Clearing the Air Coughing Up Deniability

In 2001, the Czech Republic, which formerly was the opening act of Czech & Slovakia, considered an increase on its cigarette tax. This was a keen threat to Philip Morris, which worried that higher taxes would hurt its business in the Czech Republic. So, the company commissioned an organization called Arthur D. Little to study the situation.

The Little organization came back with its report, taking an original and unique position. Rather than only pointing out all of the downsides of an increased tax and thus, no doubt, fewer cigarettes sold, Little also showed all the benefits if Czechs smoked lots and lots of cigarettes and, no kidding, died prematurely.

The study, complete with charts, was so detailed that it contained the pluses and minuses down to the dollar — or whatever they spend there, zlotys or beaver pelts, I suppose. In U.S. dollars, the minuses included the costs of smokers’ related heath care ($296 million) and work days missed ($3 million). Even the cost of fires caused by cigarettes was counted ($1,265,000).

And then the study gave reasons why there should be no tax increase: The Czech taxes and custom duties on cigarettes were huge even without the increase. There was health care savings due to early mortality ($25 million). Unspent pensions and social security because their citizens croaked at an early age ($5 million). Savings on housing for the elderly ($723,000). The difference in expenses and savings came to a neat $150 million, or $1,227 per cancelled Czech. As anyone could see, there were many benefits for the Czech government if its citizens continued their three-pack-a-day habit.

I remembered this information because it rang a bell when I read recently that several Houston business typhoons, companies and petrochemical organizations were opposed to any ordinance passed by the Houston City Council, however tentative, towards cleaning up the air.

The opponents’ gas roots movement was triggered when Mayor Bill White, the first city leader in memory to attempt to do something about our air pollution, asked City Council to approve suing polluters, which is about the only effort a city can do, and Lord knows the feds and the state aren’t doing a thing to help. The mayor’s idea met with overwhelming ennui. Councilman M.J. Khan protested, “Isn’t it that we are really in some uncharted territory with the city of Houston taking the lead in the entire country in keeping the air clean?” God forbid! Councilman Khan later said he was for the ordinance.

But others do get their snout in the Stomach Turning Basin. We all know the drill by now, since it is trotted out every time any attempt is made to clean up our air. The scenario starts like this: “Any controls on our smokestacks will hurt our business climate.” The fact that our business climate contains smoke, chemicals, carcinogens and isobutene among other death-causing yuck, and that one reason Toyota put its new multi-billion dollar plant in San Antonio rather than in Houston was because of our dirty air, was not mentioned. But we do have an image problem.

That message delivered; next, the Friends of Smog mount their usual campaign. They first organize, raise money, then they foot-drag until interest is worn down. They demand public hearings. Next we have, “This matter needs to be studied.” There is probably a branch of the Houston Public Library System given over to studies on our town’s air pollution and mass transit. A spokesman for FOS demands, “We need a blue ribbon committee to look into this and issue a report.” (See: “studies” above).

The very slight chance that the city can/will actually take action causes guerrilla warfare in which the new clean-up orders are fought in court, delays are routine, attempts are made to water down the toothless rules and, if all else fails, threaten to move. Hey, it worked for our pro sports teams. When the smoke clears — OK, a bad choice of words — absolutely nothing has changed. If you doubt this, go downwind from Manchester and take a deep breath.

Houstonians like to say they don’t want to breathe anything they can’t see. Our skies are, so to speak, air apparent. And our children have a little nursery rhyme, “I shot an arrow into the air. It stuck.” Yes, I know. Recent studies both locally, nationally and globally show clearly that breathing dirty air can be hazardous to our health. Today we can go into any grocery store and see a full aisle of bottled water. Our children will be going to those same stores to buy bottled air. Be careful not to get in a car wreck on Navigation Boulevard. The airbags filled there will be solid as concrete.

So FOS has quite a propaganda battle in store. Still, the bottom line is the top dollar. Instead of the usual whining and the shop-worn campaigns about bad-fer-bidness, Friends of Smog should simply hire the Arthur D. Little company and give them the same marching orders as did Philip Morris: put a positive spin on Killer Air.

Paying for the brainstorming should be no problem. Last year, Exxon Mobil, which has that big refinery in Baytown, broke its own record of $36.1 billion in profits by posting $39.5 billion. As the most profit any U.S. company has ever made, Exxon Mobil surpassed Microsoft and Wal-Mart. So, FOS puts out full-page ads noting the huge expenses required by taxpayers to take care of lung patients year after costly year. To make this argument sound better, throw in some statistics. “It costs the average Houston taxpayer $3,209 a year to take care of one person in ICU with black lung disease.” Just make up the stats. Who can argue?

Get hired temps to call in to our local talk shows. “I am so tired of these deadbeats running up hospital bills for their coughing kids.”

“You’ve got a point, caller. And we’ve got to stop the guberment from telling us what to do. It’s communistic. If I want to stink up Deer Park, that’s my bidness.”

We should see TV commercials showing stacks of social security checks and pension plan folders, then cut to the hall of a nursing home. Voice over: “Money spent by the millions, lengthy and expensive stays in God’s waiting room, an overcrowded planet with finite resources. Tell your council member that it’s not pollution control, it’s population control.”

Oh, as for the Czech program to show all the benefits of early deaths, when the story got out, Philip Morris said its executives knew nothing about anything. The Friends of Smog can do the same thing. In the CIA it’s called “plausible deniability.” Others may call it “a Prague on both your houses.”

A Charmed Life

The Smiths’ commitment to helping out our community.

Jeff and Kathryn Smith are a vibrant young couple with a successful business. They are head-turners when they enter a scene, especially with their three beautiful children, ages eight, six and three.

Mutual friend Harriet Dedman set up a blind date for the two in 1995 telling Kathryn, “I guarantee you’re going to marry him.” Kathryn recalls, “When I came home that night Mom asked me, ‘So, what’s wrong with him?’ This time I said, ‘Nothing. I’m going to marry him.'” “I thought she was gorgeous,” Jeff remembers. “I called her the next day, and from then on, we were a couple. We just celebrated our tenth anniversary.”

Mary Kathryn Sacco Smith grew up in a large extended family. Her father, Sam Sacco, graduated from St. Thomas High School and St. Thomas University. The Sacco Bros. Grocery Store bought a nice life for him, Nita and their three daughters. Their Bellaire home was just two miles from his parents, Sam and Mary Sacco.

Kathryn and her sisters spent carefree summers swimming in their grandparents’ pool, while great-aunt Kate lived next door and next door to her was great-aunt Arance. “Neither had any children and they doted on us girls. It was compound living,” says Kathryn. Kathryn went to St. Thomas More Parish School, then to St. Agnes Academy, and received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and philosophy from the University of St. Thomas.

Jeff’s parents, Glenna and Steve Smith, hail from Coleman in West Texas. The oil and gas business took the fourth generation Texans on a tour of the state. In the summer of 1980, the family moved to Houston. While at Memorial High School, Jeff became interested in politics. After graduating from the University of Texas, Jeff began his political career working on Carole Keeton Strayhorn’s 1991 campaign. After involvement in a number of other political races, Jeff became a partner and director of public relations and marketing for The Abbey Group. He helped make what had been Abbey Party Rents into the largest party rental and event production firm in the Southwest.

Meanwhile, his future bride was beginning her first job in fundraising and public relations with the American Diabetes Association. “I remember thinking then that this is an awful disease and thank God it will never affect me because it doesn’t run in my family,” Kathryn explains. By the time she married Jeff, Kathryn was serving as development officer for UNICEF. When offered the position of corporate relations officer for UNICEF in New York City, the young couple jumped at the idea of living in The Big Apple.

“We promised that when we started our family we would move back to Houston. Little did we realize it would be exactly 9 months later,” Jeff recalls. They loved their time in New York, but really wanted to raise their children in Houston. Very soon after, they moved back to Houston, opened their own full-service public relations firm, Smith &Sacco Ltd., and had their first child, Stephen.

Life was beautiful. They were having fun with the children, building their business, going to parties and being active on the charity circuit. While Jeff is a lifetime member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and Kathryn is a member of the Houston Junior League, they have both served on the boards of quite a number of charities — from the Houston Grand Opera, Ballet and Symphony League to The Partnership for Baylor College Medicine, March of Dimes and United Cerebral Palsy.

Last year, Kathryn became the youngest woman in history to be named an ABC Channel 13 Woman of Distinction at the Crohn’s and Colitis Winter Ball. “The week of the announcement party I was giddy,” Kathryn says. “It is such an honor and I was really excited.” The announcement party was a festive event at Saks Fifth Avenue with lots of cameras, friends and applause. There was just one glitch. At 18 months old, baby Sam was sick.

After the party, they became increasingly worried about Sam and bundled him off to Texas Children’s Hospital the next morning. “Things happened very quickly,” Jeff remembers. “The doctor pricked Sam’s finger and tested his blood. In the ten seconds it took the doctor to prick his finger and read his blood sugar level, our lives changed completely. We had an absolutely charmed life until that moment.” Sam’s blood sugar level was 798. Normal blood sugar ranges between 80 and 120. He was immediately rushed into intensive care.

The diagnosis of type I (juvenile) diabetes brought a flood of memories to Kathryn who knew all too well what it meant. “I saw clearly the face of my friend at the American Diabetes Association and all her suffering with the disease. I heard my thoughts from back then about how this disease could never touch me.”

Kathryn and Jeff now want to help educate parents about the warning signs. “Sam would always want another bottle. We were changing the sheets and diapers all night long. Excessive thirst and frequent urination, along with rapid weight loss, are key signs of diabetes.” Sam was in ICU for two days and spent another four in the hospital.

Now a year and a half later, three-year-old Sam is not stable. His body produces no insulin. His blood sugar takes a daily rollercoaster ride between 40 and 400. Jeff says, “It’s the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night. It’s like having a newborn all the time. I check his blood sugar levels at 10 p.m., at midnight and at 2 a.m.”

Jeff and Kathryn are now dedicated to finding a cure for the disease. Jeff is serving on the board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Kathryn is co-chairing the May 12 JDRF gala. Of co-chairs Kirby McCool and Elizabeth DeLuca and underwriting chairs Rosemary Schatzman and Greggory Burk, Kathryn says, “We’ve all been good friends forever. They are a huge part of our support group.” The gala is in honor of Sam and all other children suffering from juvenile diabetes, while the goal is to raise $750,000 dollars to help find a cure for the disease.

Sydney, Australia

Exploring the beautiful land Down Under

Visitors gain great perspective on the world-class city of Sydney, Australia, by heading up to the Sydney Tower. When experiencing this first-rate building, 250 meters above the city, the first surprise is how much water surrounds the harbor city. Another great attraction is the Sydney Aquarium, which serves as a great educational stop with exceptional in-depth exhibits about the Great Barrier Reef. It gives you an opportunity to view sharks, manta rays, squid, sea turtles and more. There’s also an extraordinary penguin habitat where visitors can evaluate how these creatures live and play. Some penguins are even being released to live freely in the Sydney Harbour.

Get moving
Ride a Manly ferry — you can see shadows of the brave souls climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, on an adventure called the BridgeClimb. Watching the ships come and go from the harbor is also exciting, and seeing the famed Sydney Opera House in person is truly a thrill. Just off the harbor is an area known as The Rocks. Although many mysteries surround this area, some say it’s haunted, all say it’s the place to party. Have a ball hopping from pub to pub, or take an organized pub crawl to hear fun historical facts.

Wine and dine
Recently hailed as the third best restaurant in the world, Tetsuya’s degustation menu does not disappoint. Three distinct dining areas surround a Zen-like garden, each packed one has its own maitre d’. The cuisine is based on the Japanese philosophy of the natural selection of flavors and, as most great restaurants, the flavors are accented with French cooking techniques.

Begin with a glass of bubbly champagne to cleanse the palate. Then, commence with a 12-course smorgasbord; each and every item is paired with a new wine. The signature dish of farm-raised trout is served to perfection. Through the course of the evening, indulge in meat, seafood and a multitude of succulent vegetables, with most dishes featuring an Asian flair. Portions are small enough so that you can manage them. Nearing the end, you realize why this is considered to be the best dining experience on the continent.

Some of the great wines served at Tetsuya’s came from the more than 1,600 wineries in Australia. Many of them are close enough to Sydney to make a day trip possible. Try a private charter from Wine Country Tours and be guided to the best of the best. Established in 1858, Tyrrell’s is a family-owned winery whose roots run deep; in fact, there is a Shiraz plant that has been growing there since 1879. Local vineyards offer tea, scones and lunch; have fun eating among the grape vines. As long as you have a knowledgeable guide with you, a tasting is a real treat you’re sure to relish. If you haven’t heard, corks are out. Any new wine tasted had a screw top bottle. It doesn’t mean that it’s not good — Australia can just make more of it and lose fewer bottles to rotted corks. – LMV

Essentials:
BridgeClimb Sydney, www.bridgeclimb.com
Manly ferries, www.manlyweb.com.au
Sydney Aquarium, www.sydneyaquarium.com.au
Sydney Tower, www.sydneytower.com
Tetsuya’s, www.tetsuyas.com
Wine Country Tours, www.winecountrytours.com.au

Sight to See

Visiting the only U.S. venue for rarely seen French masterpieces

As many people do, we Houstonians sometimes take our city for granted. When your backyard has as much as ours — the world’s largest medical center, world-recognized art centers, and countless restaurants that are virtual playgrounds for your palate — it’s not surprising that we often forget the draw Houston has for visitors from all over the globe.

We are reminded again of our city’s offerings with the exhibition, The Masterpieces of French Painting from The Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1800-1920, being hosted at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston brings in phenomenal exhibits year-round, and it will now house the collection of masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The catch? It will only be at the MFAH until May 6, when it leaves for Berlin.

“Never before in the history of The Met have we agreed to lend so many of our treasures, some of which are leaving the building for the first — and most certainly the last — time,” Philippe de Montebello, director of The Met, says. All of France’s great artists from the 19th and early 20th centuries are represented, including Cézanne, Degas, Van Gogh, Ingres, Manet, Matisse, Monet, Picasso and Renoir. The exhibition is comprised of 132 paintings from The Met’s French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection (acknowledged as the finest outside of Europe) that span each “-ism” forming 19th century French art.

If you’re feeling skeptical about reading “-ism,” not to fear. All types of visitors with various levels of knowledge and interest are sure to find the exhibit both fun and enriching. As MFAH Director Peter C. Marzio says, “[The exhibit] is a virtual who’s who of 19th and early 20th century French art. The exhibition will be a spectacular opportunity for the public of this region to enjoy this unrivaled collection of French paintings. The key phrase here is high quality. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

Experienced the exhibit already? Take someone who hasn’t and catch paintings or details you may have missed the first time around. For example, in “Dancers, Pink and Green” Degas mixed his colors with white to make them opaque and applied them in layers with brushes and his fingers. Standing inches away from the canvas, you can actually see the heaviness of the layers, the texture they create and the actual whispers of Degas’ fingerprints in the paint. Sure, we’ve all seen many of these pieces before — in textbooks and among the selection of prints at the local Bed, Bath &Beyond — but, like so many things in life, there’s simply no match for seeing the real thing.

Sydney, Australia

Exploring the beautiful land Down Under

Visitors gain great perspective on the world-class city of Sydney, Australia, by heading up to the Sydney Tower. When experiencing this first-rate building, 250 meters above the city, the first surprise is how much water surrounds the harbor city. Another great attraction is the Sydney Aquarium, which serves as a great educational stop with exceptional in-depth exhibits about the Great Barrier Reef. It gives you an opportunity to view sharks, manta rays, squid, sea turtles and more. There’s also an extraordinary penguin habitat where visitors can evaluate how these creatures live and play. Some penguins are even being released to live freely in the Sydney Harbour.

Get moving
Ride a Manly ferry — you can see shadows of the brave souls climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, on an adventure called the BridgeClimb. Watching the ships come and go from the harbor is also exciting, and seeing the famed Sydney Opera House in person is truly a thrill. Just off the harbor is an area known as The Rocks. Although many mysteries surround this area, some say it’s haunted, all say it’s the place to party. Have a ball hopping from pub to pub, or take an organized pub crawl to hear fun historical facts.

Wine and dine
Recently hailed as the third best restaurant in the world, Tetsuya’s degustation menu does not disappoint. Three distinct dining areas surround a Zen-like garden, each packed one has its own maitre d’. The cuisine is based on the Japanese philosophy of the natural selection of flavors and, as most great restaurants, the flavors are accented with French cooking techniques.

Begin with a glass of bubbly champagne to cleanse the palate. Then, commence with a 12-course smorgasbord; each and every item is paired with a new wine. The signature dish of farm-raised trout is served to perfection. Through the course of the evening, indulge in meat, seafood and a multitude of succulent vegetables, with most dishes featuring an Asian flair. Portions are small enough so that you can manage them. Nearing the end, you realize why this is considered to be the best dining experience on the continent.

Some of the great wines served at Tetsuya’s came from the more than 1,600 wineries in Australia. Many of them are close enough to Sydney to make a day trip possible. Try a private charter from Wine Country Tours and be guided to the best of the best. Established in 1858, Tyrrell’s is a family-owned winery whose roots run deep; in fact, there is a Shiraz plant that has been growing there since 1879. Local vineyards offer tea, scones and lunch; have fun eating among the grape vines. As long as you have a knowledgeable guide with you, a tasting is a real treat you’re sure to relish. If you haven’t heard, corks are out. Any new wine tasted had a screw top bottle. It doesn’t mean that it’s not good — Australia can just make more of it and lose fewer bottles to rotted corks. – LMV

Essentials:
BridgeClimb Sydney, www.bridgeclimb.com
Manly ferries, www.manlyweb.com.au
Sydney Aquarium, www.sydneyaquarium.com.au
Sydney Tower, www.sydneytower.com
Tetsuya’s, www.tetsuyas.com
Wine Country Tours, www.winecountrytours.com.au