Outdoor burning should be banned

To the editor:

In regard to your new story "Ozone oversight": Did it ever occur to anyone besides myself that all the unlimited burning of leaves and trash is contributing to the air pollution in this city? Smoke is not considered air pollution? I lived in St. Louis County for many years, and the air there is much cleaner than it is here. We were not allowed any outside burning, and no trash burning was allowed in our fireplace.

But what good does it do to restrict burning in some areas and not others? A few days ago a neighbor was burning leaves and something horribly smelly in their fireplace, The smoke was like a fog it was so thick, and when I walked to my mailbox it burned my eyes and choked me until I could hardly breathe. There is no excuse for this when we have leaf pickup service and good trash pickup service. It is an outdated custom that should have been stopped many years ago.

D.J. DAWSON, Cape Girardeau