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Excerpts from: Teens targets of new smoking law

 Ohio.com  [04/1701]

                  MARIETTA, OHIO (AP) -- Authorities are beginning to crack
                  down on teen-agers violating a new Ohio law that bans tobacco use
                  for anyone under 18.

                  Seven students have been charged for underage smoking at Marietta
                  City Schools since the new law went into effect last month.

                  Four students at the high school and three middle school students
                  have been cited.

                  The school district's policy is to suspend students for three days who
                  use tobacco on school grounds, said William Douglass, a school
                  resource officer for Marietta City Schools.

                  The new law states it is illegal for anyone under 18 to buy, possess
                  or use cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, snuff or
                  rolling papers. Previously, it was only illegal to sell cigarettes to
                  minors.

                  ``I don't go up and down the halls looking for (smokers), but if the
                  administration presents me with an incident, I go ahead and do the
                  citation,'' said Douglass.

                  Underage smokers can face a $100 fine, loss of driving privileges,
                  community service and smoking education classes.

                  Douglass said most of the smoking he has encountered has taken
                  place outside, although he did cite one student who was caught
                  smoking in a restroom.

                  ``This policy is in effect on all school grounds, including the school
                  buses,'' Douglass said. ``If it is stops young people from smoking, it
                  will be successful.''

                  Karen Miller of the American Cancer Society said studies show that
                  ``if we can keep them from using tobacco products until they're 18,
                  the odds are they are not going to start.''

                  A 1998 study determined 36 percent of teens in the nation use
                  tobacco.

                  Eric Henniger, 17, who attends Fort Frye High School, said
                  smoking is something that usually takes place outside of school
                  because students are punished if caught smoking at school.

                  ``It will really cut down on those who bring tobacco products to
                  school,'' he said of the new law.

                  Miller is hoping the fear factor will help deter youths from smoking.

                  ``Now that there can be some repercussions, maybe it will prevent
                  (youths) from even purchasing tobacco products,'' she said.

                  Authorities elsewhere are still grappling with how to go about
                  enforcing it.

                  ``Don't expect to see us with lights and sirens screaming to get every
                  kid smoking in a back yard,'' said Sheriff Thomas Maurer of Wayne
                  County in northern Ohio. ``We're not going to bust every kid
                  smoking on a street corner. We don't want to take this to excessive
                  measures.''

                  Steve Thornton, Wooster's police chief, said the ``real enforcement
                  has to come from the parents.''