Two ten-year-old Girl Scouts from Troop #3696, Meline Gardner-Wavrant and Ara Masar, have taken on a community improvement project in Stevensville and have asked the Town Council to prohibit smoking in Lewis and Clark Park. It is not only a good civics lesson for the girls, but could also benefit all the people in the Stevensville community who use the park. The project was initiated as part of the requirement for the girls to earn the Girl Scouts’ Bronze Award.
Their Troop Leader, Fabienne Wavrant, who is Meline’s mom, introduced them to the Council members as guests at the February 26 council meeting. The girls had collected signatures around town in support of the smoking ban and turned those in as well.
Mayor Brandon Dewey reminded the Council that currently there is only a 10-foot setback around the children’s playground and the skate park where smoking is prohibited. He said the girls want to see a prohibition against smoking in the entire park.
Meline told the Council members, “They built a park for children to play in and children should have the right to play in a clean environment.” She told the Council members that cigarette smoke contains thousands of chemicals, hundreds of them are toxic and seventy have been found to cause cancer.
“Another thing,” she said, “kids learn by example and smoking is a bad example. It encourages them to smoke. It’s a bad example and it’s illegal.”
“In conclusion, parks should be areas in which children get positive messages and healthy examples. Smoking is not one,” she said. “In 2016, Helena established a tobacco free policy for all their parks. I hope our town will do the same.”
Ara Masar said, “My brother and I enjoy using the skate park a lot and I think that cigarette smoke is bad for the environment. I think that second hand smoke is really unhealthy for kids. I also think that cigarette smokers leave their cigarette butts around.”
Councilperson Bob Michalson said, “I think it’s a great idea. I think it already should have been done. It’s a tough one to enforce, let’s be realistic. We have limited law enforcement. But if someone quits and we don’t have to pick up his butts that would be good. I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
Councilperson Stacie Barker asked if the Mayor could explore what other towns have done with respect to smoking in parks and maybe solicit input from the Park Board.
There was some discussion about the difference between a ban on smoking and a tobacco-free zone like Helena established.
Mayor Dewey said, if the Council asked him to prepare an ordinance he would look at the tobacco-free option and present that as well for the Council to review.
The Council unanimously agreed to request the Mayor to consult with the town’s attorney in preparing an ordinance to bring back to the council.