Appreciates what the city did

My congratulations to the city of Calabasas and its leadership for having the courage and foresight to enact such a comprehensive anti-smoking ordinance.

We enacted a similar ban here in Las Cruces, N.M. a few years ago but the citizens petitioned and voted it down. We still have a ban on smoking in all restaurants and public buildings, plus smoking is banned within 50 feet of the entrance to a public building, but that is all.

I never cease to be amazed at the ignorance of our population concerning the dangers of secondhand smoke. It took 13 years of war in Vietnam to kill 55,000 Americans and we had thousands of protesters marching in the streets protesting the war. Second hand smoke kills approximately 50,000 to 55,000 Americans a year and practically no one is protesting those deaths.

Despite their arguments to the contrary, smokers have no constitutional right to poison our air.

They have a right to own a firearm, but they do not have the right to indiscriminately kill people with it. What makes anyone think they should have the right to do the same with their second hand smoke?

Thank you for making your city a safer place. Perhaps it will inspire the anti-smoking forces here in Las Cruces to try again. James Eckman Las Cruces, N.M.