Kick Butts kids clean up cigarette butts
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POLSON — Trash is a fact of life, and cigarette butts nestle in gutters, around doors and in shrubs around Polson.
But to commemorate Kick Butts Day on March 19, Dennis Johnson, Youth Tobacco Education Coordinator, and his youth group picked up the butts, using disposable gloves. Johnson also drove to businesses around Polson and collected several giant bags full of butts.
Besides their unsightliness, group member Makayla Rasmussen said one reason they picked up the butts was because they could be washed down the storm drains and end up in Flathead Lake.
“Fish eat them and then possibly ducks and eagles,” Rasmussen said.
The group piled the soggy, squished and flattened cigarette butts in a fire pit at Riverside Park to see if they would burn.
The kids decorated and wore pollution masks for the experiment to raise awareness of how many people die from tobacco.
As the acrid smoke drifted up, the group moved away from the smudge, complaining about the smell.
“No, I’d never smoke,” said freshman Johnny Umphrey, although he didn’t much mind gathering up the butts since he wore gloves and washed his hands.
Kick Butts Day is part of the ongoing campaign for tobacco free kids, Johnson said.
