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Anti-smoker bothered about mandates to stop smoking in bars and restaurants

Jim Cowles, Breckenridge

The move to ban smoking in Summit County has caused me to consider this from several different perspectives.

I need to say at this time I have never been a smoker and have never understood why people needed to smoke. Even as a young boy, I found that being in a smoke-filled room hurt my eyes.

I have known for years that smoking is bad for a person’s health and find it ludicrous people will claim they were not aware of the danger in this matter.



I am even bothered by someone smoking on the chair in front of me on a ski lift. That said, I must admit concern about the proposal to ban smoking in Summit County.

Each of us has the ability to make decisions and act on them. If we do not like the product a business provides, we do not go there. We don’t spend money on what we do not care for. If enough people feel the same as we do, that business goes away or changes. As far as I know, this is the American way.



I realize Boulder now has a law of this nature, but is that adequate justification? The owners of businesses who would be affected by this proposal have put their own money at risk to provide a service.

Do those of us who do not smoke, have the right to tell these owners how to run their business when we have no stake in their success or failure? Do we have the right to tell them what to do when we really never need enter their business?

I have always believed that each of us has our free agency (with some limitations) to decide how we will live our lives.

Does the fact I do not smoke authorize me to mandate no one else can do that either? The concept of a smoke-free county is a good one, but is it really appropriate? The common argument here is we are doing it for our children. I raised four children and didn’t take them to places that had an environment I didn’t like.

Assume we pass this, and now are flushed with success, the question now arises, what is next? SUVs, alcohol, swearing in public and using cell phones while driving are some other items to consider.

Generally, Summit County residents are intelligent, caring people who have the ability to make their own decisions in life. They do not need someone else making those decisions for them.


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