I was reading the paper yesterday evening, here in Charlotte, NC, when - OH MY GOODNESS - I saw a familiar name in the article I was reading!! Tommy - "our" Tommy!! The article appeared in the Washington Post and apparently is now showing up in other newspapers. Here is the link to the article, as well as the section where he is mentioned:
Too expensive to light up
For Tommy Piver, 59, the combination of pricier cigarettes and looming health insurance penalties finally motivated the two-pack-a-day smoker to give up the habit he'd started at age 13. Increased taxes had doubled the price of a pack of cigarettes at the gas station near his home in Naples, Fla., to $5 within a year. Then he got a notice that his insurance carrier was going to triple the health insurance premium and reduce the amount it covered for all sorts of care from 90 percent to 70 percent for smokers.
"Kicking and screaming," Piver quit on Jan. 1, 2010. About a week later, he saw a television ad for an online stop-smoking program developed by Legacy, a nonprofit created under the settlement between the states and the tobacco industry. Piver joined the free EX program and hasn't had a cigarette in two years.
Congrats again to Tommy on his two years - which the whole world now knows about!!!
