The University News

I'm a non-smoker and the ban just plane stinks! I have been around second hand smoke most of my adult life in both my job and social time. The ban has gone too far.

Here's hoping that the building architects of the future put in HVAC systems that will circulate enough air to keep non-smokers from having an issue(or they can go elsewhere).

I would support any "SMOKING" grill and bar establishment(s).

My father's cousin, a heavy smoker, died of lung cancer in her early 40s, leaving behind three children (the youngest in elementary school.) A few months later, her husband, also a heavy smoker, was found dead (of a heart attack) by their 14-year-old son. Nothing can take away that memory for that young man, or the pain of losing both parents within a few months.

A few years ago, I watched a co-worker try in desperation to save his wife, a heavy smoker, from certain death by lung cancer. I've heard it's one of the most horrible ways to die. The worst part is that their two young teenage kids had to watch their mother go through that. Now a single parent, Dad gave up smoking at the request of their children, who didn't want to lose him, also.

I had to quit a job back in the 1980s because smoking was allowed everywhere back then and I reached a point where I could no longer tolerate it. In my next job many years later, smokers would congregate by the front door, leaving fellow employees and guests of the business alike to walk through clouds of smoke. I held my breath at first because I literally cannot breathe when the air is thick - it is not just a matter of not liking it - but then opted to begin going to the back door instead.

We placed an order at a restaurant in Omaha once, but when our allegedly non-smoking section became filled with the smoke wafting from the smoking section, we had to leave before they could bring our order.

One of my sons has several friends who, when they were younger children, begged their parents to stop smoking, but apparently the parents' desire not to quit trumped the best interests of their children. My son went to a birthday party at one of these friends' homes, and had to leave early because he said the air was so thick he coulnd't breathe. You can see bruises on a child and be charged with child abuse. It is not as easy to see what you are doing to their lungs when you smoke around them, but you are doing them as much harm if not more and getting away with it...at least for now.

My preference and consumer habit is to avoid places where I can't breathe. Bans that disallow smoking within 30 feet of the front door are totally worthless because smoke within 30 feet may as well be 3 feet away.

We used to have a next-door neighbor who smoked cigars, which are even worse when it comes to being disgusting. His wife wouldn't let him smoke in the house, so he did it in the back yard. Unfortunately for us, that disgusting smoke became the harbinger of spring because as soon as we opened our windows, our house became filled with the cigar smoke blowing in from the neighbor's yard...and we were reminded again why we needed to keep those windows closed. He smoked in his own yard, yet it had a profound effect on us. We were thrilled when that neighbor moved away and the new neighbors were non-smokers. We could finally enjoy spring with the windows open.

I know you didn't need to hear those stories, Derek, but you sound like a more reasonable person than most smokers. I hope you live long enough to appreciate them.