Majority of Lebanon County now bans smoking in parks
Lebanon County officials, North Cornwall township officials, and Lebanon Family Health Services staff display the new “Young Lungs at Play!” signs for Gloninger Woods Park during a May 19 ceremony. (Photo: Submitted)
If you sit on a Lebanon County park bench to light up a cigarette, you’ll likely see a sign reminding you it’s not only against the rules – it’s bad for kids.
Lebanon Family Health Services is behind the trend. In less than five years, it has installed the signs that feature a child on a swing and say “Young Lungs at Play!” at parks in nine municipalities that represent more than half of Lebanon County’s population.
The latest is North Cornwall Township, where the signs were installed last month at Gloninger Woods Park. The township has asked for additional signs for Snitz Creek Park.
In order to get the signs, a municipality must agree to ban smoking in its parks. There is already a ban in place in North Cornwall Township, but the signs will serve as an “in-your-face” reminder for visitors to the township’s child-oriented parks, township manager Tom Long said.
“Maybe those who want to smoke a cigarette will think twice about it,” Long said.
Experience has shown that the signs are self-enforcing, according to Holly Dolan, director of education and outreach at LFHS.
“You sort of look like a jerk smoking in front of the little kid with the swing,” she said.
There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco and cigarettes, especially for a kid, according to Dolan.
The truth may actually be a bit more complex: While there is a general scientific consensus that indoor secondhand smoke is harmful, the
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