As the smoking-ban debate has raged on, I’ve heard everything from patriotism (City-County Council member Ginny Cain) to treating our citizens as responsible adults (Letters, Nov. 2) as reasons to continue the status quo. The problem with smoking is that even a patriot cannot help but infringe on the rights of others where secondhand smoke is concerned. And apparently not all adults are capable of making rational decisions, or they wouldn’t be smokers in the first place.

Government has a long-held position of protecting the public health. This situation is no different from taking steps to stem a cholera epidemic by mandating sanitary-sewer standards and clean-water regulations. It’s time for the mayor to “man up” and lead Indianapolis in the direction that a responsible adult making rational decisions would go. As a world leader in amateur athletics, and an aspiring leader in life sciences, we should be on that list of major U.S. cities with a smoking ban in place.

David D. Brinson

Indianapolis