Keep Illinois smoke free

Well, here we go again. Lawmakers are once again trying to give exemptions to casinos, bars, strip clubs and possibly American Legion halls to lift the smoking ban.

Once again, Tom Swoik, the executive director for the Illinois Gaming Casino Association, is jumping up and down claiming lost revenue for the Grand Victoria Casino due to the smoking ban. Wake up, Tom. We are in a recession. The smoking ban is not totally responsible for the lost revenue the Illinois casinos are experiencing.

Everyone and every business has been hit hard by this recession. People are losing their homes, businesses are closing and charity is down. For some reason, Tom Swoik is only interested in increasing the revenue for the Illinois casinos.

Secondhand smoke kills thousands of people a year. I doubt Swoik has ever seen the pain and suffering a person goes through while trying to battle lung cancer or any cancer diagnosis, for that matter. Once again, Swoik thinks that bringing smoking back into Illinois is a priority and is not even giving any thought to the thousands of people whose health will be affected by it.

Illinois is a smoke free state ... period. No exemptions should be given to casinos, bars, strip clubs, American Legion halls or anyplace, for that matter. No state has ever weakened its smoking laws. I can only hope that Illinois follows the rules set by those states and puts an end to all people trying to put exemptions in place for the sole purpose of increasing revenue.

Helen Clark

Algonquin