SMOKING BAN IN BARS: DENIAL OF CHOICE, OR AID TO AFFLICTED?

Smoking may be an even greater evil than the accordion, but the decision
to light up remains legal and personal. Most smokers understand animosity
toward second-hand fumes and will graciously move away from the smoke-vexed
when asked. Smoker-friendly establishments have been the choice of those
wanting to enjoy the vice without infringing on objectors.

Now a new California law will eliminate the possibility of smoking in any
tavern. Even someone hostile to tobacco should fear when our Big Brother
government tells business owners that a legal action, even with 100 percent
consent of all persons present, is unlawful in their privately owned bars
or clubs.

Little dissent has been raised over this challenge to our Constitution, as
cigarette smokers are an unpopular minority engaging in an unhealthful act.
But beware such dictatorial denials of rights, for they push us toward a
slippery slope.

The same government that disallows unhealthy air in a private business
could conceivably prohibit any act disliked by a majority. Such a precedent
could be used to justify a state's banning of legal, harmless yet
majority-disfavored behavior - perhaps even same-sex kissing - in all
private clubs regardless of the wishes of the clientele.

Rather than a meddlesome state mandate, business owners should decide
individually whether smoking should be permitted in their bars and clubs;
then consumers and prospective employees will retain the right to choose
their preference.

If smoke-free bars are overwhelmingly embraced, then they will drive the
smoking bars out of business. Let's work together to repeal this law.

SUSAN WINCHESTER San Francisco

I don't think I can bear to hear one more smoker characterize the
non-smokers' movement as fascist.

More than 30 years ago I was protesting what cigarette smoke was doing to
my health as a nonsmoker. As a teenager I shared a bedroom with my brother,
who was a smoker. My protests to my parents went un-heard - they thought my
request for a smoke-free bedroom infringed on his right to smoke. I was
subjected to frequent bouts of bronchitis.

Later; like most gay men, I discovered gay bars as the only decent place
for socializing. Although I never smoked, my problems with second-hand
smoke became worse and I had some serious encounters with bronchitis that
left me confined to bed for as much as six weeks at a time.

My first nonsmoking flight on a commercial airliner was my first flight
without a headache and vomiting. Until there were totally non-smoking
restaurants, I stepped going out to eat.

Now, on Jan. 1, there will be non-smoking bars and I will again have the
chance to socialize like everyone else.

So excuse me if I find it hard to sympathize with the hard-core smokers who
live in the illusion that they are being denied personal rights. They have
the choices to stop smoking or go outside for their next cigarette.
Personally I don't care if they smoke or not. What I do care about is
something else making the decision that I should have to inhale their
smoke. There is no right to pollute the air. At last, there is justice and
a fair solution for everyone.

ROBERT STARKEY San Francisco