship.
Joshua, 13, and Laura, 12, have
been skating together since 2003.
They train at the Detroit Skating Club
in Bloomfield Hills under the direction
of coaches Jodie Balogh-Tasich and
Seth Chafetz.
"The kids were very happy with their
bronze medal," said Cheryl Leggett,
Joshua's mother. "We're not sure if
they're going to move up to the novice
level next year. If they do, it will be
much more challenging for them. It will
really raise the bar."
Outside of figure skating, Joshua has
another important decision facing him.
The eighth-grader has been educated
by distance schooling since sixth grade.
He's currently studying through the
California-based Laurel Springs Home
School, which offers K-12 classes. If
Joshua leaves home schooling and
goes to high school next year, he'll
attend Walled Lake Northern.
Laura is a seventh-grader at
Bloomfield Hills Middle School.
Joshua and Laura are seeking spon-
sorships to help defray their expenses.
Sponsorship information can be found
on their Web site,
www.joshuandlaura.com .

From 12th To Third

Not Jewish

It wasn't as dramatic as a worst-to-first
scenario, but it came close.
After finishing 12th last year in the
U.S. Junior National Championships, the
ice dancing team of Joshua Leggett
of West Bloomfield and Laura Perry of
Bloomfield Hills won a bronze medal for
their third-place finish this year.
These were the first two years the
duo competed in the intermediate divi-
sion. They qualified for the nationals

Is the new Detroit Lions coach Jewish?
Many around town asked that ques-
tion after Jim Schwartz accepted the
daunting task of rebuilding the NFL's
first 0-16 team.
Here's the answer: Schwartz is not
Jewish. In fact, one of Schwartz's three
children is named Christian. —

Joshua Leggett and Laura Perry

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