American Lung Assn

The Paragon Theatre's artistic director, Warren Sherrill, has thought about staging "Agnes of God" for a while. Problem is, one of the key characters is a psychiatrist who chain-smokes. And in Colorado -- one of 25 states with indoor smoking bans -- actors can't light up on stage. The state Supreme Court last month found the 2006 smoking restriction constitutional, rejecting theater companies' argument that it infringed on their freedom of speech and stifled artistic expression.

Say this for the American Lung Assn.'s brand-new quit-smoking class: If you want to light up, no need to step into the hallway. Nobody's going to give you the stink eye, or a disappointed shrug. In fact, if any of your classmates become overly judgmental or confessional, you may safely cut them off without shame. You get all of this, plus the promise that the course--unveiled two weeks ago--will be there for you at any time: from the pre-breakfast nicotine jones all the way through the 3 a.m.

George (Smokey) Bondorff's greatest enemy is exertion. If he does enough physical work to perspire, the 62-year-old retired construction worker may find himself gasping desperately, unable to satisfy his body's craving for air. Even making a bed too vigorously can be an exhausting, frightening experience, he said. You would think that the last thing Bondorff, who suffers from emphysema, would ever want to see in his home would be an exercise video. But two months ago, he starred in one.

The California Air Resources Board on Thursday banned popular in-home ozone air purifiers, saying studies have found that they can worsen conditions such as asthma that marketers claim they help to prevent. The regulation, which the board said is the first of its kind in the nation, will require testing and certification of all types of air purifiers. Any that emit more than a tiny amount of ozone will have to be pulled from the California market.

The American Lung Assn. of Orange County elected officers and board members at its annual meeting this week. Karen Nelson succeeds attorney Donald P. Wagner as president for a two-year term. Wagner will continue to serve as a board member. Kelly Dosier is first vice president, and Louise Della Bella is second vice president. The board's secretary, Don Brunson, and treasurer, Alex A. Accetta, will continue to serve in those positions.

Two years ago, Robert Beals of San Clemente realized that it was time to get serious about his health. Since then, he has quit smoking, developed a regular exercise habit and started using supplemental oxygen. "They gave me a choice," he says. "I could extend and improve the quality of my life, or I could just keep going the way I was. "So it really wasn't hard to choose." Beals, 74, has had lung problems since he was a child.

Talk about curb service. "Celebrity waiters," participants in a benefit for the American Lung Assn. of Orange County, were nothing less than aggressively helpful at the "Celebrity Waiters Luncheon" on Tuesday. Guests were barely out of their cars in the circular driveway of the Four Seasons Hotel when they were "hit" for beverage orders by the "waiters."

A former nurse who was inspired by her asthmatic daughter to fight lung disease and by her son who has AIDS to become a full-time activist against that deadly disease was honored this week by the American Lung Assn. A panel of judges from throughout the country named Pearl Jemison-Smith the first recipient of the Emily Bissell Lung Health Award, named for the woman whose turn-of-the-century crusade to help tuberculosis sufferers led to the Lung Assn.'s Christmas Seals campaign.

Smog and soot levels have dropped significantly in Southern California over the last decade, but the Los Angeles region still has the highest levels of ozone nationwide, violating federal health standards an average of 137 days a year. The city ranks second in the country, behind Bakersfield, for the highest year-round levels of toxic particles or soot, and fourth in the nation for the number of short-term spikes in soot pollution. The rankings, part of the annual "State of the Air" report by the American Lung Assn., are based on federal and state data, which show that more than 90% of Californians live in counties with unhealthful air. Unlike parts of the East and Midwest, where coal-fired power plants are a primary source of toxic pollution, Southern California's chemical stew is the product of tailpipe emissions from cars and diesel pollution from trucks, trains and ships linked to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Downtown skyscraper manager Peter Anastassiou knew what steps to take when asked to help with an American Lung Assn. charity event: all 1,391 in his building. His 62-story Aon Center at 707 Wilshire Blvd. will host as many as 800 stair climbers in the group's sixth annual "Fight for Air" fundraising event April 6. Access to most high-rises has been restricted for outsiders since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But Anastassiou opens his stairwells on Tuesdays and Thursdays to people who registered for the event and want to get in shape.