Restaurant Smoking Bans Decrease Teen Smoking

A recent study shows that restaurant smoking bans help to persuade teenagers not to become smokers. Teens who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than teens that lived in communities without bans or that had weak bans. Smoking bans discourage tobacco use and sends out the message that smoking is not healthy. The ban also reduces the amount of smoke that teens are exposed to in public places.

Having a parent or close friend that smokes can be an influence as to whether or not a teenager experiments with cigarettes but strong bans in public places play a bigger role in whether a not the teen will develop a smoking habit. The study also found that the bans had a greater effect on younger teens than older teens.

New Device Makes Cheating More Difficult

Recently, a New York firm is marketing a new device that would allow spouses or parents to recover old text messages from cell phones. The device is a SIM card reader that costs $149 and will even recover messages that were earlier deleted. Half of spouses find something bad on their partner’s phone and to avoid being caught, the spouses and teens being spied on would have to remove the SIM card from their phone and crush it or cut it up with a wire cutter.

Child Charged with Putting Teacher on YouTube

It is reported in Finland that a 15 year old boy, named Toni Vesikko, was fined for posting a video of his teaching karaoke and claiming she was a lunatic without her permission.

He teen claims the posting was a prank and didn’t mean to hurt the teacher. The teacher claims she suffered from anxiety, depression, and insomnia after the prank. The video was watched more than 600 times before it was removed from YouTube. In the video posting, Toni said that she was a lunatic singing at the karaoke of the mental hospital. He was fined $120 and was ordered to pay $1,000 in pain and suffering damages.

Pastor Ties Teen to Van and Drags Her

It is reported in Texas that a pastor, named Charles Flowers, is being charged after a 15 year old girl said that Flowers and one of his drill instructors tied a rope around her and dragged her behind a van for not finishing a run at a Christian boot camp. The pastor is currently facing charges of aggravated assault. The pastor didn’t want to comment but said that straightening out a troubled teen is hard.