The smoke-free bars campaign has been going on for a while now, and there is something missing from the debate that I find troubling ("Bars not ideal target for smoke-free campaign," Feb. 21). It is the recognition that bars are private property. Let's make no mistake: A bar is a privately owned establishment. It is not public property. Whether to allow or prohibit smoking is a decision to be made by bar owners.

Many people wearing those virtuous orange pins think that laws should be enacted prohibiting smoking in bars. They seem to think that the bars belong to them, not those who own and operate them. I have a message for these people: The bars in town do not belong to you. If you don't like their smoking policies, go somewhere else. Don't ask your legislators to strip away the right of bar owners to decide what is and isn't prohibited on their own property. It's not your bar, and no, the world does not owe you a smoke-free place to party.