No secondhand smoke is safe (02/12/08)

To the editor:

It is time we clear the air in Jay County. First of all, this letter is not about bashing the person who chooses to smoke. This is about the people who have chosen not to smoke, which includes our children.

This is about secondhand smoke - also known as involuntary smoking. It is a mixture of the smoke exhaled from the lungs of a smoker and the smoke given off of the burning end of a cigarette. Secondhand smoke contains harmful chemicals and lots of people don't want to believe this fact.

There are more than 4,000 chemicals in the secondhand smoke. This is the smoke that our children breathe even if they never light up. Hundreds of the chemicals are poisonous; 43 have been shown to cause cancer and the majority are respiratory irritants.

Children that are exposed to secondhand smoke can suffer from irreparable damage to their developing bodies. These children are more likely to have respiratory infections like bronchitis and pneumonia. Asthmatic children suffer more severe asthmatic episodes. Also, recent research has linked Sudden Infant Death Syndrome to secondhand smoke exposure.

When your child is in a restaurant "non-smoking" section, it is equivalent to smoking two cigarettes during a two-hour meal.

So if you are a smoker, we are not wanting to deny you your right to smoke, but we are asking for clean air for the majority of the community that does not smoke. That includes our children.

We regulate our food, water and cleanliness in our workplaces. Why not the quality of air we all share?

There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Period.

Deb McGriff-Tharp, Jay County Tobacco Free; and Jennifer VanSkyock, Jay County Drug Prevention Coalition

Thanks Betty

To the editor:

It is our pleasure to send a letter out to all of Jay County about a sweet lady who recently retired after 25-plus years of employment at WPGW radio and service to her community through her work at the radio station.

Betty Stone retired, and she deserves a huge pat on the back and thank you from many people for her work.

Betty started with the Portland radio station way back when things were done a lot differently than they're done now. That lady did everything needed to be done except run the control board, and I'm probably wrong about that.

She did tons of clerical work, sold advertising and wrote commercial after commercial. Betty promoted every event that was ever planned in Jay County and beyond.

She was a cheerleader for her community, and many times worked when health issues would have stopped others.

Betty was the creator and producer of countless WPGW Bridal Shows, which still go on. Believe me, she did it with very little help.

Tony and I just wanted to acknowledge Betty's fine work, loyalty to WPGW and her kind and gentle spirit.

Thanks Betty. Now have some fun.

Tony and Cindy Giltner

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