To the editor:

What a pleasure it was this weekend to be able to sit anyplace in a favorite restaurant without fear of having asthma triggered by secondhand cigarette smoke! I want to thank the task force on smoking for their intense yearlong examination of the secondhand smoke issue. Without their hard work under the leadership of David Kingsley, no progress would have been made.

Thanks, too, to the city commissioners for taking on an issue that certainly was controversial even though it appears the vast majority of people of Lawrence favor a smoking restriction. The commissioners could have ducked the question and allowed it to be settled by a possible petition drive and public vote. However, we elected them to make decisions, and that is what they did. In the future people will look back and wonder in amazement why such an obviously beneficial action was not taken sooner.

Dr. Joe Douglas,

Lawrence