Cigarette Ban

In response to “Smoking Ban Looms at County Jail” (Metro, April 24):

Let’s hear it for Sheriff Sherman Block! If the prospect of going to jail doesn’t deter petty criminals, perhaps the idea of being deprived of their addiction will.

To Deputy Public Defender Stanley Shimotsu, who fears an ill wind borne by a smoking ban on “guys with nothing else to do but smoke,” I say, guys--and gals--who smoke are doing nothing and aren’t even thinking; it’s up to you and others to propose positive steps.

Replace cigarettes with books. Replace greedy tobacco vendors with volunteer schoolteachers.

MICHELE MOONEY

Los Angeles