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Wildwood Considers Smoking Ban After Student Research Project
KTVI-FOX2now.com
8/24/2009
WILDWOOD, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) - The city of Wildwood is once again talking about a smoke-free ordinance. And it looks like it'll take one more city council meeting to approve or halt a smoking ban. The driving force behind the proposed ban is a group of young people who are too young to smoke even if they wanted to. This entire thing started as a class project for seventh graders at Rockwood Valley Middle School. And now their project has won national recognition.
The students were too busy Monday night attending their sixth city council meeting of the summer to bask in their glory. Their project, called Secondhand Smoke Is No Joke, involved researching smoking and anti-smoking laws and then proposing them to the Wildwood City Council. That project's been judged one of the dozen best in the country from hundreds submitted by a national group called Project Citizen. Despite opposition from many adults, both politicians and bar owners, the middle schoolers have persevered.
Student Nina Theobald says, "We've worked really, really hard and it's surprising how much a group of us can do in such a short period of time."
"Personally, what I expected from them is just like, oh you're just a bunch of kids, but they're listening to us, the majority of them are listening to us, and it makes me feel good," added Ben Lawrence, also a student.
The next stop for this proposed ordinance in Wildwood is a public hearing that's now been set for September 24th.
These students will be eligible to vote in just five years. And they all say, no matter what happens with the smoking ban, they now have a new appreciation for government and how laws are made. |
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