Smoking law fails to clear air outside doorways
The law was a good idea, but until authorities begin to enforce it, it will simply be just another meaningless piece of paper....
Nearly two years after the city prohibited smoking near the entrances to public buildings, some smokers don't know or don't care about the prohibition, clouds still surround some doors and the city hasn't issued any citations, preferring to negotiate solutions.
"I was walking through the door to come to work this morning, and a girl went `whew' right in my face," said Julie Carlile, mimicking someone blowing smoke.
Marilyn Byrd, chief of the city's Bureau of Occupational Health and Radiation Control, said she is not surprised that some people are still complaining about smokers near doorways....
But Byrd said her office can't do anything about violators unless it receives a complaint. The bureau, which has 13 employees responsible for monitoring a variety of potential environmental problems, does not have the staff to conduct unannounced inspections for possible smoking violations, though every complaint has been investigated and resolved, Byrd said.
Since when should the enforcement of a law be dependent on someone complaining about said law being broken? Whatever happen to the idea of proactive enforcement? Whatever happened to the idea of protecting the public's health? If the law is on the books, enforce it. Otherwise, the law is a mockery.
There are few things I detest more than being exposed to someone's second-hand smoke. If you choose to pollute your lungs that is your choice. Just don't expect me to participate in your self-destruction. I want to breathe clean air, and I have a right to that clean air, as breathing air is necessarily to my continued survival. If you choose to smoke, you deserve to be forced to take your habit to a place where it will not adversely impact my right to breathe clean air. Perhaps that sounds arrogant, and perhaps it is. You know what, though? I really don't care. I refuse to accept anything less than un-tobaccofied air, and I will actively defend my right to that air. Don't like it? Sorry, but I have the law on my side.
