By By ANNA M. LEE Managing Editor
Local students who support a ban on public smoking have been polling restaurants on this end of Escambia County to find if they would also be in support of the ban.
Tina Findley with the Alabama Department of Public Health said that of 32 restaurants contacted by students, 24 are already smoke-free and eight are not. Two of those restaurants -- Hunan's and Subway -- say they will be smoke-free for 24 hours in observation of the Great American Smokeout on Thursday, Nov. 18.
The students have also collected more than 200 signatures of county residents in favor of a clean air law.
On Thursday night, the Escambia County Coalition Against Tobacco will sponsor a community forum to discuss smoking in public places at 5:30 p.m. at D.W. McMillan Memorial Hospital's Community Room.
Findley works on behalf of the Tobacco Prevention and Control Division of the Alabama Department of Public Health, which was created in 1993 through funds provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The division's goals are to eliminate environmental tobacco use exposure; to promote quitting among adults and youth; and to prevent young people from starting to smoke.
At the last city council meetings of Brewton and East Brewton, Findley and local students were present to urge the mayors and councils to adopt a policy banning smoking in public places. The councils agreed to consider the topic and address it at a later date.