Hey, buddy, got a light?

The suburban city of Kirkwood is about to undergo another attempt at smoke prevention. The issue: no smoking in public places. Makes sense, doesn't it? Smoking is bad for you, and bad for the people around you. Smokers are in the minority. Most non-smokers people don't like to inhale cigarette smoke, otherwise they'd be smokers. For some reason, the City Council and the majority of citizens who voted last time to defeat the ban, seem to think that smoking is cool, a right, an economic necessity, and a environmental non-issue. What I find interesting is how a city of 27,000 can be held hostage by 15 or 20 restaurant owners. It's these establishments that most fear a smoking ban. I'll have more to say on this issue in the weeks ahead. For now, I have merely to look at New York City and Chicago, where smoking is prohibited in restaurants, certainly a lot more restaurants than in Kirkwood. If those big cities can make it work, why not a little ol' town like Kirkwood?