Ciggies For Sale

The Bulletin says Winston tastes good like a cigarette should

Hey! Cartons of Winstons & Camels, for sale right now, only $21.99 per carton, down at your local Buc-ee's convenience store.
It says so on Page 6 of The Bulletin, the weekly newspaper based in Angleton that at one time touted its policy of not accepting tobacco or liquor advertising.
What gives?
John Toth, the co-publisher of the publication, has never been one to shrink from chastising elected officials, journalists, children, teenagers and anyone else for violating his sense of right and wrong. So we'd like an explanation, since he seemed to imply, right there in his own publication, that advertising tobacco and booze was less than admirable.
What's next on the advertising front?
Titty bars in Houston?
Pete's Cut-Rate Liquor specials?
1-800-Sex-Chat lines?
BetOnSports.Com?
Mr. Toth has been an active supporter of the Council on Substance Abuse, a youth sports coach, a one-time candidate for Brazoria County Judge, a former reporter for the mighty Houston Chronicle and a member of the Republican Men's Club.
So he's a most upstanding citizen in the view of many folks, some of whom were shocked at seeing an ad for cigarettes in his free publication (which devoted about half of its Front Page this week to the never-ending promotion of his Defensive Driving School.)
We suspect his special relationship with the Buc-ee's convenience store chain (where we really appreciate the friendly attitude of the clerks, not to mention the company's smiling beaver logo) must have something to do with his decision to promote tobacco after years of self-righteous announcements that he eschews such advertising.
'Course, we could be completely wrong, but Buc-ee's has been taking out full-page ads on the back pages of The Bulletin for months now, promoting those 99-cent 20-lb. bags of ice, so maybe the convenience store figured it's spent enough money to have a say in Mr. Toth's advertising policies.
Well, it's not against the law, as far as we know, so it must be a business decision.
If that's the case, it's a free country.
But isn't there supposed to be a health warning from the U.S. Surgeon General on those advertisements?