Students from Brainerd Baptist School and Tyner Academy – all members of Students Taking a Right Stand (STARS) – and 1,200 pairs of used shoes were the stars Wednesday when an estimated two dozen local anti-smoking activists gathered in Coolidge Park for "Kick Butts Day".
The 1,200 empty pairs of shoes, spread out on the grass in the park, represented the 1,200 tobacco-related deaths that occur each day across the nation.
“Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States,” Jay Collum, coordinator of tobacco education and control at the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department, told those attending.
“But each day, about 4,000 youths try smoking for the first time, and another 1,000 become new regular, daily smokers,” the health educator explained. “In Hamilton County alone, 27 percent of adolescents are already current smokers.”
Also present was Ansley Reagan, the reigning Miss Hamilton County.
“For Kick Butts Day 2007, youth are sending two important messages: they want the tobacco industry to stop targeting them with advertising and they want elected leaders at all levels to do more to protect them from tobacco,” said STARS leader Karen Glenn.
Students recently wrote letters to Governor Phil Bredesen and to state legislators about youth tobacco use prevention.
For information about the Tobacco Free Tennessee, call the local Tobacco QuitLine (423-209-8008).
Tennessee residents can also call the statewide Tennessee Tobacco QuitLine (1-800-QUIT-NOW or 1-800-784-8669). There is no charge to callers, who receive Quit Kits and have access to trained coaches.