COMMUNITY GUIDE
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LORAIN COUNTY
AMHERST NEWS-TIMES
Thursday, July 25, 2019
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OBERLIN NEWS-TRIBUNE
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WELLINGTON ENTERPRISE
www.lcnewspapers.com
Volume 6, Issue 30
FROM 18 TO 21
BULLETIN BOARD Thursday, July 25 • WELLINGTON: “Confidence in the Ring” will be presented from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, July 25 at the LCCC Wellington Center, 151 Commerce Dr. The workshop will help you develop showmanship skills, no matter what species you show. Get advice from judges and experienced members, learn what to prepare for during your show, and get answers to questions so you can have more fun when you step into the ring. The event is sponsored by the Lorain County Farm Bureau and Lorain County Community College. For more information, call 440-647-1776. To register, call 440-366-4067. • OBERLIN: Folk singer Bob Bovee will play guitar, harmonica, and banjo at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, July 25 at Kendal at Oberlin’s Heiser Auditorium. He will sing sentimental ballads, blues, rags, and other stories and folklore. The event is free and open to the public. • AMHERST: Learn about the history and “dark side” of prescription medications at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 25 at the Amherst Public Library. Tom Strong will discuss medications’ side-effects, rising costs, and scandals, the evolution of drugs, and how medication has altered the treatment of disease.
Friday, July 26 • OBERLIN: The Shakedown Cruise will perform from 7-9 p.m. on Friday, July 26 on Tappan Square. Kevin Jones and the Shakedown Cruise are local favorites, covering a variety of well-known songs from many genres and decades. Part of the Oberlin Summer Concert Series, the performance is free and open to the public. • WELLINGTON: A benefit concert celebrating Well-Help’s more than 50 years of service to the Wellington community will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 26 at First United Methodist Church, 127 Park Place. It will feature music by Starship Truckers, Tari Diedrick, Allison Zander, and Rick and Jane Snodgrass. Admission is free. Donations are encouraged.
Saturday, July 27 • LORAIN: The 15th Annual Dominic Konopka Scholarship Fund Golf Outing will begin with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. on Saturday, July 27 at Fox BULLETIN BOARD PAGE A3
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Public health advocates hail it as a victory. But many in Ohio are bristling at the state’s recent move to change the legal smoking age to 21.
LEGAL SMOKING AGE RAISED JASON HAWK EDITOR
Teenage adults and many college students will no longer be able to legally smoke in Ohio. That's because buried in the state's biennial budget signed last week by Gov. Mike DeWine was a provision raising the legal age for using tobacco in Ohio from 18 to 21. The change also makes it illegal for people under the age of 21 to buy cigarettes, cigars, rolling papers, filters, vape pens, and other accessories. The draft of the law sent to DeWine's desk would have phased in the smoking law. It included a grandfather clause exempting anyone who turned 18 by Oct. 1. The governor vetoed that line. “Most adult smokers begin smoking as teens, and most daily smokers begin doing so between the ages of 18 and 21," he wrote. "Exempting current 18 through 20-year-old individuals from the minimum age increase to purchase tobacco products could result in more of these individuals using tobacco products daily, reducing their life expectancy, and increasing Ohio’s long-term health care costs," DeWine wrote. Health care officials heralded the change as a victory. "Lorain County Public Health is excited about the changes, mostly because it's an opportunity to prevent young adults
from using harmful tobacco products, including e-cigarettes," said health commissioner David Covell. "Tobacco products are unsafe for youth because they contain nicotine. Nicotine can harm brain development. Our brains continue developing until age 25," he said. In Lorain County, 12 percent of adults are smokers. That number has fallen off steeply from 22 percent four years ago, according to a community health assessment by LCHP. As part of that study, only eight percent of local high school seniors said they had smoked in the prior month. But a much larger number, 37 percent, had used an e-cigarette, vape pen, or e-liquid rig in the same time period. The American Cancer Society listed upping the legal smoking age in Ohio as one of its legislative priorities for 2019. Doing the same nationwide — Ohio is one of only 18 states where 21 is the legal age — would reduce smoking prevalence by about 12 percent and related deaths by nearly 10 percent for future generations, the society claims, citing an Institute of Medicine report. But how do those who sell tobacco feel about the change? Sarah Kennell, manager at Cheap Tobacco on Cooper Foster Park Road in Amherst, doesn't believe it will put a large dent in
SMOKING AGE PAGE A2
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
We asked folks on Facebook to weigh in on the age change: • Mari Jahnsz Mason: "So what happens to the already 18-year-old addicted to smoking?" • Debi Warrenfeltz Witt: "Don’t smoke. It’s not worth it." • Melissa Mel Camp: "I think it's really stupid. You are considered a legal adult at 18 but can't buy cigarettes or alcohol? If you are old enough for armed service you are old enough for bar service and tobacco. You can also vote at 18." • Tiffany Arnold: "It's not going to change anything though, honestly. Kids will still get them somehow." • Tara Mitchell: "Just today my soon to be 15-year-old said, 'So exactly when am I considered an adult?' Job/pay taxes and drive at 16. Graduate high school at 17 or 18. Vote at 18. Drink at 21. Why can’t it be one age?" • Linda Simonson: “Should have been that long, long ago.”
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OBITUARIES A2 • CROSSWORD B3 • SUDOKU B3 • CLASSIFIEDS D3