Letter: Law should be written to serve everyone

Sunday, Dec. 17, 2006 | 8:34 a.m.

Bar and tavern owners have been serving food and drink while customers indulged in smoking for more than 100 years. That is what bars and taverns do.

Question 5, the overreaching, vague, broad smoking ban should be completely thrown out by the courts or at the least be rewritten to allow an exemption for the bars and taverns. If this bad law were rewritten, both the smoking and nonsmoking public could be served.

Nonsmokers could have all of the other food service restaurants to patronize and smokers could have the bars and taverns. Every adult could then make a conscious decision as to where to go to eat, drink and gamble. All bars and taverns could post signs stating, "Absolutely no one under 21 years old allowed." So, those people who currently take their children into bars for food could be forewarned.

Legislators should have gotten off their duffs years ago and did their job by writing a similar law and not leaving it to some organizations that have a clear agenda. These lazy lawmakers should write a well-crafted law that would allow nonsmoking restaurants for all of the nonsmokers but protect the casinos and the small taverns and bars.

Everyone could be served. The nonsmokers, the smokers and all of the tourists. It's very easy to make everyone happy. Serve all of the people, not just some of the people.

Brad Evans, Las Vegas