Kingsport group to host forum on ozone alerts
  
From Staff Reports

   What does an "Ozone Alert" mean? Is it really that serious? Have these and other questions answered at a free public forum devoted entirely to ozone alerts which have been issued recently for the Tri-Cities.
   Kingsport Citizens for a Cleaner Environment invites residents of the Tri-Cities to attend its first public forum titled "Preventing Ozone and Protecting Your Family" at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 30, in the Kingsport Civic Auditorium on Fort Henry Drive.
   "Everyone seems to be hearing about Ozone Alerts recently, but many people still have questions about what causes it, how dangerous it is, and what we as a community can do to prevent it," says Scottee Scott, vice-chairman of the citizens group. "We hope that by having this forum, those questions will be asked and answered."
   Members of the newly organized Ozone Action Partnership for Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia will present a short program at the beginning of the forum, with plenty of time afterward to answer questions from the audience.
   Invited to participate are Dr. Tony DeLucia of ETSU's Quillen College of Medicine and president of the American Lung Association; Don Hurst of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development; Steve Gossett of the Tennessee Air Pollution Control Board and Eastman Chemical Co.; Chris McCartt, City of Kingsport Planning Department; Susan Reid of the First Tennessee Development District; Quincy Stykes of the Tennessee Division of Air Pollution Control and Jean and Ed Stead of ETSU's Department of Management and Marketing.
   According to the Environmental Protection Agency, about a third of the population nationwide is vulnerable to high levels of ozone, which occur most frequently in urban areas during the summer time.
   Reservations are not required for the free event. For more information call the Kingsport Citizens for a Cleaner Environment office at (423) 247-2481.