The Wednesday edition of your paper contained a heartening article to this old-time believer in the individual freedoms guaranteed by our forefathers against overpowering governments in the Bill of Rights, the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

Those founders recognized the innate quality of governments to expand their domain, power and bureaucracy, and the power of an organized minority, or temporary majority, sometimes called a mob. Thus, a Constitutional Republic, not a democracy, as is the current media spin, was constituted, creating limited powers to the governors, but reserving to the governed all powers not specifically granted to the governors. Going further, they also provided that regardless of how many people or mobs objected to one's religion, or speech, and tried to control his right to property, or liberty, or life, that person had the right to the equal protection of the law.

But, to protect the rights of individuals, there must be a continual vigilance, and sometimes wars. It has been a constant fight ever since the ratification of the Constitution these 200 hundred years. Unfortunately many of the rights reserved have been forfeited by disuse, or failure to fight them. Some have been violated, and never righted.

Mormons were run out of several states before they were finally able to find temporary peace. Japanese citizens were dragged from their homes, their property confiscated, and imprisoned in concentration camps, all without due process of law.

However, the greatest danger to the rights of individuals is now what I call the numbing down of Americans. As long as they feel that they themselves aren't being the object of governmental action, they will not become involved.

The article to which I referred in Wednesday's paper was the one where the mayor and council of Fayetteville recorded that they considered the citizens who lived within their jurisdiction to be intelligent enough, knowledgeable enough and capable enough to determine which establishments they would visit, or do business with, without the guidance of, protection of, and nurturing of, provided by big brother, the City of Fayetteville.

No businesses, buildings nor offices will have to be branded with distinctive colors to warn those citizens of the possibility of tobacco smoke being present. It was just understood by the city fathers (and mothers) that their constituents were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.

Not so in Peachtree City and Fayette County. The governing bodies of those two jurisdictions have a very low opinion of the intelligence, knowledge, and capabilities of their constituents. Yielding to an organized minority, the city fathers (and mothers), under the leadership of Mayor Bob Lenox and Councilman Jim Pace, proposed an ordinance that would have banned all use of tobacco in all the buildings in Peachtree City, to protect the children, you know.

After some little protests from some of the business people in the city, a "compromise" agreement was made to allow smoking in buildings, provided that the building would be branded with designated colors to warn the unsuspecting, helpless and government-dependent citizens of Peachtree City that there might be some secondhand smoke in that establishment, bar, store, office or pool hall.

So the people of Peachtree City are now safe. The ordinance, with the branding provisions, was passed.

Under the leadership of Harold Bost, the county commission thought so little of the countywide citizens, that they adopted the Peachtree City ordinance, as I understand it, lock, stock, and barrel, or am I being politically incorrect to use any phrase that might ring of a firearm.

So, now all citizens of Fayette County, with the exception of Fayetteville, and probably Brooks and Tyrone, are protected by their county and city governments, with all the powers of their combined police forces to enforce that protection.

As I stated, my old-fashioned American heart goes out to those hardy, independent, and brave members of mayor and council of Fayetteville, who at least left off the color brands.