Wednesday, November 5, 2003

Commissioners need to stop blowing smoke on us

It is time for the Fayette County Commissioners to quit dancing around the public smoking issue and find some courage. There is no doubt that second-hand smoke causes serious health problems. No doubt! There can be no argument to the contrary. “Do you tell somebody who owns a business that they can’t allow smoking? This is still America.” That is a quote from Commission Chairman Greg Dunn. Why not? You tell business what they can build, where they can build it, and even what they can sell. As a county, we do not allow the sale of liquor. The cities regulate where a business can sell liquor by the bottle and by the glass. Yet, you don’t want to regulate cigarette smoking. If I go out to eat three times a day, 365 days a year, someone sits next to me and has an alcoholic drink at each and every one of those meals, I am not harmed. However, if someone sits next to me at each of those meals and smokes a cigarette, I am immediately harmed. We regulate the alcohol, not the tobacco! I ask, is this America? Is this a country where I can depend on my government to protect me from eminent harm? There is no legitimate reason to allow cigarette smoking. Not one.

Stephen D. Ott.

Fayette