Mountain Times 2/7/18

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The Mountain Times • Feb. 7-13, 2018 • 1

Mounta in Times Volume 47, Number 6

Your community free press — really, it’s FREE!

Feb. 7-13, 2018

Vermont youth speak out against flavored tobacco

Don’t forget your sweet-heart! Valentine’s Day is Wednesday, Feb. 14. Make plans now for a special day with your sweetheart!

Flying high on Highline

By Paul Holmes

FIS Freestyle North American Cup competition was held on the Highline trail at Killington Resort Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 3-4. Avital Shimko of Steamboat, Colo., won dual moguls on Sunday and placed second in singles on Saturday. Shimko currently is the leader on the NorAm Tour which includes Freestyle athletes from the U.S., Canada, Japan, Korea, Australia, Great Britain and Czechoslovakia.

By Robin Alberti

Emery Mikula delights in the fresh snow in Killington.

2 feet of snow!

Killington saw 16 inches of fresh snow Sunday, Feb. 4, for a total of 23 inches since last Thursday, plus another 12 inches is predicted to fall this WednesdayThursday. Punxsutawney Phil predicted another six weeks of winter when he came out of his burrow last Friday and saw his shadow, but here in Vermont, it’s shaping up to be much more than just six weeks. Feb. 7 marked Killington Resort’s 90th day operating, meaning the season has not even reached its halfway mark! (Typically, Killington is open for around 200 days each winter.)

Living A.D.E. What’s happening? Find local Arts, Dining & Entertainment Pages 16-25

Snowshoes in the library? Check them out RUTLAND—With the snow piling up, Vermonters in Rutland County have a new opportunity to get out and enjoy the outdoors. Libraries throughout the county have teamed up with the Vermont Department of Health to promote physical activity by making snowshoes available for children and adults to borrow for free. To date, up to a dozen snowshoes for kids and adults have been delivered to the following libraries: Rutland City, Proctor, West Rutland, Brandon, Pittsford, Castleton, Fair Haven, Wallingford and Wells. Additionally, the state plans to expand the program to include Killington by this Friday and Chittenden by Saturday. “All you need is a library card and the desire to go play in the snow,” said Renee Bousquet, director of the Rutland Health Office. “There are three behaviors – lack of physical activity, poor diet, and tobacco use, that lead to four chronic diseases which are the cause of more than 50 percent of all deaths in Vermont each year,” said Bousquet. “Working with our communities to make it easier for people to get and play – now that’s the fun part!”

Mounta in Times

is a community newspaper covering Central Vermont that aims to engage and inform as well as empower community members to have a voice.

mountaintimes.info

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Borrow snowshoes at the library!

Cloud of uncertainty hovers over passage of marijuana bill By Lee J. Kahrs, The Reporter

BRANDON—There is both support and concern among state and local officials regarding the recreational marijuana bill, which was approved by the House and Senate and signed by Gov. Phil Scott in January. Bill H.511, which allows the possession of one ounce or less of marijuana and two mature and four immature marijuana plants per dwelling unit by people 21 or older, will go into effect on July 1, 2018. Vermont is the first state to approve recreational use of marijuana legislatively without a public referendum. And while the Senate passed the bill by voice vote, the House approved the bill by a vote of 81-63. Two local state representatives, Democrat Steve Carr and Republican Butch Shaw, represent Brandon, Pittsford, and Sudbury in the Vermont house. Carr voted for H.511, and Shaw voted against. Both outlined their reasons for their vote in conversations with The Reporter, a sister publication of the Mountain Times. “I support and voted for the bill that passed on marijuana,” Carr said in an email response. “Vermont first passed the medical marijuana piece, then a couple of years later decriminalized marijuana making it

“THE BIG QUESTION IS, ‘WHAT’S NEXT?’ HOW DO WE GO FROM THIS LEGISLATION TO A FULLY TAXED AND REGULATED MODEL?” SHAW ASKED. a misdemeanor crime and now has fully legalized it. With a lot of scrutiny at each of those stages, the time has come to put it all together.” But Rep. Butch Shaw said he voted “No” because he was waiting for a preliminary report from the governor’s Marijuana Advisory Commission, due on Jan. 18. The commission was part of the original marijuana legalization bill that the House refused to take up last June at the end of the 2017 session. Instead, the House voted to delay any marijuana legalization legislation until that commission’s preliminary report this month, and the governor agreed. “Without information from that report, other questions were raised for me,” Shaw said, citing testimony from mental health experts on the negative effects of marijuana on brain development in people under the age of 25. “The argument is used that people can use alcohol and tobacco, which also can have negative effects, but those products are extremely regulated,” he said. “So when Vermont moves forward to fully realize possession and use of marijuana, we should know if we should go down the path of fully regulating it.” Shaw also said he did not like the fact that there are no provisions in H.511 for prevention, education, or protection of children in the bill, other than adding marijuana to existing alcohol laws regarding use Pot bill, page 33

MONTPELIER – High school students from across the state marched to the Vermont State House on Tuesday, Feb. 6, and met with lawmakers to speak out against the dangerous influence flavored tobacco has on Vermont’s kids and teens. The members of the youth-led organization Our Voices Xposed (OVX) come to Montpelier each year to discuss the challenges youth face in staying tobacco-free in Vermont. The students –representing 17 high schools – followed the march with a rally on the steps of the State House that was punctuated with speeches by OVX members Emily Dugan of Fair Haven High School, Joseph Vineyard of St. Johnsbury Academy, and Hawa Adam from Burlington High School. The student group was also introduced on the floor of the House of Representatives by So. Burlington Representative Ann Pugh, and later met with legislators, presenting displays and information about how flavored tobacco products are marketed to young Vermonters. Based upon data from the Federal Trade Commission, the tobacco industry spends an estimated $17 million each year to market products in Vermont — with flavors like cherry, banana, chocolate, blueberry, and other candy and fruit flavors that appeal directly to kids and teens. In Vermont, more than 85 percent of tobacco retailers sell at least one of these flavored tobacco products. These products, such as individually sold cigarillos (little cigars), can cost very little to buy. It’s the enticement of the flavors that concerns Fair Haven student Emily Dugan. “My little brother is 10 years old, meaning he’s impressionable. He likes ‘yummy’ flavors, as do so many other kids. Flavored tobacco just gives Vermont youth a reason to try it,” Dugan said. Flavors in cigarettes have been banned since 2009, but they are promoted in other tobacco products, such as cigarillos, cigars, dip, chew and e-cigarettes. According to Rhonda Williams, tobacco control chief at the Vermont Department of Health, this marketing works. “Youth consistently report flavors as the leading cause for trying e-cigarettes and cigars… Our data show that youth in Vermont are twice as likely as adults to say they would try a flavored tobacco product over a nonflavored one.” The pervasiveness of tobacco marketing that appeals to young people is one reason the Health Department is promoting its CounterBalance campaign, which helps educate the public and policymakers, Williams said.


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