To the editor:

We are making criminals of people who are smokers, something that is legal, and taking away citizens’ rights. This ban refers to any public place, not public buildings. By doing so we’ve taken away private owners’ rights to decide whether they will allow smoking. Bar owners can decide to be topless or gay, but they can’t be smoking bars. Even private clubs are covered in this ban. People with home businesses cannot legally smoke in their own houses or offices.

A subgroup of self-serving activists has decided what is “good” for me and made it law. They’ve taken away my constitutional rights to choose and engage in any legal activity. Why should they stop with smoking? Can they decide what my diet should be? Shouldn’t they insist that all gas engines be banned, as they are even more polluting than cigarettes?

This ban should never have happened. Non-smokers had the right to choose not to patronize a bar. Forcing everyone to meet his or her personal preferences is an abuse of law.

We have almost destroyed the business viability of restaurants and bars in this town. Our streets are cluttered with loiterers and trash, and we have incurred the cost of enforcing this unfair ban on our city treasuries. We are teaching and encouraging intolerance. Smoking is not my choice, but I don’t have the right to decide someone is a criminal, if that is their choice, or to take away their civil rights.

Mary Anderson,

Lawrence