What do you do if you see people smoking in the park?. My family and I were there last night and a couple of teenagers were smoking boldly...

The smokers always gave us three choices: breathe in the smoke, not breathe, or leave. It is the Little Miss Muffet syndrome. The spider in this case is a smoker who puffs away, and the nonsmokers are the ones who must pack up and move away from the smoke. Well, things have changed because the Marietta City Council has acted to protect concert goers. Thanks council.

For Tom, here are a few names of victims killed by the chemical warfare that is called smoking. Heather Crowe worked 40 years in smoky cafés and died of lung cancer 3 years ago. Is the park they named after her smokefree?
http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/bulldog/archive/2009/05/22/heather-crowe-park-dedicated.aspx
Monica C worked in a smoky room in a bank in Milan, Italy, begged for a less smoky place to work, died from an asthma attack, and two supervisors went to prison for manslaughter.
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2004/03/28/story753510993.asp
Dr. Abid Hanson was flying home from Greece on Olympic Airways, requested to be moved to a less smoky area, his wife begged, the flight crew did nothing, and he died of an asthma attack. The judge awarded the family $1.4 MILLION, and it was upheld by the US Supreme Court.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/25/BAGN457OSD1.DTL&type=health
A model with asthma in NYC sued her bosses over exposure to tobacco smoke and won $5 MILLION. I don’t have her name, but she didn’t die.

Vehicles and coal-fired power plants near Marietta pollute the air. Cigaret-caused fires pollute the air when they burn down a building or forest. But why make the outdoor air worse with tobacco smoke in a park? Especially, when people are close together, and have set out their blanket, food and such.

Bob’s comments and URL’s for articles have appeared in other newspapers. But he doesn’t realize nonsmokers were asking for protection from tobacco smoke 20 years before RWJ Foundation got involved. Maybe the J stands for Johnny Come Lately.

I hope other local governments will ban smoking at sports fields, picnic areas, and other outdoor gatherings. We need to also thank those who complained. They did us a favor.

What would we do without the government instituting all of these laws to save us from ourselves. Did prohibition teach us nothing?

If you have to wear a mask because of outside smokers, you should as well have problems with car exhaust, camp fires or bonfires, fireplace smoke, pollen, etc. Seems peoples minds are playing tricks on them. And if you care so much about litter, quit buying plastic bottles of water and leaving them laying around.

The freedoms in this country are generally granted to all. This means that you have the right to do certain things as long as they do not infringe on other people's rights. In the case of smoking, you have the right to smoke, even if it causes you harm, as long as it does not affect someone else. Smoking in public infringes on other peoples right of not wanting to inhale the smoke you are generating. This ban is no different that other bans that have been in affect. You could compare this to being nude, what you do in the privacy of your own house is your business, but soon as you go out into the public you will be arrested. Smokers think that smoking is a right, not a habit. If you think smoking is a right then I think urinating in public is my right and then I should be able to come over and go right where you are sitting.

People need to realize that you have many rights as long as it does not affect anyone elses rights to not be affected by your rights

Freedom my behind...The residue of your addiction is harmful to me and my family. I should have the "freedom" to breath clean air, but you take away *my* freedom if you are in front of me exhaling that crap which will poison my lungs! What they really ought to do is ban smoking anywhere but inside a private home. If you couldn't have your fix anywhere but there, maybe you'd be more likely to quit. Ever think about that?

People you are allowing your city government to take away peoples freedom. What about the cars that people drove to get to the park? According to some we should ban cars due to thier pollutens, how about the bad breath of people, or body odors maybe they should be banned to? How about banning people that are over weight or wearing a mask as Dakota Lee states as maybe others may feel its affecting the beutiful scenery? When will people realize its not about smoking its about your freedom.