To the editor:

After our first child was born, we basically stopped eating out. We loved several of the nonsmoking restaurants, but we craved more variety. Since July, we have greatly enjoyed eating out again. It has been wonderful to know when we want to dine out, we can choose any restaurant we want in Lawrence.

Before the ban, it was not worth exposing our children to secondhand smoke. As a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning engineer I understand how air flows, and it does not stay in one area. There is no such thing as a nonsmoking section. Even the best ventilation systems and separate rooms cannot keep the smoke from migrating from the smoking section to the nonsmoking section. It does not matter how many walls or fans you install.

I take that back; a smoking room can be designed to clean-room standards. That would prevent the smoke from flowing out to areas of lower concentration as soon as a door is opened. But, since restaurants do not have the profit margins that pharmaceutical and computer hardware companies have, I doubt they can afford to provide that level of protection.

Carrie Pepperdine,

Lawrence