Smoking should be banned at park pool

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

July 02, 2009 05:49 pm

— Last Saturday we visited the kiddy pool at Pipestem State Park. I had my 8-month-old, my sister had her 4-year-old and her friend had her 6-year-old.
We sat our things up inside the fenced kiddy pool area. As we were playing in the kiddy pool some very uneducated-on-cigarette-smoking people came over, sat by our things and started smoking. (About five of them.) The smoke was rolling over onto our kids’ things and my baby stroller.
These people had small children with them and were blowing the smoke into the faces of their own children. They allowed a very small tot to chew on a cigarette lighter.
Needless to say, we started to move our things to another area. One of the men spoke up and said, “Do you have a problem?” I said, “We do not expose our children to cigarette smoke.” He said, “Then you should not go to public places.”
Our kids should have the right to visit our state park and not to be exposed to rude smokers.
Keep in mind Pipestem State Park welcomes smokers. They have large ash trays sitting around inside of the kiddy pool area.
Shame on you Pipestem State Park for allowing our children to be exposed to such a harmful thing as cigarette smoke.
We love this park and visit often. Until the smoking has been banned in the kiddy pool area we will not visit the pool again.
Kathy Hamm-Wolfe
Princeton