To the editor:

This is in response to Jon Gwartney’s comments about the no-smoking ordinance. It is true that smoking is a legal activity for the adults of the United States. But, as far as the city’s no-smoking ordinance goes, that is not the issue. The issue addressed by the ordinance is what happens when the legal activities of one person begin to infringe upon the health of other people.

A parallel situation would be that of drinking alcohol. This, too, is a legal activity for adults. However, when a situation arises where an individual’s alcohol drinking begins to negatively affect the health of other people (such as drinking while driving) we create laws that stop that situation from occurring.

Research has shown that second-hand smoke is very unhealthy. Saying that I have the choice of not going into a business that allows smoking is like saying that people have the choice not to drive if they want to avoid drunken drivers. What kind of choice is that?

Obviously, our city leaders saw a health risk and decided to act now rather than waiting decades for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to catch up. I applaud them for their leadership. This is not an issue that warrants questionable scare tactics like labels of “Nazi” and “Islamic.” Rather, this is an issue that simply warrants common sense.

Bob Stewart,

Lawrence