News Release
For Immediate Release: March 15, 2011
Contact Person: Diane Lee, PIO, 301-334-7730
Kicking Butts in Garrett County
SADD Members “Kick Butts” - Pictured above are members of Garrett County SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) Clubs that participated in the “Kick Butts” Workshop with Master Instructor Ron Durham. The participants learned basic self-defense moves and will take what they learned into the community in recognition of “Kick Butts Day” celebrated in March. For more information about Kick Butts Day activities, see related article. Pictured above kneeling in front row from left to right are Hailey Cortez, Natasha Friend, Molly Browning, and Annika Naylor. Kneeling in second row L-R are Austin King, Emily Nazelrod, Brennon Crosby, Janessa Beitzel, Haley Moon, and Kendra Georg. Standing L-R are Lexy Sharpless, Vanessa Hilton, Derrick Maust, Tiffany Hutzel, Falisha Arnold, Bailey Tiemersma, Instructor Ron Durham, Macey Walker, Andrew Beachy, Nichole Snyder, Student Assistant Rachael Huxford, Trenton Rinker and Derek Silbaugh.
March 23 is Kick Butts Day (KBD), an annual celebration of the power of youth and the kinds of things that they can do to make a difference in their community. Thousands of youth in every state are STANDING OUT…SPEAKING UP…and SEIZING CONTROL in the fight against tobacco companies.
Locally, over twenty members from local SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) Clubs gathered for a “Kick Butts” training on March 4 that was organized by Garrett County Health Department Outreach Worker Linda Lewis. Master Instructor Ron Durham of the Maryland School of Tae Kwon Do led the special workshop for the SADD members. The members will take what they learned and share it with groups in their community to teach some very basic self-defense moves. At the same time, they will educate about the sneaky ways that tobacco companies recruit underage youth to use their products.
“In the United States , 1,100 people die every day because of a tobacco-related illness. That means that tobacco companies need to get 1,100 new people started smoking every day to replace the ones that die,” explained Kendra Todd, Health Educator at the Garrett County Health Department. “Their target is not adults who have already made their decisions about tobacco use. It is youth, who are much more impressionable and could become long-term customers.”
To illustrate one of the ways that tobacco companies target youth, a display showing the similarities between tobacco products and candy products will be moving around with the SADD Clubs in their recognition of Kick Butts Day.
For more information about tobacco prevention or SADD groups, contact the Garrett County Health Department at 301-334-7730 or 301-895-3111.