With last week’s resolution, Brookhaven aldermen are askinglocal businesses to voluntarily make their establishments smokefree. The resolution stops short of laws passed by othercommunities around the state to ban smoking in all public buildingsand, in our view, is a better alternative.

Local government stipulating the rules and regulations of aprivate enterprise for issues such as smoking is not a good move.Instead, a private enterprise should be free to make its owndecision on to handle the smoking issue without interference fromlocal politicians.

In our free enterprise system, the will of the customer shouldbe the deciding factor.

If customers are not satisfied with a business owner’s smokingpolicy, the customer will let the business know with their feet.Reacting to the demands of your customer is a basic principle ofbusiness success.

With that said, we are in full agreement that in publicly ownedfacilities local government has complete control and would agreethat providing a smoke-free environment is in the best interest ofall.

Smokers may have rights, but so do those who do not smoke andprefer to avoid the dangers of second-hand smoke. To paraphrase anold saying, “a smoker’s rights ends at a non-smoker’s nose.”

The city board resolution is the proper move.