Tobacco Company Snubbed in Greeley

Source from:  By Andrew Villegas, Greeley Tribune Dce 4, 2007  12/06/2007

A major tobacco company will no longer be allowed to give away free samples of chewing tobacco at the Greeley Stampede, though it remains unclear if the company will pull its sponsorship of the event as a result. Greeley City Council passed a citywide ban on the free distribution of tobacco Tuesday night by a 4-3 vote. Mayor Ed Clark and councilmembers Don Feldhaus and Maria Secrest voted against the ban. Opponents of the ban said government shouldn't take the choice to use tobacco out of the hands of the public. Proponents insist a ban is necessary to protect the health of Greeley residents. Denver and Boulder already have similar bans on the free distribution of tobacco, as do 390 communities in the U.S. Mark Reinert, chairman of the Greeley Stampede Committee, has said the Stampede rodeo may lose a sponsorship from U.S. Smokeless Tobacco if the ban passes. U.S. Smokeless provides a scoreboard and the manpower to run it to the Stampede as part of its sponsorship. Stampede officials say it could cost $200,000 or more to replace the scoreboard and operators. While it was unclear Tuesday night whether U.S. Smokeless Tobacco will indeed pull its sponsorship from the Stampede, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco representative Andrew Lee previously said the company ³prefers to sponsor events that allow sampling.² Lee said last week, however, that his company still sponsors some events where tobacco sampling is prohibited, though it is unclear if Greeley could be one of those places. U.S. Smokeless Tobacco representatives didn¹t immediately return a phone call Tuesday night seeking comment. Greeley resident Bill English said if people were allowed to choose, many would probably never try it again. ³I¹m not a cowboy. I support the Stampede, and I also support people¹s individual rights,² said English, who added that an uncle once gave him chewing tobacco to try and that it made him sick. ³I never tried it again.² Jody Kugler, a tobacco program health educator with Weld County, presented 1,000 signatures from residents who supported the ban and said that the addicting nature of nicotine in tobacco really doesn¹t give addicts a choice. ³If it were a matter of choice, anyone that tried to quit that first time would be able to,² Kugler said. Enditem