The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons estimates that shoveling snow results in 73,000 injuries each year.

Wow! Seventy-three thousand! And that doesn't include those who skip the injury phase and - PHHHHT!! - move right on up to that big Sidewalk in the Sky after heaving one too many shovelsful of snow.

There ought to be a law! Really! Injury and death from shoveling snow are reaching epidemic proportions and the government ought to do something about it; perhaps even ban snow shoveling altogether!

That notion came to me last Sunday as I was scooping a gazillion tons of snow from the sidewalk in front of The Times office downtown and thinking about the elected officials who want to implement a statewide ban on smoking, not just in public places, but everywhere...even in private businesses.

Why, I thought, are they concerned about the health hazards of tobacco use and not equally concerned about the dangers of shoveling snow? Why isn't someone from the government out here helping me clear this crud from my sidewalk? It could save lives, you know! Mine!

In case you haven't heard, a bill has been introduced in the Kansas Legislature that would ban smoking in all indoor areas with the exception of private homes, tobacco-related businesses and private clubs. The author of the bill, Senator David Wysong (R-Mission Hills), said he introduced the legislation because he has lost three family members to tobacco-related cancer. The bottom line, he said, "It is the right thing to do."

With all due sympathy to the senator and his family, it is not the right thing to do. Government does not have the right to mandate what legal activities we may or may not engage in in our businesses. Seems I read that somewhere......oh, I remember, the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, that little thing elected officials swear to uphold when they take the oath of office.

Currently, 21 states have smoke-free laws and 17 cities in Kansas -- including Lawrence, Olathe, Overland Park and Hutchinson--have adopted some form of smoking ban. There's even talk of banning smoking in vehicles when there is a passenger under the age of 16. Seems they want to classify that as "child abuse." Sheesh!!!

Most smoking bans depend on the misnomer "public place" for their popularity and ultimate passage. Anywhere the "public" chooses to frequent is dubbed a "public place" and, therefore, subject to regulation by elected officials, the self-proclaimed "guardians" of the public. Businesses, therefore, become "public places" because their doors are open to the public.

Businesses aren't public places, they're private places, just as your home is a private place and your car is a private place. The owners of most private businesses choose to open their doors to the public. That's how they pay their bills. But they have just as much right to lock the door and not allow anyone in. That wouldn't be too smart, but I'm not aware of any law that prohibits stupidity...yet!

Why wasn't my building deemed a "public place" for the 10 years I was paying the bank $450 a month on the mortgage? I could have used a little public assistance in making the payments.

Why wasn't my building considered a "public place" when I had to replace the sewer line out back or put on a new roof?

Why isn't my building considered a "public place" twice a year when the property tax bill comes due?

And why isn't my building considered a "public place" when I clean the toilet once a month? (Okay....when Patti cleans the toilet once a month). People don't have a constitutional right to demand a smoke-free environment when they walk into a private business, any more than they have a constitutional right to demand the walls be painted something other than hot pink, or demand the background music be classical rather than "gangsta rap." They do, however, have a constitutional right to walk out and never come back.

Let's face it, smoking is stupid! It says so right there on the cigarette pack: "SMOKING IS STUPID." And anyone who smokes knows it's stupid...unless they're stupid (maybe we should pass a law prohibiting stupid people from smoking). Smoking is legal, however, and as long as it remains so, the decision to allow it or disallow it in and on private property ought to rest not with the government, but with the property owner.

Outlaw tobacco if you wish, but don't outlaw a private property owner's right to decide what's good or not good for his business. In almost all instances, free-market forces will prompt the private business owner to make the right decision.

By the way, did you know sidewalks in front of private businesses are owned by the city? Sidewalks are true "public places" where any citizen has the right to walk, loiter or, in most communities, even smoke a cigarette (although flicking a butt on the sidewalk might violate a littering law). So why do private business owners choose to shovel bazillions of tons of snow off the public's sidewalks? OCause it's the wise thing to do. Customers faced with treading through eight inches of snow to get to your front door tend to do business elsewhere the next time around. A mandatory snow shoveling law, quite simply, is not necessary. Same with smoking bans. Still, the next time it snows eight inches I wish the city guy driving that little four-wheeler with the snow-pushing brush thingy on the front would make a couple of passes in front of my building. The life he saves might be my own!