Members of the McKean County Tobacco Coalition held a monthly
meeting Friday at the Bradford Family Center, making plans to
continue spreading their anti-tobacco message throughout the
community.

Chairperson Greta Billings opened the meeting and talked about
the group’s placemat efforts. The coalition has already taken
anti-tobacco advocacy placemats to several restaurants in the
county, she said, adding members should try to collect the unused
ones and re-distribute them to places where they go more
quickly.

Member Ron Tanner, a tobacco cessation specialist and mental
health worker at Bradford Regional Medical Center, reported the
group would have access to a billboard at the McKean County Fair
next summer.

Also at the meeting, a representative for the McKean, Potter,
Elk and Cameron counties chapter of the American Cancer Society,
Lora Cope, talked about an upcoming youth-oriented program set for
Nov. 18.

The Annual Tobacco Youth Conference, which included Potter, Elk
and Cameron counties last year, has expanded and invited students
from McKean County to participate this year, Cope said.

She explained five students from each school district are
selected to participate in a leadership training exercise, and then
challenged to bring what they learned back to their own schools and
spread awareness about tobacco use and its effects.

The conference will follow the “Busted” theme this year, she
said, and the leadership training will take place at Oswayo Valley
High School in Shinglehouse.

Members also discussed ways to contact senators and
representatives about their cause, and entertained the idea of
submitting a letter to the editor to local newspapers.

Billings told the group they may be looking at a budget cut for
next year, but that available funds for the year, after the cut,
will still total in the neighborhood of $4,100 to $4,800.

Billings explained before the meeting that the coalition has
been around since about the time big tobacco settlement money
finally trickled down to grass roots local organizations. The
McKean County Tobacco Coalition sometimes works in conjunction with
the Panthers Against Tobacco group at the University of Pittsburgh
at Bradford, she said, and has also organized events at Floyd C.
Fretz Middle School in Bradford.

Billings said the group’s major goals are to educate people
about tobacco use and the effects of second-hand smoke, to promote
their toll-free “quit line” service for tobacco cessation and to
encourage area restaurants and establishments to become smoke
free.

The next meeting is set for 9 a.m. Oct. 21 at the family
center.