Mayor and local teens team up to clear the air

Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson and the Watauga High Against Tobacco Club are embarking on a joint venture. They have agreed they would like to see the number of smoke-free places in the town of Boone expanded. Together, they are inviting restaurants and other public venues to adopt a 100 percent smoke-free policy.

The mayor recently met with the students to draft a letter to restaurants.

Currently, 78 percent of restaurants in Watauga County have a smoke-free indoor dining area. Some restaurants are smoke-free inside, but allow smoking on a patio or outdoor dining area. Other restaurants are smoke-free until a certain hour in the evening. Those who allow any indoor cigarette use are not considered fully smoke-free, because employees are not protected from the hazards of secondhand smoke.

During their conversation, the mayor and the high school students identified a number of concerns that they share about secondhand smoke.

They discussed the advantages that being smoke-free confer on a business, including increased employee productivity due to fewer breaks, lower maintenance and cleaning costs and a hiring advantage. The teens said they pointed out how much more pleasant and desirable a smoke-free dining environment is, aside from health considerations.

Ana Wilkinson, a member of the club, told the mayor that it takes three hours to clear the smoke of one cigarette from a room, once smoking has ended. For buildings where tobacco use is on going, toxins from cigarette smoke are always in the air.

Savannah Parris said that an employee working an eight-hour shift in a smoky restaurant or bar receives the health equivalent of smoking one pack of cigarettes.

Clawson will formally recognize any restaurant in the town of Boone that responds to the students’ appeal to adopt a smoke-free policy. Management will be honored at a Town Council meeting and will receive a framed certificate. The names of restaurants becoming smoke-free will also be added to Watauga County’s Smoke-Free Dining list, maintained by the Watauga County Health Department.

More information about smoke-free dining is available from the health department by contacting Teri Van Dyke at 828-264-4995. To learn more about the WHAT club’s activities in this area, call club sponsor Dana Holden at 828-264-2407, extension 126. Mayor Clawson may be reached at the Town Hall at 828-268-6200.