Battle for smoke-free JH continues

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

By Sam Petri

Jackson Hole, Wyo-Although the Town Council rejected a town-wide smoking ban two weeks ago, the battle for a smoke-free Jackson continues.

Julia Heemstra, program director of Teton County Tobacco Prevention, put her positive spin on the turn of events: “What happened at the town council meeting was the best thing for this issue to move forward.” She said that support for her coalition doubled in size after the public heard the smoking ban was shot down.

“People thought it’d be a hole-in-one here in Jackson, but it’s going to take a community effort,” she said.

One recent addition to the community effort is Horse Creek Station, where owner Bruce Johnston recently decided to make his restaurant smoke-free on June 15, after 17 years of being a smoker-friendly establishment.

“It’s about our customers and the health of people,” Johnston said, adding he supports a town ban 100 percent.

With Horse Creek voluntarily butting out of the smoker-friendly world, it leaves only four establishments countywide that continue to allow smoking indoors: The Log Cabin Saloon, The Virginian Saloon and Amangani Resort.

If these four establishments go nonsmoking, either voluntarily or because of a ban, Teton County would be the first county in Wyoming to be entirely smoke-free.
Perhaps it’s the strength of the community support to ban smoking that attracted the Rocky Mountain Smoke Free Symposium. The Wyoming Department of Health sponsors the event today through Friday at Snow King Resort.

The goals of the three-day event are to educate people on the dangers of second-hand smoke and the benefits of smoke-free workplaces and communities. Over the course of the symposium, state, regional and national experts will speak on the science of second-hand smoke, smoke-free homes and cars, as well as policy options to get governments to support smoking bans.

Heemstra suggested the power of a ban on smoking in public was that it shifted the social norm, making smoking less acceptable, and therefore encouraging people to quit and helping to prevent teens from picking the habit up.

The cost to attend the symposium is $175, which includes all lecture sessions, lunch, banquet and handouts. To learn more, contact Heemstra at 734-9718.
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Battle for smoke-free JH continues | Planet JH News Article: Business

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