HUDSON FALLS -- This village of 7,000 people is the first in the Capital Region to make a municipally owned public park smoke-free, said Janine Stuchin, project manager of the Southern Adirondack Tobacco Free Coalition.

The change all started with a short letter to the editor.

"I did not know I was going to cause such a revolution," said Janet Donaldson, laughing as she spoke on the phone from her family'€™s home in Florida.

DONALDSON'S LETTER

Published July 11 Your smoking affects all those around you Editor: I had the opportunity to attend a summer girls' league basketball game recently at Derby Park in Hudson Falls. I was greatly enjoying the game of Hartford against Queensbury. However, it was short-lived. A gentleman came over and stood behind me smoking a cigar. I was not in the position to just get up and move due to a recent knee replacement, and my girls had placed my chair in a good viewing section. The smoke from the cigar bothered me so much that one of my girls went over to a recreation supervisor to ask if smoking was permitted at the park. Unfortunately, evidently, if you are over the legal age you can smoke. Although the gentleman was definitely over that age, all the children at the park inhaling secondhand smoke were not over that age and did not have a choice as to whether they wanted to inhale the cigar fumes! There were toddlers, pregnant women, elderly, children of all ages -- including Coach Smith's baby. What choice did any of them have? I am not a prude. However, I have had serious health issues due to my Lupus, including recently being diagnosed with Lupus Shrinking Lung Disease. If people want to continue to smoke, please do it where you are not affecting so many people with your secondhand smoke! It is not fair to others. I have just had to call my neighbor to bring my girl to tonight's game. I had to go to the doctor early this morning with the effects of secondhand smoke. This a very serious issue to the public. JANET H. DONALDSON Hartford

Donaldson wrote to The Post-Star because she was irritated by cigar smoke during her 15-year-old foster daughter Shavonda'€™s recreation league basketball game.

In her letter, the Hartford woman mentioned that she had the autoimmune disease lupus and could not move her seat because she was also recovering from knee replacement surgery at the time.

The letter caught the eye of Janine Stuchin, project manager of the Southern Adirondack Tobacco Free Coalition, who brought the issue to the attention of Hudson Falls Mayor David Carter.

Carter and the Village Board then raised the issue during several public meetings.

Two girl basketball players spoke in favor of the move at the Village Board meeting Monday.

"I told them it isn'€™t good for me because I have asthma," said Hayley Leclaire, 13.

"I said our younger siblings go there, and then they would see it and want to smoke," said Alexis Perryman, 14.

Both girls said they were nervous about addressing the board but felt obligated to speak up for what they believed in '€“ especially because their health teacher asked them to.

"These are venues where we are trying to promote the health and wellness of children and families," Stuchin said. "Tobacco use just wasn'€™t consistent with that."

The policy applies to Derby Park and Paris Park. Derby Park is used by soccer, softball and baseball teams run by Kingsbury'€™s Recreation League.

The policy also affects Paris Park, a small lot behind Village Hall. It is used for carnival rides during Sandy Hill Days and could also be used for ice-skating this winter, Carter said.

Though it will be six weeks before signs are posted and cigarette butt disposal cans are put outside park gates, the policy is effective immediately, Stuchin said.

Because it isn'€™t currently a law, police officers will not be writing tickets for smokers, Carter said.

The village could eventually pass stricter regulations, but for now, enforcement is on the honor system, he said. Residents can feel free to ask smokers to leave the park or extinguish their smokes.

Juckett Park, in the village'€™s busy traffic circle, won'€™t be impacted because it doesn'€™t contain playgrounds or ballfields used by children and families.

"We'€™re not trying to restrict people completely," Carter said.

Efforts targeting smoking are especially important in economically depressed areas like Hudson Falls, where smoking is ironically statistically more common, Stuchin noted.

In Hudson Falls, many children receive free or reduced lunches because their families are living at or below the poverty level.

"If we can get our kids to exit our doors without becoming a smoker, the chances of them becoming an adult smoker are really reduced because most start by the time they are 18," said Michelle Burke, chairwoman of the Margaret Murphy Elementary School Health Advisory Council, which has a membership of school officials, teachers, students and community members.