OAKDALE - An effort to snuff out smokeless tobacco promotions at the Oakdale Rodeo has people talking in the self-proclaimed Cowboy Capital of the World.

The Buck Tobacco campaign was one of the topics among lunch patrons Tuesday at the H-B Saloon, a decades-old business that exemplifies this city's Western heritage.

"Why are they picking on our little rodeo?" asked Mike Bacigalupi, who owns the saloon and restaurant. He noted that the government appears to tolerate tobacco-company sponsorship of NASCAR auto racing.

Frank Clark was lunching with fellow Oakdale Irrigation District officials. The district has no position on the subject, but Clark did. "I'm not for kids using smokeless tobacco," he said. "But that is why you have parents. It's the parents' responsibility to make sure the kids are not doing that."

The Stanislaus County Health Services Agency called on the Oakdale Saddle Club last week to end its sponsorship deal with U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, the maker of Skoal and Copenhagen snuff, among other brands.

The Health Services Agency, to promote its cause, paid for a billboard on Highway 108 between Riverbank and Oakdale. The sign, to be displayed through early May, reads: "Spit tobacco stains our rodeo."

The tobacco company's sponsorship consists of a scoreboard used at the rodeo in April and a few thousand dollars paid to the Saddle Club. In exchange, the company displays its logo and gives away cans of snuff to adults at a sampling tent.

Saddle Club defenders said the rodeo needs all the funding it can get and that young people are not overly exposed to tobacco influences at the event.

Oakdale resident Mary Curtoni said she has considered joining the campaign because it troubles her to see young people using snuff.

"You are walking along the streets of Oakdale and you see tobacco spit on the sidewalk," she said. "I don't think that is uplifting for the community."

The Health Services Agency is not alone in its concern over smokeless tobacco, which is a suspected cause of oral cancer, heart disease and other problems.

The Oakdale Joint Unified School District developed a health education program after receiving the results of a 2001 survey.

Kristi Rapinchuk, a program coordinator for the district, said 725 of the district's students took the California Healthy Kids Survey. The results showed that 3percent of seventh-graders, 6percent of ninth-graders and almost 10 percent of 11th-graders used smokeless tobacco. The levels of use were above the state and national rates, she said.

The district's health teachers give presentations to students on smokeless tobacco's potential effects, including a video about Bob Leslie, a former Major League Baseball player who died of oral cancer.

"One issue is that students and parents alike tend to think of spit tobacco as a safe alternative to smoking, and that is not true," Rapinchuk said.

Buck Tobacco officials have said the scoreboard and arena banners serve as advertising that young people should not see. The officials also said the sampling tent at the 2004 rodeo was too close to a mechanical bull ride that draws young people.

Mark Loeser, head of tobacco education for the Health Services Agency, estimated a cost of $15,000 for the Saddle Club to rent a scoreboard. The club could recoup at least some of the cost by selling advertising space on the board, he said.

Mike Wagner, a Saddle Club board member, maintained that the tobacco company is a responsible sponsor.

"I don't see the club paying $15,000 for something that is given to us now," he said. "The club is all volunteer and we need to maximize any dollars we get, because we maintain that facil-ity year-round."

Loeser said Buck Tobacco campaign supporters hope to talk with the Saddle Club board next month.

The campaign, a project of the nonprofit Public Health Institute, persuaded the Poway rodeo in Southern California to sign a one-year agreement to reject tobacco sponsors. The campaign also seeks to stop smokeless tobacco sponsorships of rodeos in Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.

Bee staff writer Ken Carlson can be reached at 578-2321 or kcarlson@modbee.com

Posted on 01/05/05 06:45:17