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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> DATE: March 10, 2008 <br /> <br /> TO: Council Chairman Pete Hoffmann & Council Members <br /> Hawaii County Council <br /> <br /> FR: Bryson Arcola, Keaau Youth Business Center, REAL <br /> <br /> RE: WRITTEN TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF BILL 224 (in its current form) <br /> Relating To Smoking in Certain Places in the County of Hawaii <br /> Second Reading, Public Hearing on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 <br /> <br /> I strongly support Bill 224 and commend the County Council for moving this visionary <br /> measure forward in its current form. I want Hawaii County to be a clean and healthy <br /> place for my family and I to enjoy. Bill 224 will protect my right to breathe clean air <br /> at all County of Hawaii parks, beaches and recreational facilities. <br /> <br /> I am a high school student who attends Keaau Youth Business Center, and a member of <br /> REAL, a statewide youth led movement against the tobacco industry. I attend our <br /> beaches and parks often with my family and friends. <br /> <br /> This measure will also reduce toxic litter, and send the message that tobacco use is not <br /> the norm in our community, so we stop sending keiki mixed messages about tobacco use. <br /> Children and families deserve clean, healthy places to enjoy outdoor activities. <br /> <br /> Visiting our parks, beaches and recreational facilities should be a pleasurable and safe <br /> experience for all. Discarded cigarettes and cigar butts at our parks and beaches are <br /> unsightly, unclean and particularly hazardous to small children and wildlife. A child <br /> putting a toxic cigarette butt into their mouth should not be part of that experience. <br /> Cigarettes and their packaging is number one litter item on our island. Cigarette butts are <br /> composed of cellulose acetate, a form of plastic, which is estimated to take up to 25 years <br /> to decompose on land and in the sand. It takes a cigarette butt 5 years to decompose in <br /> the ocean. Cigarette butts can pose a deadly threat to wildlife. Indigestible cigarette <br /> filters have been found in the stomachs of sea turtles, fish, birds, whales and other marine <br /> creatures who mistake them for food, swallowing harmful plastic and toxic chemicals. <br /> <br /> I don't like smoking at the beaches because of all the littering it is very gross. If the little <br /> kids who attend the beach put it in their mouths it can hurt them. <br /> <br /> Please accept this as written testimony in support of this bill. <br /> <br /> Sincerely, <br /> <br /> Bryson Areola <br /> HCR 2 Box 6009 <br /> Keaau HI 96749 <br />