BUS GIVES STUDENTS RIDE FOR LIFE; VEHICLE DECORATED TO PROMOTE CRITICAL THINKING ON TOBACCO.Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer At first glance, the psychedelic psychedelic /psy·che·del·ic/ (si?ki-del´ik) 1. pertaining to or characterized by hallucinations, distortions of perception and awareness, and sometimes psychotic-like behavior. 2. a drug that produces such effects. bus appears to champion a devil-may-care attitude - but a closer look shows the swirls of paint are actually spoofs of well-known cigarette ads. And when the driver extends a skeletal hand to take your fare, a demonic voice coming from his bug-eyed skull, there's no question this is a nightmare trip. Destination: Dead Valley - one way. ``Some people think smoking is a trip,'' says the driver, a mannequin with a taped greeting playing from his TV head. ``Come in and find out. The tobacco industry is taking you on the ride of your life, or the ride of your death.'' Just in time for Halloween, county health officials today will roll out their latest weapon in the war against teen tobacco use - the Little Bus of Tobacco Horrors. The first stop is Saticoy Elementary School elementary school: see school. , where kids ages 8 to 11 will see graphic proof of the side affects of tobacco use, including pictures and drawings of faces mutated by cancer. ``We're not trying to scare them. We're trying to imprint on them that they're being lied to,'' said Jeanne Scott, community services coordinator for the Ventura County Public Health Services health services Managed care The benefits covered under a health contract . Scott led the eight-month effort to convert this donated transit bus A transit bus (also known as a commuter bus) in the United States is usually operated by an urban-suburban bus line, a governmental public transit agency, or a contractor. A transit bus is normally used on public transit routes. to an interactive anti-tobacco exhibit for year-round use at schools throughout Ventura County. The eye-catching images, stomach-turning videos and hands-on displays are intended to draw kids' attention in ways verbal warnings Verbal Warning are a punk band from the Nottingham area that played with bands like Conflict, Chumbawumba,Flux of Pink Indians, Rudimentary Peni, Napalm Death and The Subhumans. simply cannot, she said. ``Kids particularly hate to be told in a lecture, `Don't do this, don't do that,' '' she said. ``We're just letting them see that smoking has some pretty bad results.'' Saticoy Principal Paul Jablonowski said having the bus visit the campus today complements more traditional, classroom anti-tobacco efforts. ``We're certainly looking forward to having them here,'' Jablonowski said. ``We're doing all we can to support the tobacco prevention programs in Ventura County and would like the kids to see the long-term effects of smoking.'' The bus is scheduled to visit Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. schools in February. A Conejo Valley The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both Southeastern Ventura County and Northwest Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It was discovered in 1542 by Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, and eventually became part of the Rancho El Conejo land grant by tour has not yet been scheduled. The bus is the pride of the Ventura County School-Community Tobacco Education Cooperative, a collection of county, school and private agencies that have pooled their time and resources to fight teen tobacco use. Other anti-tobacco groups are using converted buses to spread their message. In September, the Tri-County Regional Team unveiled a 1940s-era bus that has been spruced up with a colorful paint job to entice people to shed their tobacco-related clothing. ``We have kids come and turn in all the stuff they wear that is paraphernalia PARAPHERNALIA. The name given to all such things as a woman has a right to retain as her own property, after her husband's death; they consist generally of her clothing, jewels, and ornaments suitable to her condition, which she used personally during his life. for the tobacco industry,'' said program director Janet Benner. ``We're trying to get that stuff off the streets so kids don't think it's normal to wear Marlboro T-shirts.'' Both the tri-county team and Ventura County public health officials have tapped Proposition 99 funds to further their causes. The 1988 California Tobacco Tax Initiate added 25 cents to the cost of a pack of cigarettes to fund health care and education programs. It cost $20,000 for the county's Tobacco Education Program to turn the 28-year-old bus into a traveling haunted house A haunted house is defined as building that is believed to be a center for supernatural occurrences or paranormal phenomena.[1] A haunted house may contain ghosts, poltergeists, or even malevolent entities. . The outside was painted by Ventura County teens, while the Museum of Science and Industry Museum of Science and Industry can refer to:
The tour is divided into themes. Kids first walk into the living room of the ``stench family'' and see a gallery of gruesome pictures of people with lung and mouth cancer. The intent is to remind kids that they are often first exposed to tobacco at home, Scott said. Next it's off to a high school bathroom complete with walls of graffiti and cigarettes clogging the toilet. By pushing a button, a youngster who is toying with the idea of smoking suddenly sees a skull in the mirror they are facing. Kids then walk through a mock-up mock·up also mock-up n. 1. A usually full-sized scale model of a structure, used for demonstration, study, or testing. 2. A layout of printed matter. of a mouth and are encouraged to touch simulated cancer growths while listening to the sound of raspy rasp·y adj. rasp·i·er, rasp·i·est Rough; grating. Adj. 1. raspy - unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound; "a gravelly voice" grating, rasping, gravelly, scratchy, rough breathing. Public health coordinator Kathy Cook then greets the teens with a camel hand-puppet who laments his use in tobacco advertising and encourages the youngsters to speak their mind about cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco chewing tobacco, n See smokeless tobacco. chewing tobacco Smokeless tobacco, see there . What the kids may not know is that their opinions are visible via video monitor to other teens walking around the outside of the bus. The final stop is an exhibit that quizzes kids on topics such as whether ads that show glamorous models smoking are intended to lure young women to smoke. ``We hope it has a lasting impression,'' Scott said. CAPTION(S): 3 Photos Photo: (1--Color) Community health officials Kathy Cook, left, and Jeanne Scott stand in front of a bus decked out to discourage teen tobacco use. (2--Color) A talking skull on a video monitor completes the eerie ``driver'' figure on the Ventura County tobacco education bus that will make the rounds at schools. (3) Health educator Nan Waltman walks through a corridor decorated to simulate a giant mouth with cancerous lesions from tobacco. Michael Owen
|
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion