Month Off Term : Not Smoking Frees Convict

A former United Way local executive director convicted of stealing $65,435 from the charity will get out of jail a month early because he quit smoking.

Butler County Common Pleas Judge John R. Moser approved the early release for Richard G. Lamb. Moser said he made the commitment because witnesses had testified that Lamb had improved every aspect of his life--except for his smoking habit.

“It provided me with the most powerful motivation for quitting that I could have,” Lamb said.

On Dec. 21, Lamb asked for a reduced sentence. Moser denied the request but said that if Lamb could stop smoking by Feb. 1, he would be released 30 days early. Lamb was to have been freed March 2.

Lamb, who had smoked cigarettes for 40 years and averaged two to three packs a day for the last 15, said that, with one exception, he hasn’t smoked since Dec. 24.

“I have to take myu hat off to the judge,” said Paula Monahan of the American Cancer Society’s Cincinnati-area chapter. “I think it would be really interesting to have a follow-up in a few months to see how sincere he was.”