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Smoking banned at all Foothills schools
By Staff reporter
Banning tobacco products on school grounds won almost unanimous support from the Foothills School Division trustees at their regular meeting last week.
In a 4-1 vote trustees decided students, teachers, school staff and visitors will not be able to light up or chew tobacco anywhere on the division's high school properties in High River, Okotoks and Black Diamond.
Supervised smoking areas outside of Highwood High School, Foothills Composite High School and Oilfields High School will be done away with and smoking in cars on school grounds is also prohibited.
Some parents, teachers and students, who had responded in writing to the smoking ban prior to it being adopted, expressed concern over safety, enforcement, litter from cigarette butts, loitering and the effectiveness banning smoking will have getting kids to quit.
One student wrote that without a supervised smoking area he risks getting harassed when smoking off the school grounds.
Superintendent Jim McLellan pointed out that students being threatened was a separate issue covered by the division's harassment policy. He said any such issues should be brought to school administration to be dealt with.
The capacity for school principals and RCMP to enforce the ban was also called into question.
At the last Okotoks town council meeting it was asked if the ban would increase the work load of bylaw officers and the RCMP.
'The answer is yes,' said McLellan. 'The question is the amount of time they will have for (enforcing the ban). School principals will be responsible for the school grounds.'
Trustee Lori Czerwinski voted against the ban saying the community response is not conclusive enough to go ahead with a blanket ruling for the entire division.
'Emotions and opinions are extremely varied,' Czerwinski said.
In talking with different parent council members and reviewing the feedback, she said phasing in a ban while stepping up prevention and cessation programs would be the best option.
Headwaters' Health Authority has agreed to work with the division to create programs to prevent young students from starting smoking and helping smokers to quit.
'You have to consider each school's environment like where it is located in the town,' said Czerwinski.
After the trustee meeting Czerwinski said one member of the Oilfields parents council had asked her not to pass the bill based on the school's experience with a ban that was put in place four years ago.
'Enforcement was a really big issue,' Czerwinski explained. 'It created a lot of chaos. Kids were going off the school grounds. They were smoking on street curbs. It was unsafe, unsupervised and difficult for bylaw officers to enforce.'
Despite the concerns most trustees felt strongly that the board had to take a stand on smoking on school grounds.
'We have tried to deal with this for four or five years and there will be a fallout no matter what,' said trustee Graham Sewell. 'It will be worth it to alleviate the health risks. We need to take a stand and not back down.'
Trustee Faye Lippitt agreed saying, 'We should try it for a year. The fallout is still unsure but we will never know until we try.'
McLellan said much of the feedback received from the three affected high schools, particularly from administrators, supported the ban despite their concerns.
Highwood High planned on implementing the ban in the next school year regardless of the trustees' decision.
Over the edge
Denton Edge of Cochrane rides Interstate to an 87-point ride and the championship buckle at the Guy Weadick Rodeo in High River on Saturday.
- photo by John Barlow
Male listed in critical condition after police negotiation attempts failed
By Editor
One man is listed in critical condition after repeated attempts by local RCMP to make contact with him failed during a standoff in Longview.
At about 9 pm on Sunday, June 23 Turner Valley RCMP responded to a complaint of an armed person who barricaded himself in a residence in the Village of Longview.
According to a press release, an unknown male had broken into a private residence. When the occupants returned home they were confronted by the man with a long barreled firearm.
Witnesses had seen the male exit a vehicle and attempt to gain access into two other residences without success.
When RCMP were called, they cordoned off the home and evacuated neighbors.
At about 11 pm, the RCMP Emergency Response Team negotiator and additional personnel arrived at the scene. Repeated attempts were made to contact the man, but were unsuccessful.
At about 4 am Monday morning the male had a brief conversation with the police negotiator. After that a single shot was fired.
Police entered the residence and found an adult male with a single self-inflicted gun shot wound. The male was medi-vacked by STARS Air Ambulance to hospital and is listed in critical condition.
Police are still attempting to identify the male.
No one else was injured in the incident.
Alcohol has been deemed a factor in the incident. No further information was available at press time.
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 Quintet's past reflects bright future See Entertainment  Cuthbertson wins chuckwagon title See Sports |
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