Stupid in Omaha

Sometimes you can take a good idea too far, even to the point of stupidity. It seems that what Omaha police have done, asking people to report violations of an anti-smoking law by calling 9-1-1. The good idea is to place some restrictions on smoking in public places. I feel uncomfortable with how far that idea has been taking. I am a health freak, eating only whole-wheat products and working out several times a week, but I do enjoy the occasional cigarette. Silly, some people say, but I'd suggest people would do better to cut out all the fats in their diet than overreact to the occasional cigarette.

But this isn't even a rant of public smoking policy and the infringement on our freedoms under a fake pretext of public safety. It's a rant of the stupidity of crowding out 9-1-1 queues with these non-emergencies. Thankfully, so far the call volume related to this "crime" has been small, but I'd hate to think of the day (oh, and there will be one if this policy persists!) when a serious crime (you know, murder, theft ... what we used to call crimes before we started including petty nonsense) is not stopped because of someone reporting a public smoking offense!