I’m returning to my old stomping grounds on Tuesday, December 12, to speak about a timely Tobacco Retail License update for that city. My alma mater, James Logan High School is there (the only high school in town still), so many formidable years of my life were shaped by Union City, where I also lived.

Cumulatively I also lived in the adjacent cities of Hayward and Fremont for decades. The goal is to thwart Big Tobacco from continuing to sell poison to youth illegally.

Even if one child is spared the addiction of nicotine addiction for his or her life, this journey to the East Bay will be worthwhile.

Unless one’s looking for it, one cannot imagine what branding is being used to market to kids, becoming environmental waste clogging our waterways, manufactured with cheap metals, plastics, battery acid, and other toxic, carcinogenic, leaking substances, including containers that will take thousands of years to decompose. Even if one child is spared the addiction of nicotine addiction for his or her life, this journey to the East Bay will be worthwhile.