Staff Writer
Passersby may accept noticed a behemothic dog bronze in advanced of Madison Elementary Academy on Wednesday.
It wasn’t a new amulet for the children, but one of a admired animation character: Snoopy’s adapt ego Joe Cool.
The basset of Peanuts acclaim was allowance acceptance apprentice why it is abhorrent to smoke as allotment of a appropriate program. Organized by Ohio County bloom administrator Dr. William Mercer, who is a fan of Peanuts, the Joe Too Cool to Smoke affairs complex the acceptance activity smoke-damaged pigs’ lungs, seeing the abounding chemicals independent in tobacco products, a cartooning assignment and more.
Mercer has conducted the affairs at added Ohio County schools in the past. He already afresh accustomed appropriate permission from Jean Schulz, wife of the backward Peanuts architect Charles Schulz, to do the educational attack at Madison with the appearance and to book T-shirts that were accustomed to the children.
Mercer said the campaign, which declares “Peanuts and Bodies for Clean Air Everywhere,” is all about preventing accouchement from starting smoker or tobacco use in any form. He said there are still too abounding adolescent bodies in West Virginia application tobacco.
“Especially adolescent girls. West Virginia is No. 1 for girls who smoke while pregnant,” Mercer said.
By teaching adolescent children, Mercer said he hopes to stop the addiction afore it starts.
“We charge to alpha teaching them at a adolescent age not to do it. We charge to change their behavior so they’re not accomplishing chancy things. And they still chronicle to the Peanuts characters,” Mercer said.
In 2007-08, Mercer acclimated the amount to barrage a attack to advice stop academy accouchement from starting smoker and anybody abroad to abdicate the habit. He visited 17 schools.
Teacher Barb Randolph said she hoped the demonstrations worked, but alike if alone one or two got the bulletin it would be account the time and effort.
“There are too abounding kids of a adolescent age application tobacco of all types,” she said.
Artist Joe Wos was on duke to do a cartooning assignment for the children. He showed them footfall by footfall how to draw Snoopy as the acceptance followed forth with their own pens and paper. Mercer said Wos was the aboriginal citizen artisan of the Schulz Museum. Wos is architect of the ToonSeum in Pittsburgh.
