City shouldn't make criminals of smokers

I don't smoke. I hate the sensation of inhaling fire.

However, I think it's entirely unfair to criminalize smoking cigarettes in public. Smokers are still human beings; it's not right to treat them as "less than" because they have a bad habit. It's hideously unpleasant when people smack their lips when they eat, but I don't think they need to be cited for it.

A lot of people complain that cigarettes stink and that they don't want to breathe in the smoke as they walk by. It's not terribly difficult to take two or three steps out of the way, avoiding the smell altogether. Are those three steps really that much of an inconvenience? Can folks just not stand the idea of arriving at their destination 15 seconds later than they would have if "that filthy smoker" hadn't made them take a threestep detour?

Secondhand smoke can be harmful, yes, but it also doesn't travel farther than 10 or 20 feet. It's very easily avoided. Smokers are well aware that nonsmokers generally don't want to share in their habit, and most will take great care to blow smoke away from the people around them.

I have no problem with the law that makes smoking illegal in enclosed public spaces, such as restaurants. Indoors, cigarette smoke has nowhere to go and can be very invasive. Outdoors, however, smoke dissipates rather quickly. It's not like these are bonfires; they're threeinchlong tubes of paper.

The complaint that cigarettes pollute the air is laughable. Maybe it is a pollutant, yes, but does anybody honestly think cigarette smoke does as much damage as, say, the exhaust fumes of an average automobile? I'd like to see the people complaining about cigarette pollution give up their precious cars.

Yes, smoking is unhealthy. So are greasy foods.

Come to think of it, the smell of McDonald's makes me absolutely ill. I think I'll try to pass a law banning eating McDonald's in public.

This is ridiculous.

Everybody has bad habits.

We don't need to be punished for them. Sally Zybert Thousand Oaks