TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Picture a barroom brawl among angels.

That's how a struggle over how to spend money from the $206 billion settlement with Big Tobacco is shaping up across the nation. People full of good intentions are fighting over a pot of gold. The battle is especially intense in Kansas, where anti-tobacco advocates are fighting for money that could also buy vaccines, establish anti-drug programs in schools or help fund local health departments. ``The idea of pitting us against each other is wrong to begin with,'' said John Pepperdine, who lobbies for the American Cancer Society. Kansas legislators haven't yet decided exactly which programs will get tobacco money when the state's next budget takes effect on July 1. But they have committed themselves to spending most of the state's $1.77 billion share on programs that provide services to children - most of which have nothing to do with preventing smoking. After the 1998 national settlement, the initial expectation was that most of the money would support health programs across the country, especially anti-smoking campaigns. So far, though, only a few states have come close to pledging the minimum amount suggested by federal officials to wage an effective anti-smoking campaign. Many states instead plan to use the money for purposes unrelated to health - deficit reduction, schools, capital construction. Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan even proposed using the city's share to cover lawsuits arising out of a scandal in which police officers allegedly framed innocent people. The City Council rejected the idea. In Kansas, many legislators have for years worried the state hasn't spent enough on health care for children, early childhood education or other such programs. They have argued such programs prevent youngsters from developing serious health problems or becoming criminals. But they couldn't find the money to back up their rhetoric - until the tobacco settlement. Kansas legislators diverted nearly $81 million of the state's share to help balance the budget and deal with other financial problems. But they also created a children's trust fund and a 15-member Kansas Children's Cabinet to recommend exactly which programs should get money. Kansas isn't alone in spending tobacco money on children. A survey released this month by the National Conference of State Legislatures shows that at least 12 states plan to use at least some of the money from the settlement on programs for children and adolescents. Forty-one states plan to spend settlement money on health care, 23 on elderly care and 10 on helping tobacco farmers. Still, programs designed to prevent people from smoking remain a popular choice for states; forty-four plan to spend settlement dollars on anti-tobacco programs. That frustrates Kansas' anti-tobacco activists. Anti-smoking advocates argue Kansas is forgetting why it sued tobacco companies - to recoup the cost of medical care for poor Kansans with smoking-related illnesses. Of the first $30 million allocated for children's programs in Kansas, Republican Gov. Bill Graves proposed that $500,000 go to anti-smoking programs - one-fifth of what the Children's Cabinet recommended. Graves' spokesman, Don Brown, defended the proposal as part of a ``broad-stroke'' approach to provide money for many children's services. But the American Cancer Society's Pepperdine wants at least a third of all proceeds from the settlement to go toward tobacco prevention. Over 25 years, that would be about $590 million. So far, however, health advocates are getting little sympathy from most Kansas legislators, including Rep. David Adkins, a Republican who is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. ``I believe the anti-tobacco people need to quit pouting and get their act together,'' he said.

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