I don’t smoke, having quit the habit cold turkey 34 years ago in one of my proudest achievements.

Long ago I lost the desire to light up. In fact, the older I get the more militant I have become about smoking. I detest it now where before I merely disliked it.

The more militant I become the more inclined I am to rethink Amarillo City Hall’s refusal to enact a citywide ban on smoking in indoor public places. I formerly thought the city should leave it to private businesses. I’m wondering now whether the city could make a symbolic statement about its commitment to its residents’ good health by imposing a city ordinance.

http://blogs.star-telegram.com/politex/2014/03/fort-worth-city-councilman-wants-to-revisit-smoking-ordinance.html

Other cities have done it, with no apparent ill effect. The Texas city where my family and I once lived, Beaumont, enacted a citywide ban years ago, arousing the ire of business owners who thought the city was interfering in a private business decision. The city council’s response? That’s too bad; it’s our decision and we’re sticking with it.

Amarillo took a different course. It put the measure up to a vote twice and both times voters narrowly rejected proposed ordinances banning indoor smoking. The city decided to let the voters’ have their say. They spoke and that’s it, according to city council members.

Is it? I’m not so sure.

A lot of bar owners — so I’m told — still allow smoking. Not only are people consuming alcohol, perhaps too much of it, but they’re breathing second-hand smoke as well, causing further damage to their health.

Fort Worth, as the attached blog notes, is grappling with the indoor smoking issue. It’s the largest city in Texas that still allows smoking inside bars and taverns. It’s also considering whether to ban sales of e-cigs to minors.

Everyone on the planet seems to know that smoking is bad for your health. Amarillo has a physician serving on its five-member city council, for crying out loud. He hasn’t yet been able to persuade his colleagues to enact a city ordinance banning indoor smoking.

I’m wondering, actually, if Dr. Brian Eades is trying hard enough to bring his colleagues to his side. If not, he needs to try. If he is, he needs to try harder.