Up in Smoke

I read with interest Helen Gershon’s June 25 letter to the editor (“Smokers Rebel”) in which she states that she and her sister will boycott international airlines that do not allow them to smoke. That’s great! I’ve traveled all over the world, walked on some of the best beaches, seen the views from Mt. Sinai and Machu Picchu, and strolled around the pyramids in Egypt. I will never know how many nonsmokers have been to these places. However, from all the cigarette butts I’ve seen I know that a lot of slobs who smoke have been there. BOB LAUNIUS Channel Islands As a nonsmoker, I still sympathize with Helen Gershon. The fact remains that we are moving toward a total ban of all smoking wherever people congregate indoors. If Ms. Gershon cannot terminate this self-destructive behavior, she should plan ahead and pinpoint outdoor areas or “smoking-permitted” ghettos inside the building. We wish her luck. ROBERT CURLENDER Pasadena Ms. Gershon, if you wish to ruin your own health, so be it. Please have adequate health insurance--I, as a taxpayer, don’t want to pay for your Medicare and Medi-Cal because of your foolish addiction. If you have the right to pollute the air around you, do the rest of us have the right to go back to backyard incinerators and remove the smog control devices from our cars? ROBERT S. ELLYN Calabasas Smokers have no rights! Breathers have rights. So glad to hear Helen Gershon and her sister only fly when absolutely necessary. That’s what nonsmokers always had to do before a much-overdue ban on smoking took place. We live in strange times when children, the elderly and animals are mistreated and shunted about with no rights. But smokers are complaining?! Get real, Ms. Gershon. D. KENTNOR Yucaipa Kudos to Helen Gershon and her sister! I, too, am a smoker, and while I empathize with the health concerns (and rights) of the nonsmoking majority in this country, I take umbrage at the fact that I can now only enjoy a cigarette with my cup of coffee or after a meal in the privacy of my own home or car. Having worked in the airline/travel industry for nearly 25 years, I have begrudgingly watched as my rights and freedom of choice have been stripped away without benefit of alternative or compromise. Imagine my shock upon discovering recently that my last sanctuary, the airport bar, was now nonsmoking. There are millions of smokers traveling every day and the airlines had better heed our call. Most of us have disposable income, and for the moment, a choice to fly with the airline that makes us most comfortable. Given the financial status of the “major carriers,”they can ill afford to lose a large and powerful segment of the population. So I call upon my frequent-flying fellow smokers to write your carrier of choice and demand your rights! And to Helen and her sister . . . Come on over to my house for a cup of coffee (and a cigarette). JOE NEILL Pasadena As a travel consultant, I had two clients who could not give up their cigarettes for the flight from Burbank to Miami. So I routed them through Dallas/Ft. Worth where they had an hour’s layover. They remained good clients until their deaths (one from lung cancer, the other from emphysema). HELEN POSTHUMA Pasadena Tell you what, Helen, let’s go on a trip together. You can bring a carton of cigarettes and I’ll bring a bag of asbestos. Every time you exhale, I’ll toss a handful of fibers your way. Deal? After all, asbestos-throwers have rights too! PAUL SCHOWALTER La Habra