LETTERS: BAR IS FOR ADULTS -- AND FOR SMOKERS

To the editor:

On Jan. 5 there was a Speak Out comment about how one person's whole New Year's Even was ruined by smokers.

I am truly sorry that the caller's evening was ruined by all the smoke in the bar. If he didn't go to the bar, he wouldn't be bothered by it.

I am not a smoker, but I am constantly amazed by people who don't smoke and think that they have more rights than anyone else. Here's a news flash: We all have the same amount of rights.

I'll tell you what I'm offended by: drunken driving. You don't hear of people being killed by people driving SWD (smoking while driving). However, you hear every day about how lives were ruined and families destroyed by some drunk who didn't care about anyone but getting to the next bar when he got behind the wheel.

Domestic abuse is higher with drinkers than with smokers. How many times have you seen women going to safe houses because their husbands bashed their heads because they forgot to buy cigarettes at the store?

A bar is a public place for people over 21, which means they are adults and perfectly capable of making decisions for themselves.

ROBIN SLINKARD

Cape Girardeau