FORGET THE TAXES, SMOKING JUST STINKS.

Byline: Juanita M. Standke

I read Otto Mueksch's Local View column in the Daily News on Jan. 19, ``Smoker tax unfair, sets dangerous precedent.'' I am one of the 75 percent of Californians who don't smoke, and I am inexpressibly grateful for the gradual increase in limitations of smoking I have had the pleasure to witness in the last 10 years.

I was raised in a smoking household. I lived in an environment saturated with the smell of cigarette smoke for 18 years. Every day, my clothes, bedding, hair and toys smelled of smoke.

My friends couldn't help but notice. One said I always smelled like Denny's (before the advent of nonsmoking sections, of course).

In high school, since I smelled like a smoker, I was instantly identified by teachers as a probable smoker. High school kids who smoke are also more likely to be involved in other illicit activities. The legal behavior of my parent at home had an effect on how I was perceived at school because of how I smelled.

As a child, I rode for hours in a car full of smoke. My parents couldn't understand why I threw up on long trips. Every meal I ate at home or in a restaurant was accompanied by the smell and taste of smoke. Smokers were allowed to light up in motel rooms, airplanes and even the grocery store. I vividly remember my mother dropping a cigarette butt on the floor of the grocery store. When I looked down to see where it landed, I saw that the bare cement floor was covered in butts, matches and black greasy ashes.

I am thrilled that the price of cigarettes is getting higher and higher. The fact is that educated people do not smoke, so you are right in saying uneducated low-income people are paying the price for cigarettes. The elderly who smoke are unfortunate victims of war-time propaganda by the cigarette companies. The vast majority of elderly smokers still alive today, started smoking during World War II. Still, according to smokers who do not believe nicotine is addictive, it is their choice to smoke, so it is their choice to stop smoking and not pay the high price for cigarettes.

Since smokers honestly believe that smoking does not damage anyone's health, bringing up medical costs, life expectancy and secondhand smoke is a waste of time.

But how about the smell? I am amused when I see a beautifully dressed and made-up lady light up. She doesn't realize that, to put it bluntly, everything about her stinks. Her house stinks, her car stinks, her hair stinks and even her skin stinks. Do her grandchildren turn away when she tries to hug them? It's the smell.

I am so grateful to the government and vast majority of Californians who have made it possible to raise my children without the pervasive reek of cigarettes. I tell my children that by the time they are adults, all smoking in California very well may be a thing of the past.