CAL POLY - Anti-tobacco forces want the Cal Poly rodeo to cut all ties to chew, which would mean pulling the plug on local scholarships provided by U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co.

The nonprofit Public Health Institute is providing San Luis Obispo County with $162,252 in grant funds to launch an 18-month campaign to convince Cal Poly rodeo to give tobacco the boot.

Cal Poly's rodeo coach said he's already banned tobacco advertising at rodeos.

The only remaining link, he said, is a student scholarship program endowed by U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., which markets Copenhagen and Skoal brands.

"I've allowed it to go on because I don't think it's fair to the students to take their scholarships away," said coach Bret Black, who estimated that Poly students won a few thousand dollars in scholarship money last year from Smokeless Tobacco Co.

The county grant will provide up to $10,000 in replacement scholarships and will try to line up other sponsors to permanently endow a scholarship fund.

"I think it's great," Black said. "I think they should give it all to rodeo."

The grant also will be used for public education, and while it will focus on rodeo, it will promote a formal ban on tobacco advertising and use of tobacco products at all campus events.

County supervisors accepted the grant on Tuesday, but their support wasn't unanimous.

"It's not where that money should be going," said Supervisor Peg Pinard, who voted against accepting the funds.

She said she'd rather see the money spent on a program such as Special Olympics, which is struggling for funding.

County Health Director Greg Thomas said the Public Health Institute wants to raise awareness of the dangers of "spit" tobacco and, for that reason, has specified how the money may be used.

The nonprofit group, which forms partnerships with local governments to promote public health projects, is distributing money from three separate tobacco settlements to fund the Buck Tobacco Sponsorship program.

The grant to the county will be used to hire a prevention specialist and two members of Ameri-Corps, a national service corps.

The local campaign is part of a statewide effort to eliminate tobacco sponsorship of both professional and college rodeos, said Andrea Craig Dodge, a project coordinator with the Public Health Institute.

Cal Poly rodeo is the only collegiate event in California included in the campaign, she said.

But if the project is successful, she said she hopes Cal Poly will become a model for other colleges.

The campaign has also targeted four professional rodeos, including the popular Elks Rodeo in Santa Maria.