The city of Columbiana will soon be the first in Shelby County to consider regulations on smoking.

They follow in the path of cities like Homewood which recently passed a ban on smoking inside its businesses and restaurants. We applaud them for this action.

To consider the health and welfare of residents is a valiant effort.

We all agree that the idea of a &8220;smoking section&8221; inside a restaurant is fallable. In reality, smoke knows no &8220;section.&8221;

And no one enjoys going into a local business and walking through a cloud of smoke as you attempt to spend your hard-earned money.

However, we wonder if government regulations on this activity are the answer.

Our government is already entrenched in every aspect of our lives. How much more control will we be willing to give up?

Isn’t the real problem a lack of personal responsibility?

We saw the horrible effects of this lack of personal responsibility when Hurricane Katrina roared through New Orleans. For many years, people had failed to take responsibility for themselves so when faced with a crisis, they waited for the government to tell them what to do.

It’s the same concept. If the government begins to regulate these types of activities, what’s next?

Smokers are killing themselves and those around them.

We’d like to see them take personal responsibility for that instead of the government stepping in and trying to regulate their choices