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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii <br /> <br /> P.0. Box 25284 - Honolulu • Howai`i - 96£125 <br /> (808) 393 2168 • beach_oKgCajahoo.rom <br /> <br /> <br /> DATE: April 22, 2008 <br /> <br /> TO: Council Chairman Pete Hoffman & Council Members <br /> Hawaii County Council <br /> <br /> FROM: Suzanne Frazer, co-chair, Beach Environmental <br /> Awareness Campaign Hawaii <br /> <br /> Ref: Bill 224 TESTIMONY IN STRONG SUPPORT OF COUNCIL OVERRIDE <br /> Relating To Smoking In Certain Places In The County Of Hawaii <br /> Council Hearing on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 <br /> <br /> Good morning Chair Hoffman and members of the Hawaii County Council. My name <br /> is Suzanne Frazer, and I am one of the co-chairs of the Beach Environmental Awareness <br /> Campaign Hawaii. Thank you for this opportunity to once again testify on behalf of the <br /> Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii, in strong support of Bill 224. <br /> <br /> <br /> Firstly I would like to commend you for your actions at the last hearing when you passed <br /> Bill 224 in it's original form. On this Earth Day, I urge you to once again take a strong <br /> stance for protecting the environment as well as the health of the people of Hawaii by <br /> overriding the Mayor's veto of this bill. <br /> <br /> Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world with over 4.5 trillion butts littered <br /> annually and they are the most littered item by beach users in Hawaii. In 2006, there <br /> were 63,645 butts collected in one day during the "Get the Drift and Bag It" Hawaii-wide <br /> clean-up. <br /> <br /> Cigarette butts seriously reduce the aesthetic quality of the environment. Beaches with <br /> cigarette butt litter look trashed and uncared for which causes more littering of other rub- <br /> bish items. Tourists and residents alike appreciate clean beaches. However, it's very difficult <br /> to keep beaches and the water clear of cigarette butts. Many people who would not litter <br /> other items, discard their butts readily because they don't regard butts as litter and there is <br /> also a belief that the County will pick up after them. Behavioural studies have shown that <br /> if a smoker is not within 10 feet of a rubbish can when they finish a cigarette, they will lit- <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> ~-.AOA <br /> <br /> &E-AM <br /> Beach Gnnironrnevtal.dreareaess Campaign lhna i`i is a non profit, nolunuo orgaw_atina concerned icalt bringing amnrenes <br /> and solutioru to marine debris and later on Ilr wai `i's beaches though edacalwn, liner prenen6t)n and b n114& <br /> <br /> W W W.B-E-A-C-H.ORG Ref. To: Presentee humil <br /> Ref. t;a:s. APR 22 2Q8R <br />