One ploy was cigarettes flavored to taste like candy, fruit or cloves to make them more "kid friendly."
But since the Food and Drug Administration was recently given the authority to regulate tobacco products, it has banned the flavored smokes, a move that deserves applause.
Encouraging children to smoke is morally indefensible, because getting young people hooked on nicotine is like sentencing them to a future of health problems, serious illnesses and premature death.
Unfortunately, there are still loopholes in the law. Small cigars and cigarillos don't fit the legal definitions of a cigarette, but can be just as dangerous and can also be packaged to be attractive to young people.
It makes little sense to place restrictions on cigarettes but fail to do so on other products that are basically the same nicotine-delivery systems, repackaged in a slightly different form.
n In an impressive effort earlier this month, about 1,500 volunteers contributed their Saturday to cleaning up along the Fayetteville Street corridor.
The volunteers included about 500 students from N.C. Central University, several academic departments from the university, various nonprofit groups and a Girl Scout troop.
We applaud all those who volunteered, as well as Keep Durham Beautiful and the City of Durham, which furnished supplies ranging from trash bags and safety vests for the volunteers to garbage and recycling trucks to haul away the mess.
It's good to see students, who often are only temporary residents, exhibiting a sense of community by doing something that will benefit full-time residents in neighborhoods around the campus.
For some students, the day was a way to fulfill NCCU's service requirement, and there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes all students need is a little encouragement to take the first step into community volunteering. After that, they discover on their own that it's fun and rewarding.
So for all those who made the area around Fayetteville Street and N.C. Central University cleaner and a little less gritty, we happily bestow this week's Durham Grit Award.
n Today's Duke/NCCU football game is getting a lot of attention, and rightfully so, but one of the biggest attractions in town this week was another football game played last night.
High school football is a big deal in Durham, and if you don't believe it, just look at the rivalry between Hillside and Southern high schools. This editorial was written before the big matchup between the conference rivals took place. But such a large turnout was expected that the game was moved to a field with a larger capacity -- O'Kelly Riddick Stadium at N.C. Central University.
That was after overflow crowds turned out the past two years, first at Southern, then at Hillside, creating concerns about crowd control and safety.
Playing at NCCU seemed natural because the coaches of the two teams -- Adrian Jones at Southern and Antonio King at Hillside -- both played for N.C. Central in the mid-'90s.
N.C. Central deserves credit for working with the two cross-town schools to provide a reduced rate from its typical stadium rental to allow the game to go on. We have a feeling this could be the beginning of a community tradition.
