March 1

Comic strip shouldn't have implied smoking was 'cool'

Letter to the Editor

The comics are read by young and old. It is actually the high point of my newspaper.

In the Feb. 20 newspaper, however, the "For Better or Worse" comic strip implied that younger kids feel that older kids smoking was "cool."

I believe that a large percentage of readers have been affected by or are addicted to smoking.

I lost my mother and mother-in-law to lung cancer attributed to the effects of smoking, and I have two sisters with COPD. People spend a fortune trying to quit and sorry they ever strived to be "cool" by smoking. The attitude that smoking is "cool" needs to be turned around so that younger children feel that smoking is "stupid."

Begin cool and attitudes about smoking never should be promoted or backed up by a comic strip or anything else. The strip I have mentioned is likely well-read by our youth as it often depicts how they may feel or view real-life situations.

The subject in the strip could have been turned around to plant a different attitude toward smoking. The last frame could have said, "Nah. I'm not that dumb!" (or numb.)

Mike Dawes

China

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