Mayor bans all tobacco products in Metropolis city parks
METROPOLIS, Ill. (KBSI) – A local mayor is taking a stand against tobacco use –banning all tobacco products in city parks.
Metropolis parks are now breathing a little easier thanks to a big push from the mayor’s office.
Mayor Gregg Jeffords is being recognized after every park in the city of metropolis is now tobacco free.
“The city last fall, we decided that we were going to make our parks smoke and tobacco free” says Mayor Jeffords. “Like I mentioned earlier, it was just a smart policy on our part not only with the maintenance of the park, but also, we want to promote Metropolis as family friendly.”
The Hope Light Excellence Award was given to Mayor Jeffords for placing all Metropolis parks off limits to tobacco use. Made possible through the Southern Illinois Tobacco Disparities Partnership which aims to reduce tobacco use in the lower 16 counties of Southern Illinois by using research to create policy and environmental changes in the area.
According to Rudy Bess, founder of the Hope Light Project, a project that raises awareness around cancer, Massac County alone has 1,737 smokers and approximately 12 people die from cancer related to smoking in the county each year.
Local business leaders, county and city officials, and healthcare professionals were in attendance to show support of the ordinance.
Mayor Jeffords sharing that it was a call with Shawnna Rhine, with Rural Health Inc that sparked his motivation.
“I was on a zoom call with, Shawnna about the cancer walk that we had out here, and she had mentioned that, you know, there was cigarette butts, there was people actually smoking in the park at the time, and, well, that’s not what we wanted to do. So, we just decided we’d make a change and try to do everything to make it all a little bit better” says Jeffords.
Southern Illinois Tobacco Disparities Partnership (SITDP) — Healthy Southern Illinois Delta Network
