BALDONE'S SMOKING PROPOSAL AN OUTRAGE

Just recently I read that state Rep. Damon Baldone introduced a bill to the
Legislature that would require teen-agers who are caught smoking to lose
their driver's license. This is an absolute outrage.

Does Baldone think this is a police state, or Iran where a dog groomer who
gave a poodle a bad haircut had his hand cut off, or Iraq where a man who
cursed Saddam Hussein had his tongue removed? Although smoking a cigarette
doesn't seem a crime to me, the punishment should fit the crime. I guess
for a second smoking offense he would want to remove the first two fingers
from each hand and for a third offense remove both the upper and lower lips
from the face of the offender. Heaven forbid a fourth offense ... the death
penalty?

As long as cigarettes are manufactured, people will smoke them. As long as
booze is around, people will drink it. As long as marijuana grows, people
will smoke it. When I say people, I mean adults as well as children.

Perhaps Baldone should spend his time and the taxpayers' money on ideas
that will improve the economy, feed the hungry, house the homeless, improve
education, fix the roads and punish the real criminals, and not on making
laws that would only hurt the people who pay his salary. Yes, children pay
his salary, too, every time they buy anything.

I guess this legislation will require a new tax to pay for the cigarette
police. I hope the voters of Terrebonne Parish remember his silly antics
and Gestapo tactics when his seat comes up for re-election. As for me, I
wouldn't vote for Baldone for dogcatcher!

I hope other members of the Legislature are not as dumb as Baldone. But you
never know . look at the condition of this state.

Brett M. Trahan

Houma