[mad puppy]

10 minutes after setting up to watch fire-works in the open air of the City Park last night with the wife and kids, the couple 20 ft away and up-wind both lit up their smokes.

We moved.

It stinks and is disgusting. Whose got the rights in this case? Public-park and I'd rather not inhale 2nd hand smoke, versus public-park and I'm a smoker?

[bfree]

You moved, that's the correct thing to do. That or stay home.

[Gabz]

Poor baby. The smokers are taxpayers, just like you.

But I wonder your problem, watching fireworks, with the likelihood of smelling them, yet complaining about folks smoking cigarettes.........you've got issues.

[billhilly]

After about forty years of smoking, I finally quit five years ago. I have resisted becoming a smoking hypocrit, but I had no idea how bad they smelled. They used to point out to me how bad they smelled, mostly my family, and I would be so dismissive of their point of view. I'm sure I was great fun on a crosscountry trip in the car, as we often travelled together in that manner. Wet cigarettes on my deck from my daughter and her husband,left there after a rain, are putrid. Now, pardon me for griping. My best friend didn't quit when I did and now has lung cancer. Three packs a day to my one. I'm finally accepting what I should have known a long time ago.

[beltfed308]

We moved.

Good. You made the right decision.

[Old Professer]

"It stinks" is the biggest single complaint from non-smokers who aren't yet on the warpath but I would think that the stench that accompanies a fireworks display might mask the smell just a bit.

[Skooz]

Well, too bad you had to move to accommodate someone else's rude behavior.

You can't legislate manners, I suppose.

[Madame Dufarge]

Outdoors, from 20 feet away you could smell the smoke?

What, are you all part bloodhound?

[Texas Federalist]

It stinks and is disgusting. Whose got the rights in this case? Public-park and I'd rather not inhale 2nd hand smoke, versus public-park and I'm a smoker?

I hate it when people wear cheap perfume or after shave. It stinks and is disgusting. We should ban the wearing of any perfume under $50 a bottle in public (or just perfume I just plain don't like). Who has the rights in this case? Public park and I'd rather not inhale cheap perfume vs. public park and I wear Aqua Velva?

How about people who go out in public with colds and the flu? Should they be ordered to stay in the home? I guarantee there are more deaths from the flu each year than second hand smoke and catching a cold is much more irritating than inhaling second hand smoke. Where are my rights not to be subject to sneezing people on the subway or an elevator?

[Mind-numbed Robot]

What if the couple had been passing gas? Would you have moved or tolerated it? Should they be prevented from passing gas because it was unpleasant to you?

[mysterio]

the couple 20 ft away and up-wind both lit up their smokes.

We moved.

Wow, that's amazing. You solved the problem for yourself without having government pass a law. You must be a conservative or something.

[jmc813]

10 minutes after setting up to watch fire-works in the open air of the City Park last night with the wife and kids, the couple 20 ft away and up-wind both lit up their smokes. We moved. It stinks and is disgusting. Whose got the rights in this case? Public-park and I'd rather not inhale 2nd hand smoke, versus public-park and I'm a smoker?

You answered your own question. They had a right to light up and you had a right to move. No need to involve the government.