Dear Honorable Governor Pataki,

     Yesterday, April 21, 2000, I wrote you concerning a bill that would
mandate only fire safe cigarettes be sold in New York State in the year
2001.  I asked that you not sign this bill and stated my reasons.  As
much as the following is horribly unfortunate, it drives home one of my
points only one day after I made this point.

Daily News Article:
 

                   Blaze Kills B'klyn Widow

                   By MICHAEL SMITH and DON SINGLETON
                   Daily News Writers

                   A  frail 78-year-old Brooklyn widow apparently **knocked over
                   a Good Friday votive candle** she had lighted in the predawn
                   darkness, igniting a blaze that killed her and injured her two
                   sons and 17 other people.

                   Charlie and George Smith tried to save their mother, Veronica, but
                   were beaten back by the flames that engulfed her first-floor
                   bedroom in the Sunset Park apartment the family had called home
                   for 25 years.

                   "There was black smoke everywhere," said Charlie Smith, 49,
                   who was awakened by his brother's screams and the piercing wail
                   of a smoke detector.

                   "I couldn't see anything except the flashing lights of the fire truck
                   outside," he added. "I did the best I could to get my mother out,
                   but I just couldn't stay in there."

                   The blaze was confined to the Smiths' 44th St. apartment, but
                   quickly sent clouds of black smoke billowing from the bedroom
                   window and through the three-story tan brick building.

                   The fire was reported at 5:28 a.m. and when the first of 14
                   firefighting units arrived four minutes later, residents of the building
                   were clustered on fire escapes, on the sidewalk and in the rear
                   yard, suffering from smoke inhalation.

                   Abdulla Alsaidi, 43, who lives in a second-floor apartment, said
                   his five young children were sleeping when they were awakened
                   by noises from downstairs.

                   They quickly discovered their fire escape route blocked by flames
                   roaring from the Smiths' window below.

                   "I didn't hear an alarm, just some noise downstairs, and I
                   wondered what was wrong," Alsaidi said. "I couldn't go out the
                   fire escape, so I went to the back of the building and broke the
                   window to get the kids down."

                   Using a stout electrical cord, he lowered the children, ranging in
                   age from 3 months to 4 years, one by one to the ground in the rear
                   of the building, he said.

                   Charlie Smith was treated for minor burns, while his 53-year-old
                   brother was in stable condition at Lutheran Medical Center with
                   leg burns. Seventeen other residents were treated for minor
                   injuries at area hospitals.

                   The landlord, Santos Tlatenchi, said he plans to renovate the
                   apartment and allow the brothers to continue living there.

                   Meanwhile, friends and neighbors mourned Veronica Smith, and
                   recalled her love of song.

                   "She was a beautiful, loving, warm person," said Maria Morales, a
                   first-floor neighbor. "She loved to sing."

                   Fire officials said the blaze remained under investigation.
 

                   Original Publication Date: 04/22/2000
 

There is no room in a democratic society to single out one product (cigarettes) under the guise of concern for safety and not proclaim the same concern and political intrusion for other products much more dangerous in their ability to start fires and take lives.  It is obvious that cigarette safety concerns are merely a cover for hate of cigarettes and those that choose to smoke.  Please don't insult my intelligence or take away my freedom of choice by signing this bill.

Sincerely,

Audrey Silk