Objects to mayor's stance on tobacco

Until I read Barry Groveman's opinion piece in The Acorn, I didn't realize that in addition to being mayor he is also the new self-appointed Surgeon General of Calabasas.

I have no doubt the numerous letters sent to The Acorn, along with this newspaper's editorial condemning the scope of the brutal smoking ban, prompted him to respond in this defense.

Did he propose to modify the law to address the civic liberties concerns of both the smoking and non-smoking voters? Of course not, because this new law was not about anyone's health concerns, but a convenient vehicle for him to pull a headline-grabbing political stunt. He quotes unsubstantiated statistics from unsubstantiated studies as justification in his opinion piece. If the legislature believed these so-called statistics were really valid, they would have immediately proposed the cessation of all tobacco sales in the state, as was done with asbestos and other dangerous substance.

I believe, like a great number of other voters, that anti-smoking regulations are necessary, up and to the point that they do not become dangerous to the health of individual liberty. Obviously Groveman and the other elected officials do not.

I call for the immediate modification of the anti-smoking law and if no corrective action is taken, I trust those of us who believe in civil liberty will send a strong message to those politicians responsible at the next election. Jerry Cutler Calabasas