Los Gatos Weekly-Times Editorials Smoking scofflaws get attention they deserve When the new administration at Los Gatos High School started the school year by handing out a one-page, no-nonsense chart covering campus rules--and letting students know the rules were going to be enforced-- we thought that was a good thing. Now the administration and the local police are breathing down the necks of students who blow smoke in the faces of those who are supposed to enforce the rules. By stepping just across the school boundary and lighting up, these young smokers are violating the rule that says students shall not leave the campus to smoke during closed-campus hours. Students who step across the line to violate the no-smoking rule not only endanger their health, they also serve as a highly visible statement that rules don't mean anything here. The school is wise to clamp down on both counts. Teen smoking is growing at an alarming rate, particularly in light of the overwhelming evidence of smoking's devastating impact on health. These days, young movie idols smoke onscreen and off. There's scarcely a movie made that doesn't feature actors puffing on cigarettes--nervously, dramatically, glamorously, casually. It's enough to convey the message to a whole new generation that smoking is a social--not a health--decision. This is the same message that got the generation that fought World War II hooked on cigarettes; it's the kind of thinking that made military leaders think they were doing the fighting men a favor by handing out cigarettes. For too long, the school has tacitly sent the same message by tolerating the just-barely-off-campus smokers. Time for Sign-Off Although some of this year's elections were more hard-fought than others, the races are now history, and it's time to get back to the business of running our cities and towns and school districts. The most visible way candidates and their supporters can make the election a good memory of the democratic process in action is to get out and clean up their campaign signs. We like campaign signs; they help keep elections in front of voters; they create energy for the election process. Campaign signs say: Democracy in Action. But the day after the election, these campaign tools are about as attractive as a wilted gardenia the day after the prom. They become a blight on the landscape. The town of Los Gatos agrees. Leave those signs up more than 10 days, and both the candidate and the person who owns the property where the sign is posted are violating the town's campaign sign code. Leave the signs for the town to remove, and it'll cost $50 per sign. We think it's a pretty good policy. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 4, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.