Westminster, Mass. Board of Health Drops Plan to Ban Tobacco Sales

The Westminster Board of Health has dropped plans to seek a total ban on the sales of tobacco in the Boston suburb that’s home to approximately 7,300 people, according to multiple news sources including the Boston Globe.

The board has yet to post anything on its webpage, and the town has not posted anything on its official site.

While the town gained attention for proposing the ban, it was a public meeting held on Nov. 12 that brought the issue to a national level of attention, as more than 500 people showed up to voice their opinion to the board, which abruptly ended the meeting after only a handful of people spoke.

Board member Edward J. Simoncini, Jr. told a group of about 40 people who had gathered at the meeting where the vote to kill the proposal occured that “it’s no longer under consideration — thank you, you made the difference,” according to the report. The board voted 2–1 in favor of abandoning the proposal, with Simoncini adding that “it is obvious the town is against it and therefore I am against it.”

Peter Munro joined Simoncini in voting to kill the issue, while chairwoman Andrea Crete voted in favor of keeping it alive.

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.