MAILBAG - Oct. 3, 2008
Smoking ban: solution or drag?
Regarding “Smoking ban goes back to council,” Tuesday:
I do not want the council to pass the present smoking ban. I had a father who at 75 died from smoking. We had a family member who was in the RAF and was offered all the cigarettes he wanted, and was told by doctors that he would die if he did not stop smoking. At a poolside party, he died at age 52 with a cigarette in each hand.
I promised my father all his life that I would never smoke. Now, at age 92, I have never smoked.
Why do I not want the present smoking ban? If you don’t let people smoke on the street, in their own homes, in their vehicles, you are going to have people going against the law. The law has not stopped cellphone use in moving cars. Drug smoking is all over town.
People will smoke someplace, and if you have a no smoking ban all over town, you will need many, many more police to try and stop it.
ROLAND McGHIE
Glendale
Smoking ruins outdoor experiences
I thoroughly enjoy outdoor dining but seldom get to eat outdoors due to smokers. As a person with lung cancer and never a smoker, it is disgusting to be taking a bite of food and have a big cloud of tobacco smoke engulf you.
I watched the City Council meeting last night and was amazed at comments of some of the council members.
This issue is similar to the first state legislation passed regarding use of cellphones while driving.
At the onset, it should have included text messaging. How many more accidents/deaths will occur due to drivers texting before the legislation is enacted in January?
I was particularly amazed by statements by Councilmen Ara Najarian and Bob Yousefian concerning the “10-foot separation” between smokers and nonsmokers in outside dining areas. Are they serious? Does the smoke know it should stay on that side of the divider?
GAYLE HUTTON
Glendale
What will be legislated next?
What is this city turning into?
The City Council will vote next week to ban smoking. I wonder what is next. Smoking is a choice. Some consider it a habit, but ultimately, it’s a choice.
If I decide to smoke, nobody sitting on a bureaucratic seat has the right to tell me what to do and how to do it. Of course, I have been considerate of nonsmokers while I’ve puffed smoke in the air.
What’s next on the agenda? I have a few suggestions:
1. Limit pets within 10 feet of citizens who can’t stand pets from all city property and all city private land (especially lap dogs outside coffee shops).
2. Limit the consumption of alcohol in restaurants.
3. Enforce a belt law to ensure citizens are not appalled by the sight of the undergarments of teenagers who want to carelessly flaunt their undergarments while wearing loose pants.
The “growing movement” referred to regarding the smoking ban (“Smoking ban all but OKd,” Wednesday) is a movement, all right, but a movement in the wrong direction.
Who is to say that a nonsmoker has more rights than a smoker? It’s very interesting how over the years, the unnecessary policing of power by the bureaucrats has taken away some of our rights.
With reelection approaching, smoking voters need to look back at the track record of the incumbents and vote accordingly.
Enough is enough.
PAKRAD MARKARIAN
Glendale
Smoking should be banned in the city
I work and breathe in Glendale. I welcome a no-smoking ban for the entire city. We all know that smoking causes cancer and that secondhand smoke is even more dangerous.
Wherever I go up and down the streets of Glendale, people are blowing secondhand smoke in my face.
We have to learn to respect others. The only place a person has the right to use harmful cancer-causing materials is in the privacy of his or her own home.
Please pass the ban!
ROY T. DODSON
Eagle Rock
Kids shouldn’t be subjected to smoke
Concerning the Saturday question, “Are you for or against the smoking ban?”: Well, I never really gave the smoking-in-public thing much thought until recently.
It was when I was enjoying an evening walk with my wife and two children, ages 2 and 4. We were walking past the crowded patio of the Coffee Bean on Honolulu Avenue when my 4-year-old asked me what that smell was.
It was not the smell of coffee he was referring to, but that of cigarette smoke. I quickly explained what he smelled, and the dangers that come with the dirty habit.
Later that evening, I had thought about his question again, and if I answered it effectively, when I realized what a shame it was that my innocent children were subjected to the dangers of secondhand smoke from just taking a walk around our neighborhood. In saying that, I would have to vote for the smoking ban. I don’t know of any concerned parent who wouldn’t.
PAUL COLE
Glendale