Four of us Trujillo siblings got together over the weekend after they’d arrived in town to attend a Calcutta program, a fund-raiser-dinner for the Immaculate Conception Church.
    Several of us gathered for breakfast at the Spic and Span Saturday, a repeat of what we may have done 30 or 40 times for 30 or 40 years. And because of what’s been in the local news lately, it struck me that the missing ingredient at the tables was cigarettes; years ago, several of us would have lit up — along with most of the patrons there.

    Growing up in a household of smokers, I became one, as did my brother.
    After meals we’d light up, never asking if anybody minded, and if they did, we reasoned, they’d tell us. Mom, who gave up her pack-a-day habit around the time some of us became addicted, never seemed to complain when we’d light up.
    That was years ago. Nobody in our family smokes anymore.
    What a pleasure it is to enter a non-smoking business in Las Vegas.
    They’re becoming more common. The initiative of City Councilman Tony Marquez to ban smoking in most public places is great. Many of us would like to see such a ban, but we’re also wary of anything substantive happening.
    Several years ago, a then-councilman led the trumpet section on banning smoking in public places. But for whatever reason, he stopped pushing it and the issue just blew away. Today, it seems, individual businesses make their own decisions. It’s great that the popular Hillcrest Restaurant has become smoke-free, whereas in the past, no-smoking was “in those booths over there” and smoking was permitted “in these booths over here.” Most fast-food places don’t allow smoking.
    Marquez’s plan needs to be taken seriously. Unfortunately, the question may become one of personalities instead of issues — or, more importantly — health.
    Yes, we’ve read letters calling the entire effort a “waste of time,”
    “something that won’t be enforced anyway.” To some, that may be, but any opportunity to protect the health of the public needs to receive due consideration.
    Let’s say that on principle, council rivalries cause some members to oppose any proposal Marquez submits. That kind of strategy gives individuals amazing power. Suspecting there would be several votes against him automatically, he could campaign for just the opposite. He could extol the beneficent effects of that salubrious smoke entering our lungs, and perhaps get members of the council to oppose his stand and thereby vote to enact a smoking ban.
    We also hear from some restaurateurs that their customers are smokers, and effecting a ban would be bad for business. Fair enough. Some smokers may eat out less if they can’t light up during and after having coffee with their meal. But doesn’t the opposite apply as well?
    My party of seven entered a smoking-allowed restaurant several months ago but left immediately, before even being seated, because of the stench of stale smoke. It turns out that this restaurant doesn’t actually have designated areas — for smoking or abstinence. It was merely a matter of where smokers choose to sit.
    And a more recent scenario perhaps is common: several of us returned to a restaurant whose management allows smoking only in front. We usually dine in the back room. But this time, because there were only a few customers, the management had sealed off the non-smoking back room, leaving us the option of eating in the smoking section, or leaving.
    Fortunately, the only smoke came from the waiter-host himself, and he snuffed out his coffin-nail immediately when we decided to stay. And we didn’t ask what would happen if a smoking customer were to enter and light up.
    Before putting real teeth into their ordinance, the Santa Fe City Council debated provisions that would accommodate non-smokers. For example, some stressed, someone who doesn’t smoke should not have to enter or go through a smoking area, on the way to the cashier’s station or to the restroom. Later, the Santa Fe City Council made things tougher.
    Las Vegas needs a kick-butt ordinance, one that gets enforced. Two decades ago, when I would light up with the best of them, back when a pack of Salems sold for a buck fifty, would I have written in favor of a ban? It’s strange how reformed smokers generally are the most outspoken about smoking.
    And on a related note, a writer sent a letter to the Journal complaining about those who toss lighted cigarettes out of their cars.
    She implored those people to use their ashtrays, given the threat of starting fires.
    What ashtrays? Does your vehicle have an ashtray? Both of my cars have an outlet for a cigarette lighter, which we use as a power source for laptops and other electronic equipment. But we don’t have ashtrays.
    Neither car came with a cigarette lighter either. There’s a chance that auto makers are trying to make things difficult for people to smoke and thereby expecting people to kick the habit merely because things are inconvenient.
    In reality, a car sans ashtray only encourages people to toss their lighted smokes out the window.
    Ain’t progress wonderful?
                                                                            • • •
    Several years back, a writer, Lawrence Bush, in just a few short paragraphs, exemplified how a language purist works overtime. And never has any friends.
    He wrote about having bumped into a friend, Roger, at a night club.
    Bush wrote that Roger lowered his voice and asked, “What do you think of Martha and I as a potential twosome?”
    Bush replied, “That would be a mistake. Martha and me is more like it.”
    Roger asked, “Are you interested in Martha?
    Bush answered, “I’m interested in clear communication.”
    Roger: “Fair enough. May the best man win. Here I thought Martha and I were potentially a very unique couple.”
    Bush: “You couldn’t be a very unique couple, Roger.”
    Roger: “And why is that?”
    Bush: “Martha couldn’t be a little pregnant, could she?”
    Roger: “So you think that Martha and me . . .”
    Bush: “Martha and I.”
    Roger: “Oh, I feel very badly about this.”
    Bush: “You shouldn’t say that. I feel bad . . .”
    Roger: “Please don’t, If anyone’s at fault here, it’s me.”