Published: Apr 07, 2007

Many thanks to Brian Irving for his sober, reasoned response to the hysteria surrounding the proposed secondhand smoking bill ("No need for a nanny state," Point of View article, April 5).
For most of my life, I was a nonsmoker suffering from asthma. My attacks were occasionally triggered by secondhand smoke. So I, quite simply, avoided enclosed spaces in which smoking was allowed. I do not believe it is my, or anyone else's, God-given right to frequent Denny's. I do, however, believe it is my God-given right to do whatever I want with my body. I choose not to smoke. People who choose to smoke have as much right to that choice as I do to mine. They also have an equal right to walk down the street, enjoy a public park or sit in a bar whose owners have chosen to allow smoking.

The right to make individual choices about our habits, our lives and our property is a precious thing.

Let's all stop and think very carefully before we take a step, no matter how well-intended, toward eradicating that right.

Brooke Baker

Raleigh