Smokeless Tobacco About Responsibility, Not Choice; Support the Ordinance

Source from:  greeleytrib.com November 29, 2007 12/03/2007

Residents of Greeley are not free giveaways! I'm in support of an ordinance to ban free tobacco samples and coupons being given out at community events. The Stampede Committee thinks a ban would be limiting your choice. This seems interesting to me since no one was allowed to have a booth or hand out material at the Stampede that points out the dangers of tobacco. That's a choice? Another point brought up was that they need a scoreboard for events, which is provided by a tobacco company. So, in other words, the health of residents who support the Stampede takes a back seat to a scoreboard. Members of the council brought up that people are allowed to join the service and drink alcohol at this age. If you are injured while in the service, it is the responsibility of the service to take care of you. The legal drinking age is now 21, because of the risks. You can also be held financially responsible if you serve too much alcohol to a person, and they are injured or they injure another person. It's not about "choice," it's about responsibility. We know that addiction to tobacco can start from a single use. If our city council members and community events hosts, such as the Stampede, are aware of the dangers and still continue giving out samples, then who is responsible if that person develops cancer? It won't be the big tobacco companies since they settled a large lawsuit and no more claims are allowed. I realize that people are still going to purchase tobacco products regardless of the facts, but no one should start on a road to cancer from a community event. In the end, these "free" samples aren't so free. Support the ordinance; lives depend on it. Rhonda Solis, Greeley Improving gas mileage would help cut emissions Allstate Insurance estimates three million drivers are licensed in Colorado. We must conclude then that about one to one and one half million cars are registered in Colorado. How can we take seriously any attempt to reduce emissions and greenhouse gasses that does not address ways to improve gas mileage and reduce emissions from these cars and other vehicles? Hundreds of thousands of visitor and freight hauling vehicles travel our roadways as well. Most vehicles reach maximum efficiency at 65 mph or less. The investment today to reduce our highway speeds would pay dividends as long as we continue to keep the reduced speed limits enforced. Improvements in miles per gallon range from 5 percent to 20 percent, as per government tests. My experience, using this method, increased my mileage by an average of 15 percent. Consider all the other benefits such as fewer fatalities, less violent crashes, better air to breath, less dependence on foreign oil, lower gas prices forced by lower demand, possibly lower insurance costs in the future. Most importantly: Showing our children and grandchildren we are willing to sacrifice to leave them a cleaner Colorado, with air they can breathe. George Metcalf, La Salle Turkey Trot runners were not from just one school I am one of the participants in the annual Turkey Trot race and a seventh-grader at Heath Middle School in Greeley. I have a problem with how the front page story on this race said, "Spartans Cross Country teammates have fun." This is not what this race was about. West High School should not get the spotlight on something that involved a whole community. Students from Central High School ran together, too, and had plenty of fun. Also, staff and students from Central helped run the whole race. There were many others from different schools who participated in this run/walk. Also, some friends and I ran together, and I bet many other groups of friends did, too. I'm just saying that it was a poor choice of a topic to write about West this and Spartans that. We should have read the newspaper and found out about why there is an annual Turkey Trot and about having fun as a community. This is a problem not just to me, but to many others who find that the Turkey Trot is not about Spart. Enditem