Minutes

September 9, 1999

Present: From the Committee Task Force: Chair Rep. Ann Seibert, Julie Brill, Brian Flynn, Rep. Karen Kitzmiller, Philene Taormina, and Brian Leven (Legislative Council); From the Watts Group: Richard Watts, George Bellerose

Richard Watts gave the board a progress report on the six sites and dates chosen for forums and the seventh site chosen for a youth forum.

October 5, Brattleboro Union High School

Oct. 6, Rutland Intermediate School

Oct. 7, St. Albans, Bellows Free Academy

Oct. 12; Barre, Spaulding High School

Oct. 13, St. Johnsbury Academy

Oct. 14, Burlington High School.

The Youth forum is being planned for Hartford High School, date to be set.

Watts reported on the membership lists of the groups that would be receiving mailers announcing the tobacco forums. Task Force members suggested other organizations to be included on the mailing list of about 7,000.

Announcement to be mailed around September 20.

An outline/draft of five-page background piece, which will be distributed at the end of the forums, will be available the week of September 20.

There was a long discussion of the mailer copy, and a mockup of the mailer was circulated. Among the concerns were the mailer's "bureaucratic" copy, which would not attract one of the target audiences, teenagers; the need to better define the amount and time needed to create a tobacco trust fund; the need for questions/materials that would encourage the public to attend.

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The Watts Group is to redraft the mailer copy to incorporate these recommendations. The chair is to approve the changes on Monday, September 13.

The Task Force and Watts also discussed the structure of the forums. Suggestions included registration and an exit questionnaire, videos to be shown in breakout groups and televisions to show tobacco marketing ads, finding and training facilitators from the host community, and a warm-up to engage the audience.

Among the questions to be discussed in breakout groups are: What do you think of the task force's proposal? What do you think should be done to prevent youth from smoking? And, What do you think should be done to help smokers stop?

The task force also discussed the need to publicize the forums by having members call reporters and editors in the media that they knew. Among other suggestions were to have board members write Op-ed pieces and to appear on radio talk shows and to hold a press conference.