SEATTLE -- They can't quite agree on what makes a park a park, but they're still gung ho about banning smoking in whatever a park may be.

A four-team member Tacoma City Council subcommittee is plowing ahead with the notion that puffing away in the great outdoors is a health hazard, a littering nightmare and, in general, a bad example for children.

Never mind that there are polls suggesting that city residents are opposed to the idea of a smoking ban in parks.

Never mind that one city official called the effort a sanction in search of a reason.

In rebuttal, another council member noted that she wanted to make sure the city protected children and their "...pure, little innocent lungs."

There's very little data available on outdoor levels of second hand smoke, but heck, what Tacoma is after has less to do with science and more to do with pushing a social agenda that continues to make smokers the new lepers of the 21st Century.

Of course, the big debate will include how much people who have the audacity to light up in an outdoor park should be fined.

That is, if the council can actually decides on what makes a park a park.

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