Letter: It’s a shame that smokers have no conscience

Monday, April 28, 2003 | 8:46 a.m.

With reference to Jeanne Crayton's April 23 letter, "If you can't stand the smoke, stay at home," in which she writes, "... think how smokers have been inconvenienced all these years":

I really don't give a hoot about smokers being inconvenienced!

I take exception to Crayton's comment warning nonsmokers to "stay home where the air is fresh" if they don't like the smell of smoke in casinos, restaurants, bars, motels and hotels.

I shouldn't have to stay home to avoid smoke. I should be able to go anywhere and breathe fresh air. Smokers are the ones who should have to stay home. Smokers stink up everything they encounter -- clothes, homes, bodies, cars and everywhere they go.

It also is a well-known fact that smoking and secondhand smoke are killers -- big time! It is a very dangerous habit. It is appalling that smokers have no conscience about inflicting their secondhand smoke on others. I don't inflict a "killer" habit on them.

No one's habit should be allowed to cause allergies, asthma, discomfort and the death of others. It's too bad smoking isn't against the law because some people should be protected from themselves.

Nonsmokers certainly should have more rights than smokers. It's too bad smokers don't have the guts to stop. They pay dearly (as do others) for their own slow suicide.

SHIRLYE STEWART