Stronger Smoking Rules, Orland Students

If a group of Orland High School kids ran the city, there would be less smoking in public places including doorways, outdoor dining areas and parks. Members of SWAT, Students Working Against Tobacco, pitched an articulate and well-researched plea to city councilors last week, asking for greater restrictions on lighting up. The student presentation was just a discussion, but it could be up for a vote on Nov. 7. Students Dinesh Khalasi, Ana Hernandez, Roopinder Virk and Jesenia Contreras were at the podium, with other students in the audience, all wearing SWAT T-shirts. Adult advisers funded through the California Health Collaborative, as well as the American Lung Association, have helped the youths through the process. Various grants have been funded via tobacco taxes. The four seniors have been working toward the proposal since they were freshmen. Another student has since graduated. Last year, they presented 400 endorsements to ban smoking at the Glenn County Fair, then lobbied the fair board, which agreed. For the city proposal, they talked with 64 merchants in town, gathering 55 endorsements for smoke-free entryways. With this move, they presented hundreds of signatures from Orland adults. They also had bags of 250 cigarette butts they gathered in parks this spring over a 90-minute time period. Sharon Lazorko, Glenn County Public Health Coordinator, said "we have no idea" how the City Council will vote on the proposed ban. But the students have said, "We're going to keep coming back." Councilman Bruce Roundy said via a follow-up interview he was very impressed by the students, and that it has been a "good civics 101 lesson for them." The students also "feel strongly about their position," he said. Anti-smoking programs in the state are doing well. California has the second-lowest adult smoking rate in the nation, at 11.9 percent in 2010, with Utah ranking the lowest, said Sharon Lazorko, Glenn County Public Health Coordinator. The goal for California anti-smoking advocates is to reach 10 percent for adults and 8 percent for high school-age students by 2014. The newest push is to work to ban subtle glamorization of smoking through films and television. In California, 273 municipalities have passed smoking restrictions stronger than existing state laws, said Christina Roberts of the American Lung Association, as have 1,000 communities in the nation.