HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0942.075 2006-2008
Murashige, Laura
From: Marilyn Gagen [mgagen@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 10:43 AM
To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us
Subject: Please vote to support Bill 224.
To: Hawai?i County Council
Re: TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF BILL 224
Relating To Prohibition of Smoking In Certain Places Council hearing: February 5, 2008
February 11, 2008 My name is Marilyn J. Gagen, volunteer with the American Heart
Association and the Coalition for Tobacco Free Hawaii, and I strongly support Bill 224,
which would prohibit using tobacco products at all County of Hawai?i parks and beaches.
I must commend the Council for addressing this important issue. As you already know,
smoking is hazardous to health. Because of this health risk the State enacted one of the
strongest secondhand smoking-law in the nation prohibiting smoking in virtually all
workplaces and in enclosed and partially enclosed public places. However, smoking is still
permitted in nearly all parks and beach parks within the State, and on the Big Island. Our
keiki continue to be endangered to the hazards of secondhand smoke.
Additionally, discarding cigarettes and cigar butts onto our beaches is unsightly, unclean
and particularly hazardous to small children who handle and sometime ingest them. Finally,
I am personally repelled, not only by people who smoke on our beaches, but also by the
sight of cigarette butts accumulating in the sand.
It is for the reasons I?ve noted above that I strongly encourage the Council to vote yes
to pass Bill 224. Last year, Kahalu?u beach park in Kona went smoke-free, let?s do the
same for the rest of the island. Passing Bill 224, will make visiting all our parks and
beaches more enjoyable.
Please accept this as written testimony in support of this bill.
Sincerely,
Marilyn J. Gagen
Volunteer, American Heart Association and Coalition for Tobacco Free Hawaii Waimanalo, HI
96795
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Marilyn Gagen
41-926 Laumilo Street "r7
Waimanalo, HI 96795 C:o
(808)543-0791 Z ~
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Comm. NO. I OZ, 79
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