Students present petition against tobacco store

Three Whitefish Middle School students

submitted a petition signed by 348 students to the city last week

stating their disapproval of a tobacco business slated to open

across from the school on Second Street.

Sixth-grader McKayla Stone organized

the petition, while student council members Bergen Carloss and Kate

Ehrenberg helped gather signatures. The trio met with city planning

director David Taylor at City Hall on Wednesday to share their

concerns.

“Since we’ve been at Muldown and now in

middle school, it’s always been ‘no drugs, no drugs,’” Stone said.

“Now all of a sudden we have a tobacco store next to the

school.”

Carloss said the students who signed

the petition say they don’t want to be subjected to the presence of

tobacco near the school.

“Most kids don’t even believe you when

you tell them a tobacco store is going in there,” she said.

The three girls suggest the business

should move to a different location and say having a tobacco store

at the entrance to Whitefish is a poor representation of the

city.

Taylor notes there is nothing currently

in city code that prohibits the business from moving into that

location. The city council could make a zoning change to add a

buffer around the school, Taylor said, but that could take months

to finalize, and the business is already approved to move in.

Taylor said city attorney Mary Van

Buskirk is exploring other options.