Mancini's Commentaries

Accept it and move on

Let's get one thing straight. Jess Mancini is no anti-smoking Nazi and I don't make chicken comments just barely loud enough for smokers to hear. That said, however, I've never understood the opposition to laws prohibiting smoking in public places even when I was smoking. Health departments are trying to help you, not kill you, and your constitutional rights end where someone else's nose begins. The times have changed and while fewer people tolerate smoking, most of us are not going to oppose smoking bans. In Kanawha County, some bar owners are so mad about the county's new smoking ban that they plan to picket the health department. "I'm willing to do anything to get rid of this smoking ban," said Larue Causey, owner of Smiley's Lounge and Bryan's Place in St. Albans. Causey and his fellow bar owners might as well blow smoke because the public won't give them one puff of sympathy.