John McLellan, the lead singer and guitarist of the band The Clintons, doesn't like smoking, nor does he like to play gigs in bars that allow smoking.

"I like to write fun, goofy songs," he told a group of students Wednesday at the reACT Teen Summit at Carroll College Wednesday.

With guitar in hand, he sang them a tune from the Clintons' recent album "Have Another," called "She's a Chimney."

The song portrays the songwriter's crush on a woman who smokes -- "sucks on heater" -- and has a "second-hand accessory."

McLellan is one of dozens of speakers at the three-day event, which aims to educate students about corporate tobacco companies' marketing tactics. His session was about songwriting.

"If you want to be a songwriter, actively listen to songs you like and ones you don't, so you can identify what it is you like or don't," he said.

McLellan told the students that writing music is about telling stories about how we relate: to each other, to the environment, to ourselves.

Dani Smith, 17-year-old from Columbus, attended the session on American Indian tobacco use.

"We talked about their culture and how it's manipulated and exploited," she said.

Smith was upset by the way corporate tobacco uses images of young children in American Indian settings to sell their products.

Tobacco companies use children at pow wows, for example, in their advertising campaigns, she said.

"It was disturbing," Smith said.

Smith said she learned that tobacco is used in American Indian culture for traditional purposes only.

"(Corporate tobacco companies) reach into their private lives and exploit them," she said. "Now they don't know it's only used from traditional purpose, and instead it's a part of the lifestyle."

Smith is a member of the teen group and serves on the state board of the Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program, of which reACT is a part.

Erin Kintop, reACT youth empowerment coordinator, said the entire event was planned and organized around teen suggestions.

"They give us topics and we make it happen," she said.

Kintop said reACT itself is a completely teen-led movement. What works to reach youth is peer mentoring, she said.

She said if MTUPP can provide a cool outlet, take a different focus on messaging beyond, for example, health risks, it effectively reaches teenagers.

"They aren't thinking about getting cancer at 40 right now," Kintop said.

This is Zachary Dieziger's second year with the core team. A high school junior from Kalispell, Dieziger enjoyed the session about new tobacco products.

He said many girls at his school use the Virginia Slim purse pack.

"It's a box of 20 cigarettes that fit perfectly into a purse," he said. "A lot of girls at school have them to get them past watching eyes."

The session also touched on the latest tobacco products -- pellets, twisted sticks and film strips that are made from finely ground, flavored tobacco and melt in the mouth.

"It's how they are responding to the Clean Indoor Air Act," Dieziger said. "And they are making it easier for teens to use."

Dieziger admitted she once tried a cigarette.

"I hated it," he said. "I have no clue why they do it."

Dieziger believes the summit will make a difference.

"The idea is we can pull away ideas from here and take them back to our communities," he said.

Alana Listoe: 447-4081 or alana.listoe@helenair.com