Local NYLI team members Tyler Gerwig, Kelsey Jett, Chloey
Boggs, and Logan McKown work on a review of Calhoun County
youth tobacco use. Team member Jared Fitzwater is not shown
Submitted by April Dawson
Visitors to the nine-day State Fair of West Virginia can breathe a
little easier this summer thanks to the efforts of a Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America [CADCA] Alliance in West Virginia who obtained designated outdoor smoking areas throughout the fairgrounds.
The announcement was made at the recent National Youth leadership Initiative [NYLI] CADCA training event held in Charleston. A team of students from Calhoun County were in attendance at the week-long event.
Greg Puckett, Executive Director of the Community Connections state-wide coalition, and CADCA Coalition Advisory Committee member, said that having the nine smoking areas scattered throughout the fairgrounds will not only make the fair more pleasant for non-smokers who don't want to breath second-hand smoke, but it will reduce litter.
Marlene Pierson-Jolliffe, Manager of the State Fair of West Virginia, said "We liked the designated smoking area idea because we're not trying to go 100 percent smoke free yet - we think it would be very difficult," She added "This is a good compromise."
"The deep-fried doughnut you eat goes into your arteries, but the cigarette smoke affects the person who is standing behind you or adjacent to you," Pierson-Jolliffe said.
The fairgrounds staff will display signage and start promoting the new
policy in the summer before the mid-August fair.
"This is a huge step forward in our state and was made possible through the partnerships we've been able to work with," Puckett said.
NYLI teams from across West Virginia also worked on plans for addressing drug, alcohol, and tobacco problems in their own communities. "We learned about different ways to approach our problems," said Tyler Gerwig, a middle school student at Calhoun Middle High School. "NYLI means a lot to me, as it encourages me to want to help Calhoun."
Logan McKown, also a Calhoun team member, said "I learned a lot more about the whole picture, what I can do for my community."
Youth team members are planning to conduct a survey on tobacco use, as well as prepare recommendations to limit use by students and sports team members at the middle-high school.
Calhoun students are developing media tools to teach on the dangers of
substance abuse. Under development are video commercials, web blogs, and brochures. They will also be raising funds to help at the state fair.
Despite increased adoption of state and local smoke-free laws, approximately 88 million nonsmoking Americans aged 3 and older are still exposed to secondhand smoke each year.
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