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Carroll County teens have chance to kick the habit
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Carroll County (Map, News) - Examiner Staff Writer
The percentage of students in Carroll County public high schools who smoke exceeds the statewide average, according to the latest data available from the Maryland Tobacco Surveys.
“Smoking rates tend to bump up with high school seniors ... they’re more mobile, and they have more freedom [leading to more opportunities to smoke],” said Barbara White, coordinator of the cigarette restitution fund for the county health department.
Carroll County public schools recently announced it is teaming up with the health department to reduce the number of teens who smoke in the school system. Beginning in January, middle school and high school students caught smoking or with tobacco on school grounds will spend seven hours in a tobacco education class run by the county’s health department.
The class, which will take place on Saturdays, will involve students participating in a lecture, group discussions and hands-on activities.
“We’re really excited about the program, called the Tobacco Education Group, and it’s going to offer students [tips] toward quitting smoking,” White said.
The school system’s tobacco education group has been successful in reducing the number of student suspensions, but administrators want to switch to the health department’s program with hopes of getting students to stop smoking, said Dana Falls, director of student programs for the system.
“My experience, as a teacher in smokers’ education, is that students were back with a second smoking offense, unless they were given the appropriate support” to quit smoking, he said.
Teens who smoke is an issue across the country, and the health department’s program is another way to tackle the problem, said Maggie McEvoy, student member of the School Board.
“I honestly think it’s worth trying ... since our program isn’t helping [enough] students to stop smoking,” McEvoy said.
tjohnson@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
4:32 PM MST on Tue., Sep. 9, 2008 re: "Muscle dysmorphia: The intense fear of being skinny"
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4:32 PM MST on Tue., Sep. 9, 2008
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Examiner Reader said:
I wil add to my last comment. I was so self conscious about being skinny in high school. I was 6' 2' 140lbs. However, if my parents were not alcoholics, I probably would have seen the positives of being skinny instead of the negatives.
4 agree | 4 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I wil add to my last comment. I was so self conscious about being skinny in high school. I was 6' 2' 140lbs. However, if my parents were not alcoholics, I probably would have seen the positives of being skinny instead of the negatives.
4 agree | 5 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
I am a 52 year old men who is 6' 2' and weight fluctuates between 170lbs and 180 lbs. I was made fun of by me two brothers for being tall and skinny as well as my father who is also tall and skinny and was teased by his parents for being tall and skinny. My parents are alcholics and I got clean and sober 22 years ago and have learned to love myself. I now enjoy being tall and skinny instead of hating it. Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder.
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Examiner Reader said:
i can relate this article in our hospital her in the philippines. especially in the main e.r. patient came in and out inh the e.r and i observe some of the staff are not attending the patients; and the e.r doctors are not in the duty or they are not in the e.r room. also i noticed that our e.r is lack of instrumnet being used to the patient. may the problem is in our goverment not in the hospital... thanks for the insight author.
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Examiner Reader said:
""Several members of the board, left, right and center, think this has been poorly thought out,” Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin told The Examiner. “Fisherman’s Wharf is the goose that lays the golden egg for San Francisco. We don’t want to commit economic suicide.”" What an absolute crock... completely political on the part of this Supervisor and any other of them. Neighborhood groups continually contact their District Superviors about impact of street fairs and large events in and close to residential areas for years and we are told we are just "killing" the spirit of fun in The City. Well now is a chance to have fun when it doesn't impact neighborhoods. Just the same old political BS from Supervisors who continually enjoy conflict.
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Examiner Reader said:
Sometimes Mayor Newsom can be so clueless. Real life can be considerably different outside "Newsom-land" in the Mayor's head.
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Examiner Reader said:
In March, Izzy's got a 42 and spent quite a bit of money to follow code and improve. 3 months later they recieve negative press while pending inspection. Latest score--94. How about positive press instead of slamming local hard working firms.
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Examiner Reader said:
My 9-year-old son had open heart surgery and was on the heart/lung machine during his surgery,after which he experienced anxiety and depression and had thoughts of suicide. He took his own life at 17 years old. I wish I had known this risk of the heart surgery and specifically the risk of being on the heart/lung machine.
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Examiner Reader Hater said:
Did you even read the article?
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Examiner Reader said:
I think its incredibly important to know exactly what goes into our food so we can make an educated guess in deciding what goes into our bodies is the best thing for us in order to take better care of ourselves. Had we been informed of the risk of adding sugary and fattening fried food into our diet, we would have never allow these filthy thing to touch our lips. Fried and sugary food should have been expensive, and NOT healthy, nutritious food for our consumption. Also once these bad, nutritionally poor food is consumed, it is unusually addictive and bad habits can be hard to break.
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