Nov 23, 2013 1 min read

The old adage has it that you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.

Somebody better clue in Punxsutawney Mayor James Wehrle about this.

The leader of the borough best known for a no-doubt puzzled groundhog peering out of the ground every February to massed cameras and spectators, vetoed a measure last week that would outlaw outdoor smoking in public places. Despite abundant, reliable evidence that secondhand smoke is not healthy in any circumstance, Wehrle insisted that puffing away outdoors is a civil liberty and, thanks to his own “research,” the cancer risk for smoking outdoors is a “red herring.”

“I think in open air, people can get out of the way,” Wehrle said, apparently summing up the extent of his findings.

The borough’s council is apparently unconvinced by Wehrle’s scientific freelancing and is contemplating overriding the mayor’s veto next month. And that bring to mind another adage: If at first you don’t succeed.