Banning Smoking Should Be Easy Decision
To the Editor:

Secondhand smoke is firsthand danger to all. I am a subscriber to your great Mackinac Island Town Crier newspaper. It makes my day when it arrives in my mailbox, which is 2,200 miles from your special place. I have been an annual visitor to the Island since 1954. This is the "Midwest Jewel."

Following the news articles about the discussion of restaurants and non-smokers, I have a comment, and this is it: Wake up business owners and managers! This is 2006, your customers expect you to operate in a healthy environment, and that is a totally smoke-free facility and workplace.

I cannot believe you are still debating this fact. One of your restaurants will now be keeping their facility smoke-free each day for lunch, then at 4 p.m. they allow smoking. This is hilarious! How about having the courage and smart business sense of going 100 percent smoke-free around the clock. It is absolutely impossible to remove the stinky, terrible odors of cigarettes and cigars, by any means.

I applaud the facilities on Mackinac Island that offer smoke-free services, such as the Windermere Hotel, and others. There is nothing to think about or debate in this decision.

Here is my suggestion: Mackinac Island should be the pacesetter in providing smokefree buildings, especially all public facilities, hotels, restaurants, and, yes, even bars. Think about this: Your beautiful Island would become more desirable, increasing the number of visitors, because they would appreciate your considerations of them, in this regard.

In 1981, I introduced the idea of non-smokers rooms to the lodging industry. At that time, I was serving on the IOC Board of Choice Hotels International. They jumped on the bandwagon immediately, and you all know the "rest of the story." Today,

tourists traveling anywhere on the globe are now able to have this service.

In closing, a smoker will not die if he or she must abstain from puffing for the time it takes to eat one meal. Furthermore, they can always step outdoors and get their quick fix, if they cannot wait to finish their meal. There are no arguments to support the stinky, smelly, smoking habits of the minority. Business owners and managers of Mackinac Island, this is "your opportunity," jump on it!

Mary Jean Bublitz

Flagstaff, Arizona