Can’t smokers wait 30 minutes while they eat before lighting up?

I have worked in the restaurant business for more than four years, bartending for two of them. Why did I choose that line of work?

I had worked in the retail business before, and yes, there may not be any smoking in stores, but the money just isn’t as great as waiting tables or bartending. And it wouldn’t have made a difference where I went to wait tables, because in Baltimore County (I went to Towson University), there is still smoking in restaurants.

So my choice was, make no money and be healthy, or make money and be sick.

Although, many restaurants have banned smoking in their seating areas or in designated areas, do you think the smoke itself pays any attention to the ban? Who wants the taste of smoke with their food? I can see it now … tonight’s special: Pan-seared salmon served with your choice of side, all served with a hint of cigarette smoke. Yummy … sounds appetizing.

I now reside in Howard County, and I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to go out to eat and come home without the smell of stale cigarettes all over my clothes and my hair.

Is it so hard to not have a cigarette for 30 minutes while you eat? That’s all we non-smokers ask.

Molly Witt
Columbia

Let’s fix the real problems in society

I think smoking should not be regulated in bars. The owners, job applicants, patrons and entertainers should be free to choose “smoking or non-smoking.”

Keep it simple, and keep government out of it.

Gradually and naturally, smoking will wither. The tobacco industry will find alternative ways to make money and employ people, and the few smokers left can grow their own, roll their own and smoke in the own backyard.

Hopefully, this will please everyone so we can then move on to fix the real problems in our society like hatred, ignorance, intolerance, poverty and violence.

Joseph Leake
Baltimore

Smoking should be banned throughout the state

I just read the June 28 article, “Smoke-free advocates renew call for statewide bar/restaurant ban.”

What can I do as a health care provider to promote and/or to help to implement this bill for non-smoking in bars and restaurants? I have been to other states that enforce the smoking ban. What a difference it makes not inhaling someone else’s cigarettes. My husband and I can actually sit at a bar and eat without getting sick from the smoking habits of others.

I went to a popular restaurant in Delaware just after it became smoke-free, and the waitress said business slowed for a week, but it’s back to being packed. Smokers could have taken their business just 3 miles away to Maryland, but apparently they did not.

Dottie Olfson
Bel Air

The New York Times committed treason

I think The New York Times has committed an act of treason against the United States.

Could you imagine in 1944 a major newspaper disclosing that the United States and Great Britain were sending false codes to the Germans (our enemies) prior to D-day to make them think we were going to invade France at another location? And then disclosing the codes? It would be unheard of. Times have changed (pun intended), unfortunately.

Nothing is off limits anymore. Granted, The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal also ran the story. But only after The New York Times ran it first and opened the floodgates.

There was no need for this secret program to be made public, unless The Times had an agenda to make President Bush and the Republicans look like spies in an election year. The Times should be tried for treason and held accountable. Fat chance in this day and age.

Phil Bauer
Bel Air