Letters to the Editors

There should be no compromise on smoking ban

Re: Smoking ban.

After reading the recent articles about how the Legislature is attempting to draft a bill that complies with the public's decisive vote against smoking in public areas, I am really appalled at the rhetoric by businesses and legislators who are trying to make everyone happy. There should be no compromise of what is in the best interests of the public: Their health is primary and they have spoken.

Special interest groups (bars, bowling alleys, billiard establishments and other incidental food servers and their politicians), through legal juggling and manipulation, are trying to measure the percentage of income derived from food served. If the letter of the law is not within the spirit of the public's vote, why did we waste time putting the issue on the ballot in the first place?

Let's face it, the public's health interest must transcend the interests of these splinter groups. The purpose of the referendum had one thing in mind, and smokers should realize that. If people want to smoke, they will find a way that does not go against the public's wishes. The bottom line is, if all businesses are forced to comply, there will be no favoritism and nobody will lose out. Then we can say everybody gains by improving the health of everyone. When will smokers get the message?
-- Chris Tingirides, Dunedin

A limit to personal choice

Re: Feb. 8 letters concerning the smoking ban.

I voted against the smoking ban and I genuinely hope there are exceptions granted. Not only is this ban an unnecessary government intrusion into private business, but in my opinion, it impedes my personal choice.

Neither I nor my husband smoke. I choose to be seated in the smoking section of every restaurant I visit because I don't go out to eat often and don't wish to have my dining experience ruined by your screaming baby/young child. My only respite has been the smoking section. Now your vote has taken that option away from me. I don't appreciate busybodies making my choices for me.
-- Denise M. Cawley, Tampa

Lawmakers must follow amendment

While I agree with some of your recent editorial Smoking solutions (Feb. 11), I am troubled by your assertion that legislators should consider broadening exemptions for certain businesses. When 71 percent of Floridians voted for Amendment 6 in November, the decision on expanding exemptions became moot. The amendment is now part of the Florida Constitution so the implementing legislation must be consistent with that wording.

A simple review of the amendment language makes it clear that Florida airports, bowling alleys and similar businesses must be smoke-free. For more than a decade, the public health community in Florida worked through legislative channels to strengthen the Florida Clean Indoor Air Act and enact new laws that would significantly reduce the health hazards of secondhand smoke. To no avail. The public health community only took the issue directly to the people of Florida when it became clear our legislative options were exhausted.

The legislators are now required to enact a law that will allow the amendment to be enforced. Clearly, the people of Florida agree with the St. Petersburg Times statement that this amendment "is an important step forward for Florida's health." It's important to keep sight of an important fact: Secondhand tobacco smoke kills. This is a fact that no credible health organization disputes and was the central premise we focused on as we drafted this amendment.
-- Martin Larsen, chair, Smoke Free For Health, Inc., Pembroke Pines

Let's tackle other causes

I am not a smoker. I do believe people have rights. I did not vote for the smoking ban. I would agree that smoking is harmful, and restaurants and bars should have adequate ventilation. Each of us has the right to choose our vices as long as we do not harm another person.

I can hear the opposition now. Secondhand smoke is harmful. Does not a person who smokes have the same choices as a person who is a nonsmoker? There are now many restaurants that have a nonsmoking policy. Let those who wish, go there. Is there any guarantee that business will improve if everyone posts a "no smoking" sign? Common sense tells us it will not. Smokers will be banned from restaurants and they will lose that business.

If the do-gooders want to tackle a cause that is worth the time, how about alcohol? Should we limit the number of drinks a person is allowed to consume in a public place? Or should we outlaw alcohol altogether?

Will we next tackle the problem of fat-laden foods? Obesity kills as surely as lung cancer and alcoholism. Where is personal responsibility in all this? When will our neighbors stop making our choices for us? I will still be a nonsmoker, but I resent others' rights being taken away from them. The next time it may be mine.
-- Patricia L. Carpenter, Dunellon

To help smokers quit

Re: $2-a-pack cigarette tax urged, Feb. 13.

A federal health commission recommends a $2 federal cigarette tax per pack in order to help prevent smoking-relating deaths and help Americans quit smoking.

A decrease in the cost of nicotine gums and patches would be more prudent. Stop-smoking aids are more costly than cigarettes, making it very difficult for the "average Joe" to purchase them.
-- B.J. Mitchell, St. Petersburg

Cut the school cafeteria slop

Re: Fat, sugar win as kids choose, Feb. 17.
-- Food, glorious food! That is the battle cry from students in the trenches at the school cafeteria. If school cafeterias want to follow federal law and be self-sufficient, they had better serve what customers like. Children will pick fatty foods and junk food when given an unappetizing selection of supposedly nutritional foods. Sloppy, runny instant mashed potatoes, undercooked chicken and overcooked, canned, slimy green peas just don't seem too appetizing. Shredded, brown iceberg lettuce and half unpeeled carrots that are limp and wilted certainly don't catch a child's eye like a bright red bag of crisp potato chips.
Adults like attractively served dishes. Don't you think children deserve the same attractive and nutritional respect, especially when some children's only meal of the day is at school?
I've taught school in several different states and have seen a difference in eating habits largely reflecting the food preparation styles in school cafeterias. Pasco County Schools add no pizzazz or flavor to the drab, processed chicken patties, mystery meat and frozen fries monotonously prepared that in comparison make some fast food chains appear to serve fine cuisine. However some school districts take pride in what they serve children.
When I taught in a middle school in Princeton, W.Va., the cooks there took pride in preparing nutritious, home-cooked meals. The results were that children ate the nutritious fresh vegetables and nonprocessed foods. Its simple: Serve great, glorious food and they shall eat a well-balanced diet. No more cafeteria slop!
Fawn Lerner-Gilli, Tampa

Healthy diet means healthy lives

Re: Fats, sugars win as kids choose.

The only figures growing faster than our collective waistlines in America are the rising costs of health care. It does not take a scientist to understand the relationship between our ingesting of lethal amounts of unhealthy food and our skyrocketing health care costs. When you throw in tobacco consumption and the other unhealthy oral habits in our culture, it is no wonder we are unable to break off this inevitable cycle of escalating costs for health care while our health deteriorates. Add reduced physical activity and increased sedentary living, and the formula for "living large" is complete.

The answer to this dilemma is a simple one. It must be clear to most readers that looking for government help in resolving our complex societal problems is becoming a less likely option with each passing day. Therefore, we must find ways to become responsible for our own condition and that of our families.

We consume more of what I call "fats foods" because they are convenient, they taste so good, and, well, they just plain fill the mouths of our children who mostly fill the air with voices of complaint when their demands for the stuff aren't met. Wean your kids off fat and junk foods today for a healthier nation for both yourself and our children. If children are not given a choice, they will eventually learn to eat better, and to live healthier lives. Their rebellious screams today will turn to praise tomorrow just as surely as the notion of giving them "just a little treat" today will likely lead to big trauma tomorrow. Pay now, or pay later. Please choose wisely.

Oh and, please pass the salad.
-- Jim Duffey, St. Petersburg

Sleazy dealings

Re: Organic foods rotten deal, Feb. 17.

Your editorial on organic food was right on. I think the term you used, "sleaziest deals," is a great way to describe not only the paragraph in the bill that allows the chicken farmer to label something "organic" when it is actually not, but also this whole Republican Congress. If it is not stripping us of our civil liberties, or stripping laws that protect the environment, it is lying to us about what is going on in the Middle East.

I just wish that for once my elected officials would stand up for the public instead of the corporate pigs who line their pockets with "organic" greenbacks.
-- Jason Stabins, St. Petersburg

Our presidents deserve better

Well, Monday was President's Day. We would not know it to look at your newspaper, except for the overload of advertising from businesses that will use any holiday or event to make sales. I waited a day to see if there would be any articles relating to this most important holiday, honoring our first and 16th presidents, as well as all presidents in between and after.

The Pinellas County school calendar did not even find it necessary or important enough to list either president's birthday or President's Day. But the schools did put a nice big heart for Valentine's Day on their calendar.

This year I have seen article after article about Martin Luther King Jr., Black History Month and even articles about the Holocaust and books bound for Africa. Not one article did I see about President's Day, or the individuals for whom it was designated. This is an outrage as far as I'm concerned, as a parent and proud citizen of our United States.

Your writers and paper and the Pinellas County School District should be ashamed of themselves. I think it's time for a new newspaper subscription for this household, and maybe a new school district!
-- Noreen M. Galasso, Clearwater

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