6.18.2009

Candle Light Vigil

The Truth: Utah's Anti-Tobacco Campaign hosted a Candle Light Vigil recently at the State Capitol building, were we set up 1,330 tea lights to represent each person who died last year in Utah due to Tobacco related diseases. It was a very powerful event. House Representative, Paul Ray passionately addressed the larger issues with Big Tobacco Corruption, and the real effects Tobacco can have on someone, including second hand smoke. His mother smoked two packs of cigarettes a day while he was in the womb, preventing his heart from properly forming, forcing him to undergo three heart surgeries by the time he was 16, and have his last heart surgery two years ago due to complications of the first three surgeries. He explained the dangers of secondhand smoke, "You pull out a cigarette while driving and your kid is in the back seat, well, you are killing them." He mentioned 200 of the 1,330 people died in Utah last year due to tobacco related diseases were deaths due to secondhand smoke. This is serious biz!

A youth advocate, Sky, also spoke to us about the effects Tobacco has had on his own family, and his experiences in fighting Big Tobacco with the Phoenix Alliance ( a youth led Anti-Tobacco group in Utah).




House Representative and Sky

Brinton Jones, singer from Devil Whale, formally known as Palamino
played for the crowd after the three speakers. It was a beautiful evening.


All in all, a great event!

www.fighttheugly.com

2 comments:

Jessica said...

Wow sounds great. I love the photographs. Beautiful. And I have a permacrush on Brinton. If I was there I would have come. I'm glad it was a successful evening.

tifsong said...

I totally have a crush on Brinton, too. I didn't know he was a new band though. Palamino was fabulous. mmmm yeah.

beautiful pics, Jo. :)