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Hernando Today

Taxpayers getting secondhand smoke warnings in the mail

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By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: February 4, 2010

BROOKSVILLE - Whether it has been stickers on envelopes or the image of a child inhaling smoke, thousands of local taxpayers have received warnings on the dangers of cigarettes.

Thousands more will receive them when they get their vehicle registration forms in the mail.

Since late November 2009, the Hernando County Tax Collector has stuffed envelopes with flyers with an image of a sleeping boy strapped in a child-safety seat.

Above his head is a statement in bold letters, "Your car. Your smoke. Their future."

Tax Collector Juanita Sikes said the flyers are being sent along with every vehicle and mobile home renewal notice.

"We haven't had any comments on it, good or bad," said Sikes. "That's surprising ... but I think it will make people think."
Sikes was approached about the program several months ago by Ann-Gayl Ellis of the Hernando County Health Department, she said. Other neighboring counties also are stepping up their efforts to warn against the dangers of secondhand smoke, focusing their message on its effects on children.

On the bottom of the flyer is a message that reads, "Children exposed to secondhand smoke have higher rates of asthma and respiratory infections and are more likely to begin smoking themselves. Help them be safe ... please don't smoke around kids."

The flyers were paid for through the Community-Based Tobacco Prevention Grant, according to the health department.

"Over the last 25 years, Floridians have been taking steps toward a tobacco-free environment," Ellis said. "We have seen airplanes, movie theaters and public buildings become smoke-free.

"Many people have chosen to make their homes smoke-free and if they do smoke, they do so outside," she added. "Smoke-free cars are a logical next step and we hope the campaign will help move Hernando County in that direction."
Sikes guessed more than 12,500 people have received the flyers since the program started a few months ago.

Lisa Hammond, who heads the Hernando County Community Anti-Drug Coalition, said the grant comes from the Florida Department of Health, which collected the money as part of a civil ruling the state settled years earlier.

Roughly 77,000 flyers were printed and all of them should be mailed by the end of the year, she said.

Additionally, a yellow sticker has been attached to every envelope. It shows a drawing written in crayon of a smiling child in the back seat with the warning, "Don't smoke in the car with kids."

Taxpayers are warned twice when they receive their notices.

The flyers don't add to the postage expense, and they were paid for with grant money, Sikes said.

"In order to reach and educate parents, we need to get it into their hands," Hammond said. "Using the tax collector is really a novel approach. I don't know of any other county doing that."

Deanna Krautner, a spokeswoman with the Pasco County Health Department, said her agency has begun its campaign against secondhand smoke with a video loop to be shown on the government-access channel.

She said lots of counties are ramping up their efforts in time for Tobacco-Free Florida Week in March.

"We're trying to educate more people now, so we hope to see something positive come out of it," Krautner said.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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