Editorial: Airport not blowing smoke

Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006 | 7:11 a.m.

By Friday, McCarran International Airport is to join other major airports across the nation where smoking is banned indoors, which includes elimination of the airport's indoor smoking lounges.

According to a story Tuesday by Las Vegas Sun reporter Liz Benston, the company that runs McCarran's food and beverage concessions also plans to enforce the ban in the restaurant bars that, up to now, have allowed smoking.

The ban is a result of the Question 5 ballot initiative that Nevada voters passed Nov. 7. The measure prohibits smoking in businesses and government buildings, the exceptions being on casino floors and in stand-alone bars that have slot machines but don't serve food. The ban goes into effect Friday, although opponents filed a lawsuit against the measure Tuesday, citing vague language and lack of due process and equal protection.

McCarran will join major airports in Los Angeles, Dallas and New York that ban indoor smoking. Critics told Benston that the last time McCarran prohibited smoking - in the early 1990s - smokers snuck their puffs in restrooms and other out-of-the-way places until custodians begged to have smoking lounges reopened.

Although this ban will undoubtedly bring complaints from some tourists and could prove unnerving to smokers awaiting delayed flights, it is clear that Nevada's residents are weary of members of the nonsmoking majority having to suck it up every time they walk past one of these indoor smoking dens.