By Cindy Schroeder
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - A drama club for teens dedicated to fighting substance abuse recognized on Tuesday Covington officials' recent efforts to restrict smoking in city-owned buildings.

Members of Center Stage Players, a leadership development group made up of about 25 Holmes Junior and Senior High students, read a proclamation thanking Covington City Commission for voting in April to restrict smoking in city-owned buildings. The teens said Covington's efforts will expose fewer people to dangerous secondhand smoke and decrease the likelihood that Northern Kentucky youths will become smokers. The teens also showed a slide show on tobacco companies' efforts to target youthful smokers.

Fifteen-year-old DaShawntae Durham said he was inspired to do something about teen smoking several years ago when he walked into one of his school's restrooms and couldn't breathe.

"One of the biggest things we did was caravan to Frankfort last year and talk to (state) legislators about raising the excise tax on cigarettes,'' DaShawntae said.

Kentucky's 3-cent excise tax on a pack of cigarettes is the second-lowest in the United States behind Virginia, and it hasn't been raised since 1970. The Center Stage Players hope lobbying by groups like theirs will change that.

The students also encouraged Covington officials to follow Lexington's lead and restrict smoking in most public buildings. Leaders in the second-largest city in the state with the nation's highest adult smoking rate recently voted to ban smoking in most public buildings. Lexington's new law takes effect Sept. 29.

"It annoys me when I walk into restaurants and people are smoking,'' said Nick Webb, 15. "It's disgusting breathing and smelling it, plus I know the tobacco companies are targeting my peers and my friends.''

Covington's 4-month-old ordinance bans smoking in reception areas, elevators, restrooms, stairwells and storerooms. It also prohibits smoking at meetings of more than five people in any city building or workplace. Smoking is allowed only in open public areas with proper ventilation or in designated smoking areas where it's otherwise prohibited.

"The kids have moved from me telling them what to do to proposing advocacy projects,'' said Vicki Dansberry, prevention coordinator for Covington Independent Public Schools. "When they found out that Covington had passed the law (restricting smoking) last spring, they wanted to thank the commissioners and let them know how kids feel about tobacco use in their community.''

Kentucky smoking statistics

Kentucky has the highest middle school smoking rate in the United States: 21.5 percent, compared with an 11 percent average nationally.

Kentucky teenagers in grades 9-12 rank third in the United States with a 37.4 percent smoking rate, compared with a 28 percent national average.

Kentucky also has the highest adult smoking rate in the United States: 30.5 percent.

E-mail cschroeder@enquirer.com